Re: Whats your team for Monday vs Warrington? : Thu Aug 02, 2012 12:00 pm  

BackrowSaint wrote:

I don't find our play boring, it's safe but not boring. We've scored the 4th most tries in the league so it's obviously producing. You say you're sick of boring rugby, yet I've seen you outraged when players make mistakes, you can't have outrageous mistake free rugby so it's impossible to please you.

You let a good post down with a stupid final comment, but never mind.

Making mistakes because a great move didn't quite come off is one thing; making mistakes - like passing to Mrs Smith in the fourth row - when we are just doing the same move over and over is something else entirely. I don't mind mistakes as a result of invention and creativity but I'm totally intolerant of them when we are simply doing the same stuff over and over again. We should be able to do that with our eyes closed standing on our hands.

Re: Whats your team for Monday vs Warrington? : Thu Aug 02, 2012 12:41 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

You let a good post down with a stupid final comment, but never mind.

Making mistakes because a great move didn't quite come off is one thing; making mistakes - like passing to Mrs Smith in the fourth row - when we are just doing the same move over and over is something else entirely. I don't mind mistakes as a result of invention and creativity but I'm totally intolerant of them when we are simply doing the same stuff over and over again. We should be able to do that with our eyes closed standing on our hands.

Fair enough, it was perhaps over the top. What I was trying to say is that you either take the choice between set completion or exciting rugby. At the moment our main priority is clearly set completion, but we do on occasion produce some really good looking rugby. Our approach at the moment is working on the whole, should we come unstuck again against Wigan then it may be time to experiment with a bit more flair if we meet them again. As I said earlier though, Lance is really starting topp provide in that department and coming up with some good tries, hopefully that will continue.

Re: Whats your team for Monday vs Warrington? : Thu Aug 02, 2012 12:46 pm  

It might well be boring rugby but its winning rugby and to be quite honest if we can continue winning with this style up until the 6th October at 10pm ill be happy.

Re: Whats your team for Monday vs Warrington? : Thu Aug 02, 2012 12:56 pm  

on_the_charge wrote:

It might well be boring rugby but its winning rugby and to be quite honest if we can continue winning with this style up until the 6th October at 10pm ill be happy.

+1

We are not the same team that we were in seasons like 2006 and dont have the same creativity, but we are playing effective rugby and getting results...210 points scored in our last 6 games shows an average of 35 points a game which to me suggests we are capable of scoring points and I am very happy with that. Added to that we have only conceded 88 (14.6 points per game) shows our defence is pretty good as well.

Dont get me wrong, I would love to see the expansive, entertaining rugby of 2006 again, but at the moment we dont have the players to do it at that high standard, however I would rather see us do what we are good at, win ugly if we have to and get the 2 points than try to play rugby which doesnt work for us and lose

Re: Whats your team for Monday vs Warrington? : Thu Aug 02, 2012 1:03 pm  

wakey_saint wrote:

+1

We are not the same team that we were in seasons like 2006 and dont have the same creativity, but we are playing effective rugby and getting results...210 points scored in our last 6 games shows an average of 35 points a game which to me suggests we are capable of scoring points and I am very happy with that. Added to that we have only conceded 88 (14.6 points per game) shows our defence is pretty good as well.

Dont get me wrong, I would love to see the expansive, entertaining rugby of 2006 again, but at the moment we dont have the players to do it at that high standard, however I would rather see us do what we are good at, win ugly if we have to and get the 2 points than try to play rugby which doesnt work for us and lose

That 2006 team was without doubt the best Super League side this country has ever seen and I would like to have seen it up in the NRL as I think it would have least got into the top 6. 2012 is a completley different side like you say but we are built on solid foundations in defence which has been magnificent since we got tonked against Wigan at Manchester Magic. We are capable of scoring points without being partically expansive. Its a recipe which I feel will serve us well in the play offs. We all know that the play offs brings out intensity and determination ten times more than the regular season and I believe if we finish 2nd or 3rd we have a great chance of at least making it to Old Trafford if not winning it...

Re: Whats your team for Monday vs Warrington? : Thu Aug 02, 2012 1:38 pm  

Our high completion rate has served us well. What we've lacked against Wigan is an in ability to up the intensity levels. IMO we'd be better served trying to do what we are doing, but at a more intense level, than trying to add a range of more expansive tactics.

Re: Whats your team for Monday vs Warrington? : Thu Aug 02, 2012 1:45 pm  

Offside Monkey wrote:

Our high completion rate has served us well. What we've lacked against Wigan is an in ability to up the intensity levels. IMO we'd be better served trying to do what we are doing, but at a more intense level, than trying to add a range of more expansive tactics.

We had a similar situation last year where we had managed a draw and 2 league losses to Wigan, plus they beat us in CC, yet when we had to play them twice in the playoffs, we raised our game massively and came out on top both times to reach Old Trafford. Grand Final night aside, we seem to be able to really raise our game at the right time of the season and I think this could be the same this year for us

Re: Whats your team for Monday vs Warrington? : Thu Aug 02, 2012 2:53 pm  

wakey_saint wrote:

We had a similar situation last year where we had managed a draw and 2 league losses to Wigan, plus they beat us in CC, yet when we had to play them twice in the playoffs, we raised our game massively and came out on top both times to reach Old Trafford. Grand Final night aside, we seem to be able to really raise our game at the right time of the season and I think this could be the same this year for us

Its romantic to think we could do it again, but I'm not so sure this year.
Monday night against Wire will be a good yardstick for it though. Last time we hit them on the crest of our post Royce wave, so it'll be interesting to see how we handle them.

Re: Whats your team for Monday vs Warrington? : Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:43 pm  

Offside Monkey wrote:

Its romantic to think we could do it again, but I'm not so sure this year.
Monday night against Wire will be a good yardstick for it though. Last time we hit them on the crest of our post Royce wave, so it'll be interesting to see how we handle them.

We have still got a long way to go yet, but I am confident with them missing some key players for rest of season we could match them. Last couple of games, our pack has really stepped up with Perry, Laffranchi and LMS all looking very good, Lance has started to put in some quality performances in the halves and I think we could match them IF we can find our best form in playoffs (know its a big if at the moment but possible)

Agree about Monday - apart from Catalans away, toughest games are Wire and Wigan by a country mile so a test against them will give us a better judgement with where we are at. A win on Monday would give us a lift in pushing for 2nd place, whereas a loss means 3/4th finish imo so is a pretty crucial fixture for us and could define our intentions for rest of season

Re: Whats your team for Monday vs Warrington? : Thu Aug 02, 2012 6:27 pm  

Playing Wire now is perfect for us I think. We've got a good run of wins behind us, played well on both sides of ball at times and now we've got our first test when we've got form at a key point in the season. It's the kind of test we need to prove that we can do more than just be consistent and beating Wire would be that.