Re: Royce out : Tue Feb 01, 2011 9:57 am  

FearTheVee wrote:

That is absolutely what you would have said had Potter been in charge of the match I'm sure.

It would be "this was our last chance to get a settled team before Wigan, he's clueless".

Potter came to us when we still had a lot of very experienced players, many of whom had played together for years, we were still playing at Knowsley Road as we had been for years and Potter himself was very recently experienced in Superleague. That meant all of us had an opportunity to see what he did with a team. When Potter first came, my only concerns were defence and discipline. That's on record and bearing in mind where our defence and discipline were under Anderson, my concerns were justified.

Royce Simmons is a new coach fielding a team without almost all of its most experienced Superleague players plus three players he didn't choose, one of whom is still injured. He has had an incredibly short off-season bearing in mind injuries and internationals. He has a smaller squad at present than Potter had and has lost a key focus in Cunningham, who Potter still had at his disposal. Potter had it easy, except for the injuries. Simmons has a far, far more difficult task as he has to blend a new team together in a new but temporary environment having not coached at first grade for years.

If Potter had had us playing like that against Huddersfield then I would have been concerned. I'm not concerned that we played like that with Simmons in charge. Disappointed but not concerned. If we are still playing like that in a few weeks' time then I may start to be concerned.

As for Royce "discovering" Wheeler is the solution at left centre, I could have told him that 18 months ago.

He has previously said that Wheeler has played halfback previously and he wanted to see what he could do there. Royce doesn't have the benefit of watching our players every week like we do, so he is still getting to know them. I think it's a positive that he actually allowed Wheeler to have a go at halfback as well as at centre.

Re: Royce out : Tue Feb 01, 2011 10:03 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

If Potter had had us playing like that against Huddersfield then I would have been concerned. I'm not concerned that we played like that with Simmons in charge.

Astounding!

p.s. I agree with much of what you've said there, just pulling your leg.

It's a friendly under a new coach with a lot of chopping and changing, we'll see what happens come MM.

Re: Royce out : Tue Feb 01, 2011 10:30 am  

Don Brennan wrote:

http://www.saintsrlfc.com/news/2978

Last paragraph, a certain pie muncher will enjoy reading that.

In best Rogues smug mode, I told you so.
It's been killing the game for years, failed halfbacks at hooker, with poor distribution skills and very little craft. Head down and run from dummy half.

As I've said before, bring back the old rule, that if the dummy half gets tackled in possession then it should be either a handover or a scrum with head and feed to the opposition.

Re: Royce out : Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:19 pm  

Don Brennan wrote:

http://www.saintsrlfc.com/news/2978

Last paragraph, a certain pie muncher will enjoy reading that.

Most odd.
I thought our game over the last 10+ years was largely based on speed around the ruck; now sizzler is saying he doesn't like it?

Is this all part of being in a post KC era?

Re: Royce out : Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:23 pm  

Me thinks this might be the start of a mid-table transition phase. Simmons certainly seems to see a different future for us that the way we've played under Millward, Anderson and even Potter.

Encouraging signs I think, but not in terms of trophies in the short term.

Re: Royce out : Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:56 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

Me thinks this might be the start of a mid-table transition phase. Simmons certainly seems to see a different future for us that the way we've played under Millward, Anderson and even Potter.

Encouraging signs I think, but not in terms of trophies in the short term.

There is absolutely no chance of Saints finishing mid-table in 2011.

Making the jump from a friendly defeat against a strong side (with another SL friendly under their belt and a full side without experimentation, whilst we chop and change our backs throughout) and finishing mid-table is daft, but very much in keeping with your usual spoutings.

Re: Royce out : Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:04 pm  

The Giants players that played last night have only played in 2 of the 4 freindlies just like the Saints boys
so the above poster can not make that an excuse,the sooner people realise that the Giants are real force and stop making excuses when there team beat.

Re: Royce out : Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:06 pm  

FearTheVee wrote:

There is absolutely no chance of Saints finishing mid-table in 2011.

Making the jump from a friendly defeat against a strong side (with another SL friendly under their belt and a full side without experimentation, whilst we chop and change our backs throughout) and finishing mid-table is daft, but very much in keeping with your usual spoutings.

you've got to remember he thought we'd finish behind wakefield last year, so this is a marked improvement!

Re: Royce out : Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:20 pm  

BOYD2 wrote:

The Giants players that played last night have only played in 2 of the 4 freindlies just like the Saints boys
so the above poster can not make that an excuse,the sooner people realise that the Giants are real force and stop making excuses when there team beat.

They'd played a full match against a SL side, we played half a game against a Championship club.

If we were going into every match in 2011 with the intention of swapping around centres, stand offs and 7s throughout the match, I might read something into the result.

Re: Royce out : Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:35 pm  

FearTheVee wrote:

They'd played a full match against a SL side, we played half a game against a Championship club.

If we were going into every match in 2011 with the intention of swapping around centres, stand offs and 7s throughout the match, I might read something into the result.

wrong again, we played the first team for 40 mins v hull kr. then lots of changes for the 2nd half

wheeler looked a very good player for you lot lastnight

giants looked very good everywhere

it was only a friendly but i know which camp id rather be with at the moment.

poor crowd lastnight , i know it was a monday night but 1200