In a shocking, dramatic but entirely Saintsy development the club has announced the departure of head coach Paul Rowley.
I say departure because it's not quite clear who owns this decision. The club statement quotes chairman Eamonn McManus stating 'the decision was an extremely difficult one for all concerned'. He doesn't identify who exactly was involved in the decision making. Did Rowley walk away or was his employment terminated?
If we are to believe that Rowley was forced out then 19 league games and four Challenge Cup outings doesn't feel like a fair crack. Saints are sixth in Super League - still just about in contention for playoff qualification - and reached the semi-final of the Challenge Cup. Though they were humiliated by Wigan at that stage.
So was this about results, or performances? That semi-final loss was by a score of 32-0. Saints then lost 46-0 at home to Toulouse - albeit in the middle of an injury crisis. When Rowley's Saints lost, they did so in an ugly way.
There's a good argument that Rowley should not be judged so early. He inherited a flagging squad from Paul Wellens. The former Saints fullback was given three years after taking charge of a squad including several members who had won multiple Grand Finals under Kristian Woolf and Justin Holbrook. By the time Rowley arrived a huge rebuild was required. It was never going to be done in 19 games.
There are those who will point to the recruitment of several ex-Salford players and raise an eyebrow. Certainly, if you are the head coach of one of the leading clubs in the game and you arrive from Salford closely followed by a number of players from that club - that now desperately struggling club - it's not a great look. But it perhaps should be remembered that Shane Wright arrived before Rowley and Jackson Hastings' stint with the Red Devils pre-dates that of Rowley.
That still leaves competent but constantly injured Deon Cross, ex-Wigan dud Joe Shorrocks and maybe one of the biggest disappointments of all in Nene Macdonald. All of those worked with Rowley at Salford so it's a massive stretch to believe that they were recruited without his approval.
It's even more difficult to believe that Rowley wasn't behind the new three-year deal given to Shorrocks just a couple of underwhelming months into his stay. Mike Rush previously bore the brunt of the criticism for any transfer miss-steps but he left town in February just as the season was getting under way. Abi Ekoku replaced Rush but until today this has not really been viewed as his mess.
To understand why Rowley may have been an awkward fit we need to acknowledge that Saints are not an ordinary club. They're a 10-time Super League champion club. The only one which has never missed a playoff series in the Super League era. Rebuild or not expectations were for that run to continue as a minimum. It's part of the job description. It's arguable that results and performances fell way below expectations under Rowley regardless of the need to phase out the old guard. The 46-0 home defeat to Toulouse - a first home league shutout for 46 years - states that case loudly.
But this was not yet Rowley's squad. One of the things which did for Wellens was the number of top performers from the Holbrook/Woolf dynasty who were toppling over the hill. Some of those remain and Rowley might reasonably have expected to be given more time to mould his own team. If he has made mistakes - and I think we can agree that he has - then the club has pulled the trigger very quickly. Bat-shit, foreign cheese fearing Liz Truss was the last high profile boss ousted this quickly.
The timing is especially bewildering. The announcement was made just over 24 hours before Saints are due to visit Wigan. It's a cliche but the derby is a massive game irrespective of form or league position. With 15 or so players still on the injury list you might argue that Saints faced an impossible task. Nothing is impossible - witness the four tries scored by Saints in eight Good Friday minutes that still haunt Matty Peet's dreams. But it does appear that the almost impossible just got an awful lot tougher.
It has given rise to the idea among the social media fan base that this is Rowley walking away from the job. Possibly after a dramatic fallout either with the board, the players, Ekoku or McManus. Because surely they wouldn't dismiss the coach right before such a significant fixture. If that was the plan, why not do it after the Toulouse debacle? That would still have felt early but it would have had a certain logic to it.
Maybe those involved in making the decision, referred to by McManus in the statement, include Rowley. Maybe some imagine a scenario in which all those around Rowley spent hours persuading him to stay. Well, it's a theory. But I don't think it's my theory.
When Rowley was appointed there was a lot of excitement. He had led Salford to two playoff appearances before financial Armageddon hit, and did so in a style that was more in keeping with Saints tradition. While Saints had been massively successful under Holbrook and Woolf, they hadn't always dazzled. Woolf's tenure brought three titles in three seasons. You can't really do any better than that. But Woolf did it in a style that was conservative to put it mildly. Lose playing that way and he would have struggled to keep his job too.
So the expectation was that Rowley would rid us of the energy battle, the process and the grind and bring back some swagger. It just hasn't happened. Saints' attack under Rowley has been as bad if not worse than under Wellens. It's been very lateral, with nobody seemingly possessing the smarts to attract defenders and make space. Part of that is down to a lack of go forward in a flailing pack, but part of it is also down to Rowley. It's almost as if the jump to a club with bigger expectations has seen him abandon any notions of flamboyance and play it safe. Like Thomas Tuchel.
Eamon O'Carroll will fill the void for what is left of the season. He won't be the new man in the long term having already agreed a move to rugby union for next season. That might give him the freedom to release the straitjacket engulfing the players at times this season. The environment will still be demanding but he's unlikely to carry the can if Saints aren't playing knockout games in September. The flip side of course, is that having been in the coaching team under Wellens and Rowley he may inherit their caution.
After the perceived failure of two English coaches many fans are calling for the appointment of an Australian coach. The path from NRL assistant to successful Super League head coach is a well-worn one. If finances allow this option will surely be explored.
Whoever the new coach is we need to get back to being Saintsy for the right reasons.
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