The Under performers. : Tue May 22, 2012 12:46 am  

Over the last few week I think plenty of us, myself included, have identified who we feel the under performers are in our team. After tonight's improved performance how do you think these players in particular went?

Michael Shenton - In all honesty I thought he had an average game tonight. Some very poor defensive reads at times allowing Leeds the overlap, we was fairly lucky they only took advantage once. Having said that, when he read the plays correctly I thought he defended well and stuck to his tackles. Attacking wise I thought he was the same as he has been, the ball died with him a number of times, not for a lack of effort. However, his centre play was absolutely marvelous to put Tommy in for his try and shows what he can do against a stretched defence with space in front of him. A pretty standard performance with a couple of great glimpses we haven't seen for a while. I still feel Josh Jones will offer us more at the minute from what he showed in his brief stint.

Lance Hohaia - I thought Lance went quite well today. His defence seemed vastly improved from last week and he took the line on a few times which was good to see, on occasion troubling them. His kicking was a bit better although still not great, a couple of very good, smart kicks which gives me a slight bit of hope for him. It seemed to help with Wilkin taking a bit of the pressure off his kicking, Wilkin's spiral bombs were very effective. Hopefully he can kick on and improve even more next week, he's still got a way to go.

Josh Perry - Best game in a Saints shirt. His defence was outstanding, hungry and aggressive, what we expected when we signed him. His go forward was also very good, he dominated the collision and got some slick offloads away which helped us push forward offensively. What can I say about his clearance kick, Johnny Wilkinson would have been proud of that one. He was a glimmer of his former self tonight and hopefully he can continue that form, more of the same please Josh.

Gary Wheeler - What I was pleased with today is that he cut out the vast error count from last week. I don't blame him at all for the error leading to Leeds' first try, that was some veteran play from Peacock, perhaps could have carried the ball a little tighter. In attack he was good and looked threatening with his step but can be greedy at times. If centre is a long term position for him he needs to work on his centre play. He often takes the wrong options and feeds his winger at the wrong time or not at all when he should. This should come with time and experience in the position though and it's promising to see him come through another match unscathed, despite bending his leg under his own body. His defence was good in general, seemed to make plenty of tackles and rarely got knocked back in collision, shouldn't of missed the tackle on Sinfield for Delaney's try though. Hopefully as he learns the centre position and gets more game time he can kick on.

Re: The Under performers. : Tue May 22, 2012 6:20 am  

I mostly agree, but I think I was less impressed with Hohaia than some.
When he's at 2nd receiver, I think he's starting a bit to narrow and travelling a bit to laterally. That could well just be something that needs ironing out on the training paddock though.
Good smart kick for the Lomax try though, and he defended much better than I've seen him so far.

Re: The Under performers. : Tue May 22, 2012 6:49 am  

Perry seemed to do more minutes as well last night which is a good sign. If he plays like that for the next year and a half I'd be very happy. We cant ask for more than 100% effort if he gives that I'd be happy enough.

Re: The Under performers. : Tue May 22, 2012 7:05 am  

Offside Monkey wrote:

I mostly agree, but I think I was less impressed with Hohaia than some.
When he's at 2nd receiver, I think he's starting a bit to narrow and travelling a bit to laterally. That could well just be something that needs ironing out on the training paddock though.
Good smart kick for the Lomax try though, and he defended much better than I've seen him so far.

I thought it was a poor kick, straight to two leeds defenders, only their fumbles and a lucky bounce got that try, imo

Re: The Under performers. : Tue May 22, 2012 7:07 am  

Saint Simon wrote:

I thought it was a poor kick, straight to two leeds defenders, only their fumbles and a lucky bounce got that try, imo

At least it made ground. If it hits the floor theres always a chance the bounce could go your way.

Re: The Under performers. : Tue May 22, 2012 7:10 am  

RedVeeSte wrote:

At least it made ground. If it hits the floor theres always a chance the bounce could go your way.

hardly makes it a good kick though

Re: The Under performers. : Tue May 22, 2012 7:14 am  

Saint Simon wrote:

hardly makes it a good kick though

I didnt say it was. But it does make it a better kick than flying straight into the arms of the FB or Winger. Ala most of the kicks against Wigan in the CC.

Re: The Under performers. : Tue May 22, 2012 7:17 am  

I wasnt impressed with Lance at all.
And Im now starting to agree about Shenton. Great pass but im not sure he is worth his place in front of Wheeler and Josh Jones.

Re: The Under performers. : Tue May 22, 2012 7:30 am  

Saint Simon wrote:

I thought it was a poor kick, straight to two leeds defenders, only their fumbles and a lucky bounce got that try, imo

Nah, it was a good kick that. If you can find the ground with backspin that close to the line you're going to cause problems.

Overall, though, his kicking was still pretty rank.

Re: The Under performers. : Tue May 22, 2012 8:20 am  

I thought lance hohaia performance was a improvement but still poor. His kicking game again was shocking.