- Tue Feb 10, 2026 2:02 pm
#77602
hmmmm... not sure that's the type of player we need. Though looking at the stats it does appear he's sorted out his discipline issues in recent seasons.
I was really hoping by now for some proper world class signings to make up for the world class talent we've lost (JLDP, Tuilagi, Hill, Weise). Kpoku would have been great, and its pretty gutting to know we've missed out on him.
While Losowski and the front rowers we've added are good, I'm not sure I'd call any of them world class. Perhaps I'm being too negative though. Marchant is very good though, excited to see what he will do for us.
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some ramblings:
Potentially more important than players, as others have noted, is coaching/backroom staff. We honestly have looked like the dumbest team in the league (arguably not even just the prem) for a good few seasons. To my eyes and ears, we tend to stick quite rigidly to pre-planned tactics, and appear unwilling (or perhaps unable) to adapt to what's in front of us. I'm not sure really where that fault lies, on the pitch or off it.
Bar George Ford, and RDP when he's at 10, I'm not sure we have any players with real nous/leadership in decision making. Probably, we do, but they're seemingly not able to use this to good effect. This isn't unique to the Sanderson era to be fair. This was also somewhat lacking when Jono Ross, for as his talents (one of my favourite players of all time and certainly a Sale legend), captained the side. This was somewhat made up for by (mostly) good decision makers in Faf, AJ, and Sam James, and the rest of the squad being much stronger.
One thing that's occurred to me is the our kicking prowess in the backfield. Reed, Roebuck, Carpenter are very, very good attacking players ball in hand, and they defend very well. Carpenter and Roebuck in particular are stellar under the high ball. But I don't think any of them are great kicking players, at least not strategically. Not a slight on them, just a different type of player. I wonder how much our game could change for the better if we had a 10/15 hybrid player at 15 a la Sam James. I always though we might have tried RDP at 15 in seasons gone by, but alas that ship has sailed.
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Something's gotta change really, either we sign some properly decent players and make sure we have good depth, change the style of play, or making some changes in the coaching/backroom staff, otherwise I feel we'll continue to regress next season. One could argue our squad for next season has enough quality (we do have world class players, and 5 of the england 23 at the weekend), but not enough depth - but either way if we can't use the players effectively then they'll count for nothing.
- By The Back Row