Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Fri Oct 01, 2021 8:50 pm  

What a shambolic performance. But we were 'on' in training all week apparently.

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Fri Oct 01, 2021 8:55 pm  

gulfcoast_highwayman wrote:

I never said he did. I probably should have used 'club' instead of 'team'. Just trying to make the obvious point as how far we've fallen and how low the bar is.

We will never have a team that good ever again, nobody will, the 2007-2009 side that won 3 in a row is arguably the best side collectively in the history of the game. That side would have wiped the floor with this saints side.
That said we have another great side in the making and were not quite there yet

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Fri Oct 01, 2021 8:59 pm  

Concerning that pretty much our first choice pack got battered by Walmsley....again

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:02 pm  

Well... At least my "second" team are in the GF, too bad there'll be bugger all by way of support for them at OT. Let's hope for another Maloney masterclass. Cheer on the Catalans!

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:04 pm  

cheekydiddles wrote:

Concerning that pretty much our first choice pack got battered by Walmsley....again

Totally agree.
That's the concern for me tonight.
Our first choice pack - that many on here say is the best in SL, got blown away by one man.
Plenty to sort out still before next year.

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:04 pm  

Painful as that performance was, it was necessary to give us an honest benchmark.

Roby was better than Leeming and Dwyer combined tonight, even at 85 years of age.

Lui tried but as expected we had nothing from half back really and the pack failed to lay a platform anyway.

Thought Holroyd did well when he came on, way too late.

Penalties early second half killed us - although T Briscoe’s was pedantic and L Briscoe had a sneaky hand in from Roby.

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:06 pm  

cheekydiddles wrote:

Concerning that pretty much our first choice pack got battered by Walmsley....again

Im not overly concerned Walmsley is the best prop in the League and he eas playing on the front foot all game

Mik was clearly injured aswell, Tetevano needs a big year next year though

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:08 pm  

Granted Hurrell is leaving but leeds had 2 marquee players playing nowhere near that tag and rarely have since either arrived.

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:09 pm  

Simmo71 wrote:

Totally agree.
That's the concern for me tonight.
Our first choice pack - that many on here say is the best in SL, got blown away by one man.
Plenty to sort out still before next year.

Yep - our first choice pack right now would be Mik, Leeming, Prior, Mellor, Martin. Tet with Smith, Holroyd on the bench.

We started with Dwyer at hooker, Donaldson in second row and Thompson (who was OK) first reserve.

Mik isn’t fit to my eye and Smith went off injured again.

So not quite our first choice pack still - but there is no doubt we need another Ava/King+ type big body in there. Next year add Bentley and maybe even Johnson, plus some more time on Mik, Tom and Cam (and Gannon / Walters) - we won’t be far off.

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:09 pm  

It's a shame the season ended that way, but perhaps some perspective? Saints are by far the best team in SL. They were up for it and played as well as they have all season. Yes, we were off, but credit to Saints for a defence that didn't allow us to gain any momentum and sapped our energy - and would have probably have worn down any other team. We have some young men who look like they could develop into great players and recruitment has been good for next year. There are some short memories on this board. Credit to Agar and Sinfield for tackling the rot and getting us to this point from the shambles after Furner's departure. There's been some excellent recruitment and with another quality signing or two, we could compete well next year.