Re: Squad for Monday : Sun Apr 24, 2011 11:35 am  

Saddened! wrote:

Buggeration. So why release a smoke and daggers 19 man squad?

Are we doing a Millward?

Ladbrokes have a Cas win at 7/2 which seem good odds given the rumours about the available players. Or was that not what you ment?

Re: Squad for Monday : Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:26 pm  

Your all forgetting that Cas will be in exactly the same boat, and infact will have it tougher, as they will have a long tiring coach journey prior to the game and will be facing an hostile away crowd.

I personally expect Royce to rotate some of the forwards. For example i see no reason why the likes of Hale and Dixon and Ashurst cant form the starting backrow. Two of these three players will be fresh.
I would look to rotate the props heavily, so would start with Graham and LMS but have TP and Mcgennis on the bench.

The backs shouldnt really be that beaten up compared to the forwards, so they should be able to handle another 80 minute slot. Though i must say I suspect Jonny Lomax may get rotated at some point.


Overall i think the team could look something like the following

Makinson
Gardner
Shenton
Meli
Foster
Moore
Lomax
Graham
Roby
LMS
Hale
Ashurst
Dixon

bench: TP, Mcgennis, Wilkin, Armstrong

He might not even play Armstrong on the bench, preferring instead a forward to help ease the burden of the forwards battered bodies. Hence Soliola could be the fourth bench spot.
I think these monday games are as much about fatigue management as anything else.
You need some fresh guys to take the heavy burden while rotating the big guns as much as possible to limit their fatigue levels.

Re: Squad for Monday : Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:55 pm  

You're assuming, of course, that all of the above are actually going to play tomorrow!

Re: Squad for Monday : Sun Apr 24, 2011 2:13 pm  

You win. Millward has backed us to win and his prediciton record is awful!

Re: Squad for Monday : Sun Apr 24, 2011 2:14 pm  

who needs flankers? wrote:

You win. Millward has backed us to win and his prediciton record is awful!

Chris Irvine of the Times has also backed you to win. I would imagine everyone is backing you to win!

Re: Squad for Monday : Sun Apr 24, 2011 3:48 pm  

Josh Jones as never played Stand Off. I can assure you about that! Trust me.

Re: Squad for Monday : Sun Apr 24, 2011 3:51 pm  

Obsessive Saint wrote:

Josh Jones as never played Stand Off. I can assure you about that! Trust me.

Well, I copied and pasted the piece from the Saints website which specifically includes stand off in the list of positions he has played. No offence, like, but I would believe the Saints website on this occasion since they have been training him for a few years now.

Re: Squad for Monday : Sun Apr 24, 2011 4:15 pm  

The Chair Maker wrote:

Your all forgetting that Cas will be in exactly the same boat, and infact will have it tougher, as they will have a long tiring coach journey prior to the game and will be facing an hostile away crowd.

I personally expect Royce to rotate some of the forwards. For example i see no reason why the likes of Hale and Dixon and Ashurst cant form the starting backrow. Two of these three players will be fresh.
I would look to rotate the props heavily, so would start with Graham and LMS but have TP and Mcgennis on the bench.

The backs shouldnt really be that beaten up compared to the forwards, so they should be able to handle another 80 minute slot. Though i must say I suspect Jonny Lomax may get rotated at some point.


Overall i think the team could look something like the following

Makinson
Gardner
Shenton
Meli
Foster
Moore
Lomax
Graham
Roby
LMS
Hale
Ashurst
Dixon

bench: TP, Mcgennis, Wilkin, Armstrong

He might not even play Armstrong on the bench, preferring instead a forward to help ease the burden of the forwards battered bodies. Hence Soliola could be the fourth bench spot.
I think these monday games are as much about fatigue management as anything else.
You need some fresh guys to take the heavy burden while rotating the big guns as much as possible to limit their fatigue levels.

I totally agree with all of this. Its more about fatigue management more than anything else. Great Post.

Re: Squad for Monday : Sun Apr 24, 2011 4:21 pm  

You can't rotate the squad at this stage if there are no senior players to bring in. Losing a game on purpose would just be a waste, given the run we've got where wins are going to become a rare thing one would think.

This mess just highlights how poor the recruitment policy is at Saints. Sure it's nice to have local kids when the squad is healthy, but when it's not there is no papering over the cracks like other SL clubs can, ours are laid open and everything crumbles rather quickly.

Re: Squad for Monday : Sun Apr 24, 2011 4:30 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

This mess just highlights how poor the recruitment policy is at Saints. Sure it's nice to have local kids when the squad is healthy, but when it's not there is no papering over the cracks like other SL clubs can, ours are laid open and everything crumbles rather quickly.

I don't think the problem lies in local kids but in the number of players we dispatched at the end of last season. They might have all wanted to leave for all I know but at the time it appeared to be reckless and I think that is proving the case now.

Various websites are saying that Jon Wilkin is going to partner Lomax in the halves, with Andrew Dixon filling in for Wilkin. I guess we have got to that point when poor old Wilkin has to do a job he has expressly said he doesn't feel he is best suited to doing!