Re: Brave but ultimately poor : Sat Sep 21, 2013 9:03 pm  

Sam Hopkins isn't a half back.
He wears the 8 shirt at Leigh and has played most of this season at 13.
We're told he's around 6'3" and 17st which fits the bill well for a SL forward.

Also I disagree with the OP. Don't know where the "Brave" comes from, Saints were excellent last night and should have won.
Watkins dropped the ball and the player gave himself up before the decision was made. If he felt he had scored he have been all smiles and high fived all round. He didn't, his face looked miserable and he shook his head as if he knew he'd dropped the thing! Field position for Leeds would have been helped by the fact Saints didn't get a penalty in the game until 50 mins against Leeds five.

Someone should have had a go kicking at goal from the half way line. McRae said Turner would have the distance, true or not I don't know.
Also a complete mess of the drop goal attempt. Chances there which have to be taken in knock out rugby.
Great game and both teams gave their all.
Whoever had won surely Smith would chose for the club call.
Both teams looked exhausted and recovery in 6 days seems a big ask.

Re: Brave but ultimately poor : Sat Sep 21, 2013 9:05 pm  

Sam Hopkins is a prop or loose forward.

Will you guys not go back in for O'Brien? He wont get many gamescat Wire and I reckon they'd let him go for a reasonable fee.

I thought you played well last night but I never seriously thought you could win the GF. There are too many weaknesses in this current Saints side but that will change next year. Your back will be miles better, your backline has plenty of pace and if Walsh can take control the side looks very well balanced.

Re: Brave but ultimately poor : Sat Sep 21, 2013 9:39 pm  

Sadfish wrote:

I thought it was a good game, Leeds had more chances, more territory, but Saints defence held well. In saying that I didnt think either would go on to win the SL this year.

They say that about us EVERY season...

Re: Brave but ultimately poor : Sat Sep 21, 2013 11:21 pm  

Duke Eddington wrote:

So you are saying Sam Hopkins is a good enough stand-off to play for Saints and we should have signed him?
You aren't even aware that he is a prop forward, are you.

He'd still be better than Hohaia. I meant Sneyd from Salford.

Re: Brave but ultimately poor : Sat Sep 21, 2013 11:37 pm  

Sneyd was part of the Chase deal, so no chance there either.

Re: Brave but ultimately poor : Sat Sep 21, 2013 11:42 pm  

Carlos Alberto wrote:

Sneyd was part of the Chase deal, so no chance there either.

Has any other Super League side in the history of the competition ever gone two seasons without two halfbacks in their squad? I doubt they have to be honest.

Re: Brave but ultimately poor : Sat Sep 21, 2013 11:53 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

Has any other Super League side in the history of the competition ever gone two seasons without two halfbacks in their squad? I doubt they have to be honest.

We have Wheeler and Walsh, Lance was signed as a halfback, Yates is on duel reg (is he staying?) etc etc so I count more than 2 and that's before you get to Wilkin whose done a competent job in difficult circumstances this year!

You never answered the question who is available that you would want in the team? I can link you to off contract if you need some inspiration!

Re: Brave but ultimately poor : Sun Sep 22, 2013 10:34 am  

The game reminded me of some of the closer grand finals against Leeds. If we were struggling to get out of our 20 we would start to panic and try to play around Leeds, usually with disastrous results. As in those grand finals, Leeds played with patience, safe in the knowledge that we would be the first team to depart from their game plan.

The fact that we nearly won the game despite this is testament to the sheer courage with which we played. With Walsh to add a bit of composure and kick one or two goals we would probably have done it, not to mention the much stronger pack we'll have next year.

Regarding individual performances, I thought Josh Jones was sensational. It's crazy that he's only 20. Manu was our most dangerous attacker, but contributed to the panic at times. I also thought Jordan Turner was excellent.

Lomax was frustrating at times when returning deep kicks; he tended to amble up and wait for support rather than getting his head down and running for vital yards. Hohaia was gutsy but isn't a stand off in a million years. 99% of the time he just catches the ball deep and ships it on without taking a single step forward. He doesn't interest any defenders at all, which means the players outside him are always faced with a fully organised edge defence.

But, as people have said, it was a brave performance, and one which the players can be proud of.

Re: Brave but ultimately poor : Sun Sep 22, 2013 3:38 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

It's pretty hard to knock the players after that effort last night. A real gruelling game, a fantastic advert for Super League and the intensity of the play offs. Leeds are a superb side, a side of winners and I want them to win it again. They've got everything we're lacking by the bucket load.

Leeds dominated us throughout in terms of field position and Sinfield and particularly Burrow marshalled them round really well. If we had one player of the quality of Sinfield, Burrow or McGuire we'd have won last night. The lads defended superbly, some really heroic stuff. Manu, Jones and Wilkin all tackled themselves to a standstill. I thought Manu was absolutely sensational tonight, setting a ridiculously high standard throughout. LMS too had a dig again.

When we did get chances tonight we were pretty shocking. Although the defense was good tonight, the attack wasn't good enough. We've had a full season under Brown and it still doesn't look like the players actually know what they are supposed to be doing when they get into the opposition half. It seems plays 1 and 2 are just one up tackle wasters to settle in. 3 is a crashball pass telegraphed, faxed and emailed to the defense in advance and plays 4 and 5 are blind panic. I think some of the senior players really need to take some of the blame for it though. Meli's hand in to give a stupid penalty on Leeds' line on a rare sortie down into Leeds 20, Roby's decision to kick on the second when under Leeds' sticks when it wasn't on at all was also stupid. Hohaia seemed to spend the game chastising the likes of Wilkin, Roby and Lomax for what they did on the previous play. Roby in particular was awful in his decision making.

A point I'd given up making recently out of sheer boredom, Paul Wellens. Paul Wellens starting at fullback is one thing. It's a stupid thing and a should-have-ended-4-years-ago thing, but it's nothing compared to the ridiculousness of starting with Paul Wellens on the bench. He didn't seem to get on until the hour mark. Why bring him on at all? Is that Brown protesting at McManus forcing him to be in the 17? Or is there meant to be some kind of point to having the slowest back in the history of the world on the bench?

Last night kind of sums our season up to be honest. Solid in defense, like headless chickens with the ball. It's incredibly naive of us to think Luke Walsh, a player proven to collapse under pressure, will solve all our problems. We NEED another halfback.

Utterly clueless numptie....have you any idea at all about the game?

Re: Brave but ultimately poor : Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:40 pm  

stles wrote:

Utterly clueless numptie....have you any idea at all about the game?

Er! No he hasn't.