Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 2:32 pm  

Amazed at some opinions on here and would be suprised if they were the same if you had lost by 2 points . A really poor game between 2 average sides with very little skill on show . The best i reckon the two sides will do is to finish 5th and 6th in either order .

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 3:27 pm  

ploinerrhino wrote:

Amazed at some opinions on here and would be suprised if they were the same if you had lost by 2 points . A really poor game between 2 average sides with very little skill on show . The best i reckon the two sides will do is to finish 5th and 6th in either order .

Average is now the norm for Superleague.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 3:59 pm  

ploinerrhino wrote:

Amazed at some opinions on here and would be suprised if they were the same if you had lost by 2 points . A really poor game between 2 average sides with very little skill on show . The best i reckon the two sides will do is to finish 5th and 6th in either order .

I don't agree. I've had the problem over previous seasons where I've just our squad against what we used to have in previous years. I've compared our squad to Cas in the past and found us wanting, but we don't end up finishing outside the top 4 do we. We're stronger than last year, even with Richardson at 7 and we finished in the top 4. We're stronger than last year and were only 3 points behind the leaders Warrington, 2 behind Wigan and level with Hull. I know Cas have also improved, but improved enough to make up the 9 points on Saints? Possible I suppose but far from the guarantee you make it out to be.

It wasn't a really poor game either, I'd contest that. Bar the opening 20 where there was a lot of dropped ball, it was a very, very similar game to a Grand Final, tight with defenses on top. A lot of people are making a direct link between the low score and low amount of breaks and low skill and a lack of creativity. That wasn't the case. The move Saints put on with the pass to Richardson and the reverse inside ball to a flying Makinson was superb, the move Leeds put on down the right for both the Makinson wonder tackle and the forward pass disallowed try were both great moves, as were some of the moves where Leeds were bring it out from their own line. Leeds put a lot into the off the cuff attempts at our line late on as well, it's just that no one clocked off in defense at all.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 4:04 pm  

Thought your defence was excellent and for a first game v Leeds, plus lots of pressure, I'd be happy with that.

Thought you moved the ball better in the 2nd half with a few good moves which I didn't see last season. Also
Thought Richardson did well at sc and obviously Fages was excellent.

Thought your new additions were very encouraging as well.

I backed Leeds to win last night, in part due to the general comments on Redvee, but I think
there's a lot to take out that game for you guys. I think you'll be there and there abouts.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 6:46 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

Hardly a classic in terms of free flowing attacking rugby, but a tight, tense game tonight. We started poorly, plenty of dropped balls from Swift and Douglas in particular, but we defended superbly, Leeds were really up for the game and we stood up to the superbly. Throw in LMS and Walker and I think we'd have been clear by a couple of scores.

Highlight of the game for me was Tommy Makinson's cover tackle. It had shades of Keiron's famous tackle at Knowsley Road, it looked like he had already beaten him from where I was, sensational stuff.

Plenty of resilience and togetherness from the boys tonight, loved how quickly they went in together when it threatened to kick off and no one put a foot wrong in defense. As for the new boys Douglas defended well and I think will end up a great signing for the club. Ryan Morgan got absolutely nothing to work with but still came up with two promising half breaks. Tommy Lee surprised me as well, got to give him some credit as I gave plenty out when we signing him.

Credit too for KC. It would have been very easy to fall back on Jon Wilkin's experience and play him in the halves tonight but he kept faith with Danny Richardson and it paid off. I thought he looked very classy tonight, clearly ready for Super League, putting plenty into the tackles and looking composed with the ball. Brian McDermott put the defeat down to our superior kicking game and it was Richardson who pinned them on their line a few times. The pack was solid tonight, Amor and Thompson were solid and Walmsley made crucial inroads in the second half.

Stand out MOM though was Theo Fages, he was everywhere both in attack and defense.

Regarding the new boys. I thought Douglas was pretty poor tbh. He looked pretty shot to me and I wonder if all those consecutive games he has done in the NRL have caught up with him. He looked very unfit and slow. KC was spot on taking him off nesr the end as he was the weak link. I'm not writing him off as he looked good when seen him for titans and Scotland.

Ryan Morgan looks to have some real class about him. Looked a threat with the limited ball he had.i think he's going to be very good providing we get him the ball.

Tommy Lee was the pick of the new boys for me. He looked up for it and gave us some real aggression. He's also a unit.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 7:14 pm  

St pete wrote:

Regarding the new boys. I thought Douglas was pretty poor tbh. He looked pretty shot to me and I wonder if all those consecutive games he has done in the NRL have caught up with him. He looked very unfit and slow. KC was spot on taking him off nesr the end as he was the weak link. I'm not writing him off as he looked good when seen him for titans and Scotland.

Ryan Morgan looks to have some real class about him. Looked a threat with the limited ball he had.i think he's going to be very good providing we get him the ball.

Tommy Lee was the pick of the new boys for me. He looked up for it and gave us some real aggression. He's also a unit.

Couldn't make my mind up about Douglas, he was going to ground too easily, don't know if it was intentional to get a quick PTB or simply he was ineffective and being dominated in the tackle. Morgan reads the game well and balances the back line, thought he was a bit unlucky with the Moon try he got a face off with little time to rebalance.
Lee was a suprise looked very composed and assertive with a bit of leadership quality, early days yet but KC could prove us wrong on this signing.

For the next game, I would go around again with the same selection, hopefully Fages/Richardson can run a few combinations and gain confidence with each other.

Returning to Douglas, I think he could run at second row when the injury list starts, Walker could be the better option of 4th prop just to introduce an offloading game which was a bit lacking last night.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 7:43 pm  

Judder Man wrote:

Couldn't make my mind up about Douglas, he was going to ground too easily, don't know if it was intentional to get a quick PTB or simply he was ineffective and being dominated in the tackle. Morgan reads the game well and balances the back line, thought he was a bit unlucky with the Moon try he got a face off with little time to rebalance.
Lee was a suprise looked very composed and assertive with a bit of leadership quality, early days yet but KC could prove us wrong on this signing.

For the next game, I would go around again with the same selection, hopefully Fages/Richardson can run a few combinations and gain confidence with each other.

Returning to Douglas, I think he could run at second row when the injury list starts, Walker could be the better option of 4th prop just to introduce an offloading game which was a bit lacking last night.

Not a chance you can put Douglas second row, he could never defend on the edge, he's just to slow and also very slow in attack. He's a out and out down the middle prop.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 7:48 pm  

St pete wrote:

Not a chance you can put Douglas second row, he could never defend on the edge, he's just to slow and also very slow in attack. He's a out and out down the middle prop.

Saw him walking down City road near Victoria Park last week thought he would have been a bigger unit just looks tall and lanky.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 8:56 pm  

Judder Man wrote:

Saw him walking down City road near Victoria Park last week thought he would have been a bigger unit just looks tall and lanky.

6ft 3in and over 17 and half stone.

I just don't think he's mobile enough to play second row.