Re: In more positive news : Sun Jun 26, 2011 12:04 pm  

bewareshadows wrote:

Personally I 'm thinking final of CC, and semi of the playoffs will be a good result for our season. Once it gets to that point, well it's sport so far from predictable.

I'm thinking your expectations are too high unless we get a fit and firing Pryce back in the halves. And even then, we are still relying on quite a bit of inexperience.

Re: In more positive news : Sun Jun 26, 2011 1:46 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

I'm thinking your expectations are too high unless we get a fit and firing Pryce back in the halves. And even then, we are still relying on quite a bit of inexperience.

Really?


I reckon we can beat Hull KR. Then we have a 1 in 3 chance of drawing Wigan or Warrington in the Semi. I think the chances of making a CC final are pretty good.

Then the playoffs, well the way it is set up, all the top 4 should make a semi, and ok Catalan are catching up, but I think they still have Wigan and Warrington to play again, also they play us at home so it's in our hands, and watching then against huddersfield last week. Huddersfield should have won by more.

Like you say, that's without even taking Leon or Clough or Wheeler back into account.

Re: In more positive news : Mon Jun 27, 2011 7:37 am  

JWP wrote:

What's the general vibe amongst Saints fans ref Royce?

I really threw my toys out of the pram after we lost to Quins. I was very upset and feared the worse.

However, I've been made to eat my words somewhat since.

Royce has had to deal with some difficult things, Eastmondgate for one, aswell as having to travel home during his father's last days.
He's also had the much talked about injuries. Not just the number, but the fact they really stacked up in the half backs (at one point we were missing Pryce, Eastmond, Lomax, Gaskell, Wheeler and I think Moore) which was really bad luck.

I think that whereas some new coaches are lucky in the fact they build on what previous coaches had in place and have an instant success, perhaps Royce's structure's meant a bit of dismantling first, which added to our slow start.

We play some very good rugby and I agreed with saddened that if Pryce was in that team, with his big game confidence and presence with the ball, we could look really good.

What worries me is we don't seem to have a lot of gas in the tank. We've not performed at all as we could in our recent derby or the loss to Hudds. We sometimes fade towards the death in big games. Our line speed in defense is slower than other big teams.
Its very possible we'll work through these and come out a top team, but we'll have to wait and see.

Re: In more positive news : Mon Jun 27, 2011 7:44 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

and the lack of Keiron Cunningham (our leader on the field).

When can we move on? for the sake of the Team now, Roby has been much better as an all round player and hooker than Keiron was for many seasons, the team more so younger players and even fans came to believe the myth that without KC it was the end of the world, all clubs lose players.

Re: In more positive news : Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:04 am  

jaybs wrote:

When can we move on? for the sake of the Team now, Roby has been much better as an all round player and hooker than Keiron was for many seasons, the team more so younger players and even fans came to believe the myth that without KC it was the end of the world, all clubs lose players.

Well said.

It's getting boring now. Cunningham is gone, he doesn't play for St Helen's anymore. The fact people like Saintsfan keep blaming your dodgy season/results this season on the absense of KC is embarrasing.

Move on, he's not going to play for you again.

Re: In more positive news : Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:32 am  

jaybs wrote:

When can we move on? for the sake of the Team now, Roby has been much better as an all round player and hooker than Keiron was for many seasons

We can move on when someone in the team takes on his role or the team as a collective learn how to keep calm and close a game down. We have missed Keiron during the last three matches because we have needed someone to come on and take control. Monaghan did it for Warrington on Friday night. Take Monaghan out of that team and Warrington are less of a team. We were the same with Cunningham (who was a match for Monaghan). Roby is a great player but he does not have the same impact on the team as Cunningham had, and he doesn't have his deviousness either. So show me another player who can take on his role - and every team needs one - and we will start to maintain our composure and close matches down.

Re: In more positive news : Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:40 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

We can move on when someone in the team takes on his role or the team as a collective learn how to keep calm and close a game down. We have missed Keiron during the last three matches because we have needed someone to come on and take control. Monaghan did it for Warrington on Friday night. Take Monaghan out of that team and Warrington are less of a team. We were the same with Cunningham (who was a match for Monaghan). Roby is a great player but he does not have the same impact on the team as Cunningham had, and he doesn't have his deviousness either. So show me another player who can take on his role - and every team needs one - and we will start to maintain our composure and close matches down.

Do you think Pryce would have helped in this situation? Maybe not with the defence like KC did, but in terms of settling down the attack?

Re: In more positive news : Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:05 am  

Offside Monkey wrote:

Do you think Pryce would have helped in this situation? Maybe not with the defence like KC did, but in terms of settling down the attack?

I don't know. Pryce doesn't strike me as a player who would calm the team down. He seems to tell people off! He might have given us direction in attack but whether he would have been the guy to follow, I don't know.

Re: In more positive news : Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:12 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

I don't know. Pryce doesn't strike me as a player who would calm the team down. He seems to tell people off! He might have given us direction in attack but whether he would have been the guy to follow, I don't know.

I think we tend to consider Pryce a bit of a unpredictable player, but if you think back to games when our pack have been slow to get going, rather then mess about, he'll take it on with a simple hit up and quick play and things will start to fall into place.

Re: In more positive news : Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:56 am  

the difference with pryce is when he sees a gap he's away, those long legs stretching out...towards the end of last season he was playing well ..dont care what anyone says he's the player weve missed most of all and i for one will be glad to see him back.