LEADERSHIP is one of the qualities on the top of the shopping list as coach Keiron Cunningham promised a new-look Saints outfit for next year.

Although the team is blessed with some developing young talent, the Saints boss has highlighted the need for the guiding hand of some high quality experienced players as a vital component if the club are to get back to where they belong.

Saints have been linked with a number of players in recent weeks, with Wigan scrum half Matty Smith and Widnes Vikings stand off Kevin Brown being the latest suggested targets.

Speaking of the speculation Cunningham said: “I hope these things come true because Kev Brown is a very good player as is Matty Smith.

“If we could get any of those over at Saints then they would influence what we do as a club, but these players are still contracted and doing good things where they are at.

“We have been linked with everybody – lots of great players. Tommy Leuluai has just come back to Wigan, we got linked with him, as well as Frank Paul Nu’uausala, who again has ended up at Wigan.

“It is not a bad thing to be linked with great players, players who could influence what you do as a club. If they are there, and they are available, I would take them.

“Luke Lewis is another great player and he is having one hell of a season at Cronulla Sharks. I would definitely be interested in him if he wanted to come across to Super League.”

Comparing the Saints situation with the way Leeds have struggled to come to terms with the departures of Kevin Sinfield and Jamie Peacock, Cunningham felt the club is still seeking to fill voids of their own going back five seasons or so,

“We are suffering from, still to this day, losing some of our players here, whether it was myself, Sean Long or later on with James Graham and Paul Wellens.

“Recruitment then was vital.

“The lack of leadership has come to the forefront at this time.

“It is in the tough times your genuine leaders stand up and it is quite clear we needed more of that in the team.

“When I got on the bus going to Wakefield on Sunday and looked down the team – you see Greenwood, Richards, Knowles, Thompson – all these great young players, but you have to give them a supporting act.

“That is my task for next year and something I am determined to do.

“I’d imagine the team that takes the field next year to be a lot different to this year’s.

“We can support the likes of Mark Percival, Jonny Lomax and even Wilko to some extent and give them a bit more leadership then we will be a fair old team.”

To bring players in of sufficient calibre will mean an exit for a significant number of the current squad as Cunningham seeks to make the changes needed.

“Everybody knows that expectation is really high at this club, and every time you pull that shirt on you should be aiming for Grand Finals and Challenge Cups. Some of the standards we have received this year just has not been good enough.

“Someone quoted Einstein’s Theory of Insanity to me, stating if you keep doing what you have always been doing and expect the outcome to be different then you are a fool. There’s one thing I am not and that is a fool.

“We won’t keep doing the same thing and have got to change things, and bring in a lot of new faces. But there are players still playing for shirts.

“We have got to bring in some genuine Saints players, and people who are fighting for the right cause.”

It is no co-incidence that the teams above Saints, particularly Hull, Warrington and Catalans, have all recruited extensively ahead of this campaign.

And Cunningham admitted that they had looked at some of those players that subsequently ended up joining their rivals.

“We spoke to a lot of those players and the figures were mind blowing.

“We had a very limited budget last year with where we were at with the salary cap, we knew we needed to spread it to bring in squad members.

“We can’t compare our recruitment to Hull’s and Catalans'. Hull moved players on and got transfer fees from Warrington for Tom Lineham and Joe Westerman and that probably helped their cause.

“Warrington struggled last year, but their best acquisition is Kurt Gidley a genuine leader who influences the team and everyone steps up.

“We are lacking a bit of leadership, that’s all, and that is something we will change for next year,” he said.