Improvement : Mon Jun 04, 2012 2:55 pm  

A tremendous effort yesterday from the lads defensively, don't think we could have asked anymore from them. They put their bodies on the line in that game and anyone who was there can't question the desire, attitude and application that they showed. It was a complete contrast from the game against Wigan, however, Hull aren't the best side and with their continued insistence on driving it up the middle instead of getting it out wide did make it easier for us. But take nothing away from Saints' tackling yesterday, they did amazing to concede 3 tries.

Thought Josh Jones was outstanding. Turner didn't get a sniff all game because of the defensive work of Jones, he had him in his pocket. He has come into the side and done so well for someone so young and once he has another 2-3 years of first team experience we might have a very good centre on our hands.

Adam Swift was impressive too. He has very good footwork and for someone who isn't a winger by trade and won't play there for the rest of his career he has performed very well when asked to play. This will go on to give him confidence for his next apperance and the coaching staff now know that he can do a job in that position.

I can't really fault many players to be honest. The attacking game needs a complete over haul but it's easy to see why it suffered yesterday. Hohaia's try was tremendous and Swift's was a very good individual effort but to really improve attacking wise we need to repect the ball more than we do. There were occassions when we gave the ball up needlessly which caused more tackling to be done. Lessons need to be learned from that as on another day we could have conceded a lot more points had we not defended so well or come up against a better team than Hull.

I still wish they would have run that last penalty though!!

Re: Improvement : Mon Jun 04, 2012 3:09 pm  

Cheers for the match report man of steel, always nice to get the point of view of someone at the game.

Radio and internet are ok, but they do not really match an eye witness account.

Interesting bit about the defensive work of Josh Jones. Thinking more to next year, could you see him switching sides with Shenton, to be on the more defensive side of the play and Turner to be on the more attacking side??

Re: Improvement : Mon Jun 04, 2012 3:11 pm  

Man of Steel wrote:

A tremendous effort yesterday from the lads defensively, don't think we could have asked anymore from them. They put their bodies on the line in that game and anyone who was there can't question the desire, attitude and application that they showed. It was a complete contrast from the game against Wigan, however, Hull aren't the best side and with their continued insistence on driving it up the middle instead of getting it out wide did make it easier for us. But take nothing away from Saints' tackling yesterday, they did amazing to concede 3 tries.

Thought Josh Jones was outstanding. Turner didn't get a sniff all game because of the defensive work of Jones, he had him in his pocket. He has come into the side and done so well for someone so young and once he has another 2-3 years of first team experience we might have a very good centre on our hands.

Adam Swift was impressive too. He has very good footwork and for someone who isn't a winger by trade and won't play there for the rest of his career he has performed very well when asked to play. This will go on to give him confidence for his next apperance and the coaching staff now know that he can do a job in that position.

I can't really fault many players to be honest. The attacking game needs a complete over haul but it's easy to see why it suffered yesterday. Hohaia's try was tremendous and Swift's was a very good individual effort but to really improve attacking wise we need to repect the ball more than we do. There were occassions when we gave the ball up needlessly which caused more tackling to be done. Lessons need to be learned from that as on another day we could have conceded a lot more points had we not defended so well or come up against a better team than Hull.

I still wish they would have run that last penalty though!!

Effort alone doesnt win you games. You need intelligence and you need to get the basic's right. We failed utterly against Hull with ball in hand and it was simple stuff, soft penalties and coughing up possession early in the tackle count. At one point we even managed to give away a penalty in our own 20 with ball in hand !!

Re: Improvement : Mon Jun 04, 2012 3:14 pm  

bewareshadows wrote:

Cheers for the match report man of steel, always nice to get the point of view of someone at the game.

Radio and internet are ok, but they do not really match an eye witness account.

Interesting bit about the defensive work of Josh Jones. Thinking more to next year, could you see him switching sides with Shenton, to be on the more defensive side of the play and Turner to be on the more attacking side??

Isn't Turner on the right for Hull ? Turner and Jones at 3 & 4 sounds like an exciting combo to me , 2 centre's playing centre .. wow !

French seemed impressed with the Jones/Swift combo on the left and tbh I'd be tempted to persist with it for a few games rather than going back to Wheeler/Meli

Re: Improvement : Mon Jun 04, 2012 3:36 pm  

Man of Steel wrote:

I still wish they would have run that last penalty though!!

You've just said our attack was dire but you still wish they had run the last penalty?

I'm just glad that Wello disagreed! At least we got one point out of the match thanks to Wello's intervention.

Re: Improvement : Mon Jun 04, 2012 3:39 pm  

bewareshadows wrote:

Interesting bit about the defensive work of Josh Jones. Thinking more to next year, could you see him switching sides with Shenton, to be on the more defensive side of the play and Turner to be on the more attacking side??

Based on what I've read so far from Saints fans who went, plus what has been said in the trade press, Makinson was the star defensively (he actually got three points and MoM in League Express) with Shenton and Jones also having very good matches. I don't think there is anything wrong with Shenton that a bit of decent ball wouldn't fix.

Re: Improvement : Mon Jun 04, 2012 5:03 pm  

No1 Saint wrote:

Isn't Turner on the right for Hull ? Turner and Jones at 3 & 4 sounds like an exciting combo to me , 2 centre's playing centre .. wow !

French seemed impressed with the Jones/Swift combo on the left and tbh I'd be tempted to persist with it for a few games rather than going back to Wheeler/Meli

I've been very impressed with josh jones, he's more than held his own. I'm not one for going OTT on youngsters as most on here know but I think josh jones looks quality.

Would jones missed them tackles last week that wheeler missed? I doubt it.

Re: Improvement : Mon Jun 04, 2012 5:12 pm  

St pete wrote:

Would jones missed them tackles last week that wheeler missed? I doubt it.

I agree , he is a natural centre and it shows in how comfortable his transition to 1st team has been so far. He is physically mature as well which is a massive advantage

At times Wheeler looks all over the place positionally

Re: Improvement : Mon Jun 04, 2012 5:16 pm  

No1 Saint wrote:

I agree , he is a natural centre and it shows in how comfortable his transition to 1st team has been so far. He is physically mature as well which is a massive advantage

At times Wheeler looks all over the place positionally

I'd give him a run at the expense of wheeler. Shenton has played well for two out the last three so might be getting some form back.

Re: Improvement : Mon Jun 04, 2012 5:19 pm  

St pete wrote:

I'd give him a run at the expense of wheeler. Shenton has played well for two out the last three so might be getting some form back.

Spot on , at the end of the day Shenton is a proven player and of course an International centre who is a bit low on confidence.