Re: 2 out of 3 ain't bad. : Mon Apr 09, 2012 12:57 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

Secondly, I'm getting tired of excuses being made for our senior players, some of whom have consistently NOT shown up in times of adversity. They have been doing it all season, and that is a very relevant point, as once again we had adversity and some of our senior players did not show up. For example, TP hanging around a loose ball instead of scooping it up, nobody covering for Laffranchi when Roby threw the pass to nobody, Josh Perry being too busy trying to wind up Hock to attend to his job of making metres and bashing up the opposition forwards.

What you're referring to is professionalism which is something that has slowly whittled down under Simmons. Diving on loose balls, covering for others, rushing to form a scrum and preparing for rebounds off the posts when a penalty kick is being taken are all elements of concentration that a well-drilled team operates subconsciously. Little things like these are noticeable.

Re: 2 out of 3 ain't bad. : Mon Apr 09, 2012 1:36 pm  

McClennan wrote:

What you're referring to is professionalism which is something that has slowly whittled down under Simmons. Diving on loose balls, covering for others, rushing to form a scrum and preparing for rebounds off the posts when a penalty kick is being taken are all elements of concentration that a well-drilled team operates subconsciously. Little things like these are noticeable.

We did it no problem last season, once we had turned things around at Leeds.

It is indeed professionalism. And I don't think some of our senior players have been the best examples of professionals this season so far (and I include the Wigan game in that).

Re: 2 out of 3 ain't bad. : Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:52 am  

Saint Simon wrote:

Losing lomax was devestating but not the only reason we lost

No, it didn't help.

Wigan played a very good game. I don't know whether its Wane's coaching or the left overs from Maguire, but they play so well as a team. The forwards share the work well, a defend very strongly, whilst out wide their moves look extremely slick. Over 80 minutes it was just too much for us to keep a hold of.

Its that sort of performance that shows that a good team will beat 17 good players.

The bug bear I really have is that we've started looking clueless on the last tackle again, which is pretty inexcusable.

At the end of the day, 2/3 against top teams isn't bad at all and we'd accept that most seasons, never mind if you'd have asked us after the bradford game. For those of you that point to Wire's error count as evidence they didn't play well or take us seriously, that's been consistant for them through the season and they've beaten the like of Wigan and Huddersfield doing the same.

Regarding the players, well 1-5 all have their pros and cons. 6&7 are good players, even if we're waiting to be convinced of their combination. The forwards are a very good set of players, imo.

I'd say Brown is rubbing his hands at the chance to take on this squad.

Re: 2 out of 3 ain't bad. : Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:22 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

We did it no problem last season, once we had turned things around at Leeds.

It is indeed professionalism. And I don't think some of our senior players have been the best examples of professionals this season so far (and I include the Wigan game in that).

Whilst we finished the season strongly (except the last game), it wasn't all rosey after that night at Leeds. The game against Wigan at the Stobart would be the example when they gave us a right shalaking in a similar fashion to last week.

You've called the senior players and I've interperated that as being a physical sense - working hard, putting your body on the line etc, but the thing I think we're lacking is the mental side of proffesionalism. We don't seem to have that guy who can command the team to do the right thing at the right time and get the whole team moving as one. We also seen times where we've hit the panic button and given sackfuls of penalties away. Perhaps Lance can do it, he's only just started his run at 6 - maybe when he's settled? I think Lomax will get it from #7 with some more experience.

Re: 2 out of 3 ain't bad. : Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:31 am  

Offside Monkey wrote:

I'd say Brown is rubbing his hands at the chance to take on this squad.

Although it would be more than a little odd to join a club that finishes lower than the one you left. Even more odd if Huddersfield somehow manage to win the GF.

Re: 2 out of 3 ain't bad. : Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:50 am  

Mugwump wrote:

Although it would be more than a little odd to join a club that finishes lower than the one you left. Even more odd if Huddersfield somehow manage to win the GF.

Admittedly, but I do believe that any coach can only stay at the same club so long before things get stale.
Brown has done a very good job for Hudds and will leave with much more tick than crosses. His reputation as a coach has improved imo, as I recall he stuttered in his first job at St G. He'll get a good pay packet from Saints for his contract and the chance to start in a better position than Hudds had him in when he joined.

The potential at Saints is there, he'll see that. Also, given the fairly miseraale last 18 months, any improvement will be greeting with glee from the supporters.

Re: 2 out of 3 ain't bad. : Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:03 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

This would be Hull who are presently second in the league and Bradford who just beat Leeds? And remember, we haven't won at Bradford since 2007.

Hull are now 4th and by the time you reply they will probably be 5th They are a poor team that have had a lot of easy games, the highlights have been beating us when we were clueless and a draw vs Wire when they had only just got off the plane from Aus'. They will plummit just like Castleford did last year.

Bradford are even worse, Leeds are really in a bad way at the moment. A combination of dreadful weather and the treat of losing their jobs has spurred them on. They are also not likely to make the playoffs

Re: 2 out of 3 ain't bad. : Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:08 pm  

Noel Cleal wrote:

Hull are now 4th and by the time you reply they will probably be 5th They are a poor team that have had a lot of easy games, the highlights have been beating us when we were clueless and a draw vs Wire when they had only just got off the plane from Aus'. They will plummit just like Castleford did last year.

I don't think any Saints fan is in a position to call Hull, really, given that we just about managed to hold on to a converted try gap against a very weakened Cas team yesterday, after playing what sounded like bloody awful rugby. We should have been pounding Cas to bits, regardless of the weather.

Bradford are even worse, Leeds are really in a bad way at the moment. A combination of dreadful weather and the treat of losing their jobs has spurred them on. They are also not likely to make the playoffs

Yeah. Bradford and Leeds are both still above us in the league though and we slipped back to 8th.