Like Hull last week, I think the players have spoken on the Cunningham issue. They clearly don't want to get him sacked, the effort was definitely there tonight. What was also there was the style of play. I've not seen us promote the ball, play on the front foot and actively look for the offload like since Cunningham has been in charge. Some of the attacking play was great. The defense was a contrast, the first half was absolutely horrendous, ridiculously poor defending. The second was brilliant, from both teams and the intensity was far higher.
The player that impressed me the most was Tommy. His big hit on Bosc had the neighbours banging on the wall in complaint against my shouting. Theo's offload which ultimately won us the game was sensational, the kind of thing that would massively hyped if Billy Slater or Shaun Johnson did it.
If we back that up and beat Warrington things will be looking a lot better than they have been. If we don't, tonight will just have papered over the cracks and allowed Cunningham to struggle on for another few weeks. I'd love to know whether the increased attacking intent shown tonight was a Cunningham-led thing or the players taking things into their own hands. Last season when we were playing horribly, there was one week where things noticably stepped up and we went on a big winning run. Is it Keiron's doing or the players saying enough is enough which his structure and grind?
The one thing that almost ruined the game was the refereeing. Swift's no try was another example of very strange decisions going against us. Saints should make an almighty fuss about that one, it was sent upstairs as a try and there wasn't even the slightest hint of evidence to the contrary. Having said that, the forward pass call to deny a Catalans try was also a terrible decision, one I'd have been raging about if it was us being prevented from scoring.
