Cunningham: Saints are fixing the frailties exposed by mid-season implosion

As it ended, Saints were only several bad calls from the officials from making it through to Old Trafford.

But even had they squeaked through, the die had already been cast that changes were necessary at Langtree Park going forward.

This time a late flurry would not mask what issues needed sorting, with three players — Matty Smith, Luke Douglas and Ryan Morgan — already announced with two or three more to follow.

Several will be departing or have already gone, with more youngsters stepping up a notch too.

Saints did not start the year great, with heavy early defeats by Salford and Sydney Roosters in particular casting a dark cloud over the club, even when they were scraping wins together.

But an implosion in May, coinciding with the Challenge Cup knockout by Hull and featuring a miserable display up at Magic, provided the Saints coaching staff with the urgency to change their approach going forward.

Much of Saints recruitment for next season stems from the food for thought they were given during that run of five losses from six games with leadership and experience being the key words on the lips.

This time Saints boss Keiron Cunningham said they will not be “blinded” by the late flourish to the campaign which stopped them from effectively correcting the side’s deficiencies last season.

Cunningham said: “The last two years we’ve been nearly there.

“We were guilty of lack of leadership this year and I will hold my hand up there for the recruitment side.

“We got blinded, maybe a little bit through my inexperience as a coach, with what happened at the end of last year once we started hitting our straps again after the cup semi defeat by Leeds.

“Maybe we were blind to the lack of leadership at the place.

“In hindsight the best thing to happen to the club this year was having that bit of an explosion in the late spring because you get a true look at your squad and what people do under pressure.

“That is generally when you see the true makings of a player.

“I thought Wilko and Kyle Amor stood up then.

“It give us a good look and it was as plain as the nose on your face what we had to do then.”

Although the year gave the coaching staff plenty to think about, Cunningham was not ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

He said: “There were some really tough times, scraping through games and it was not through lack of effort.

“Every team has some form of implosion, this year we had a mini one, it turned into something bigger and before we knew it the pressure was on and all that added together made the whole situation even greater.

“We had lost a few games, we were not playing great.

“We had a good look at ourselves, we put in some players who were going to do the right things and things turned around quite quickly for us as a group.

“It was a start for us as coaches to understand what personnel work in certain position and what doesn’t work.

“We had a good shot at it, in end came down to things out of our control to stop us being in a Grand Final.”

With last year done and dusted the club’s staff are already working towards the start of next season.

“My work started when we finished,” Cunningham said.

“We got together with the staff and have had a season review and looked at every facet of each department.

“We are still reflecting, thinking of ifs and buts but it’s a long time between drinks now and that is the most disappointing thing.

“All you can do is look to future and see what is bringing.

“We will probably bring five or six in, and promote some youngsters.

“Those who were promoted two years ago will move up and have a bit more influence so we will be covered in all departments.”

Cunningham is confident that the recruits in key spots will make the team altogether stronger and more potent across the park.

Smith’s signing this week comes after the announcement of Douglas and Morgan for 2017 and beyond at the Saints, and Cunningham says all new recruits so far have been brought in to correct deficiencies.

Cunningham said: “With the business we have done and announced you will have an idea of which frailties in the team have been identified.

“We have brought in three people in who are very experienced, who are very composed under pressure and have a wealth of experience in big games.

“It became clear towards the end of the year that we were not composed enough in certain situations.

“Recruitment started in January, but once we had that blip it changed dramatically because we could not keep rumbling on the way we were rumbling on and what we were doing.”

He added that NRL duo Douglas and Morgan will make a significant impact on the team next season.

“Luke (Douglas) is a great player, we targeted him early in the season and it helped my cause.

"We had a list of people we had a crack at and that could fill three rugby teams.

"Recruitment has been tough this year because we have been picky as a club to get the right people.

“Douglas has played a lot of NRL games and has been a consistent performer.

“He gives you what you want consistently, that is his game.

“Ryan Morgan is younger than Luke but has that experience. He has played in 100 NRL games.

“As good as Dom Peyroux has been when he has been on the field, those edges are so important to teams and the way Dom has played it is more of an explosive power game more suited to back row.

“Ryan is out and out class and is very similar to Mark Percival.

“He actually reminds me of Jamie Lyon in the way he moves, and what he does with the ball and how quick he is.

“He has an eye for a try and if you give him half a break he is in.

“We will have genuine strike on both sides – and when you add in Adam Swift and Tommy Makinson on the outside we won’t be far short.”

“We also will have good back rowers on both sides of the field, Joe Greenwood on the left and we will turn Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook into a right sided player so we will have good strike and genuine speed on both sides of the field.

“Our outside four on both sides are looking solid and they are good defensive players too.

“I do believe that next year will be one of the strongest Saints sides we have seen for a long period across the board.

“Because of the depth we will have a 1 to 17 is going to be exceptionally hard to pick. There will be some disappointed good players but that is where we want to be.”

Some of the younger players earned a nod of approval from the Saints boss - and those will feature at different levels.

Cunningham said: “Ricky Bailey will be number two (full back) next season. We probably played him a little too soon (two years ago) and on the wing and he got picked on, which set him back a bit.

“Ricky will play plenty of games next year and I will have no issue throwing him in (if Jonny is unavailable). If we hadn’t had Shannon McDonnell this year then he would have played and lapped it up.

“Look at Luke Thompson - he is getting better all the time.

“We know he has carry in him. We had to tidy his defence up but he is getting better.

“I always like players with a bit of dog in them – you just like big physical players to try intimidate other teams. I am sure the opposition was not comfortable when he was carting the ball into them.

“Theo Fages will get more game time. He was a long term signing for us.

“His contract (at Salford) was due to be up at the end of this season originally and our plan was to get him for next year, but once he became available it was good for us to get him. It was a blessing in disguise as we lost players and he played some really good rugby.

“He will be one of our number ones next year.”