Re: RD 5 | St Helens (H) : Mon Mar 25, 2024 5:51 pm  

Trebor1 wrote:

Sezer was superb for wests at the weekend.

I watched the game and I don't think he was superb.
He was OK.
Again he drifted in and out of the game and the majority of his kicks went straight into hands.

Re: RD 5 | St Helens (H) : Tue Mar 26, 2024 8:10 am  

KaeruJim wrote:

Let me give you some reason Tad…

Bentley, strips the ball off their player in a 2 man tackle right on Saints line. Not on the back foot.

Newman concedes by flopping on a player already being taken into touch with good play from Mom. Not on the back foot.

Frawley passes into Mik’s body around the half way line as we’re attacking, losing possession. Not on the back foot.

Penalties for offside conceded in the opposition 30 several times. Not on the back foot.

You see my trend and there were plenty of other instances I could point to. Miller failing to make the 10 on a tee kick - like he kicked out on the full the previous game. You could argue a couple of his other errors were based on pushing it too hard.

Without these kinds of errors we don’t lose possession and territory. They put us on the back foot. In the general collision, Walmsley aside, we were comparable to Saints I would say.

Really poor field kicking too - at this level of opposition you’ll get punished for sloppy play and we have been.

Before you say it (again) I do agree we look too passive in D especially in our half at times. I suspect RS is trying to save energy but it clearly doesn’t work at times.

I admire your optimism,and you make some valid points, sadly you gloss over the facts we never really troubled the Saints defence, they however made easy yardage against our defence. The big question is are we a good team playing poorly or just an average/poor team.

[Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino]

Re: RD 5 | St Helens (H) : Tue Mar 26, 2024 8:56 am  

Backwoodsman wrote:

I admire your optimism,and you make some valid points, sadly you gloss over the facts we never really troubled the Saints defence, they however made easy yardage against our defence. The big question is are we a good team playing poorly or just an average/poor team.

EVERY team makes easy yardage against us. Seeing teams go 80m in sets is frustratingly common and we are becoming more and more reliant on wonder plays / individual efforts to get ourselves out of our own 20. "passive defence" Im yet to be fully sold on.

Re: RD 5 | St Helens (H) : Tue Mar 26, 2024 11:21 am  

it's a tactic. let the other side camp in our 40 for 70 minutes and, if we have any energy left, we'll win it late.

groundbreaking. all those great coaches over the years have got it all wrong.

Re: RD 5 | St Helens (H) : Tue Mar 26, 2024 12:33 pm  

leedsbarmyarmy wrote:

But you can still do a great kick from your own half that hits the deck in between the defenders

The further you have to kick it the more time the defenders have to get under it.

Re: RD 5 | St Helens (H) : Tue Mar 26, 2024 1:52 pm  

There's a difference between an kick to a specific area of the field where your defenders know what to chase and the receiver knows (roughly) where to be to catch it on the full, and a varied kicking game that asks more of your chasers but puts the receivers under much more pressure. That difference is coaching and game plan, and we've clearly decided on the less risky strategy, which also gives the receiver an easier time and more yardage.