This is not St Helens RLFC : Fri Aug 14, 2015 9:47 pm  

My rant this week isn't going to be about our deluded Chairman or our woeful halfbacks or even our shambolic, unambitious recruitment. It's not even about how inept Childs was tonight or about how shocking our performance was. It's about the style of play we have.

To me it feels like the soul of our club died when we left Knowsley Road. We used to play the game at speed, everything was done quickly and in an exciting way. We had ambition, we tried things and we never knew when we were beaten. Even when we weren't the best we'd try to be. Offloads, attacking from deep, flowing moves, flair.

Now, its rinse and repeat one out barges by our overworked pack. Everything is slow, boring and regimented. There is no creativity, no passion, no ambition.

Personally I don't see any of this improving with KC and McManus in charge.

We need a coach that fist pumps and wears shades ASAP.

Re: This is not St Helens RLFC : Fri Aug 14, 2015 9:49 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

My rant this week isn't going to be about our deluded Chairman or our woeful halfbacks or even our shambolic, unambitious recruitment. It's not even about how inept Childs was tonight or about how shocking our performance was. It's about the style of play we have.

To me it feels like the soul of our club died when we left Knowsley Road. We used to play the game at speed, everything was done quickly and in an exciting way. We had ambition, we tried things and we never knew when we were beaten. Even when we weren't the best we'd try to be. Offloads, attacking from deep, flowing moves, flair.

Now, its rinse and repeat one out barges by our overworked pack. Everything is slow, boring and regimented. There is no creativity, no passion, no ambition.

Personally I don't see any of this improving with KC and McManus in charge.

We need a coach that fist pumps and wears shades ASAP.

I'm bored at the games. I find myself watching idiots in the crowd or messing on my phone as im so bored.

Hudds will put a score on us next week.

Re: This is not St Helens RLFC : Fri Aug 14, 2015 9:54 pm  

Same here but it's nothing to do with the ground it's got everything to do with th ecoach and personel at the club. Just look at the impact Daryl Powell's had at Cas. He made Sneyd look like a international half last year and is doing the same with Gale this year. Attractive Rugby League played the right way and great recruitment.

Re: This is not St Helens RLFC : Fri Aug 14, 2015 9:56 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

Now, its rinse and repeat one out barges by our overworked pack. Everything is slow, boring and regimented. There is no creativity, no passion, no ambition.

The one thing that annoyed me the most was when Hull just scored were 8 points up with 9 mins to go, the Saints players just strolled up very slowly to the centre spot, they might as well just waved a white flag, no urgency, passion or will to get back in the game.

Re: This is not St Helens RLFC : Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:01 pm  

LMS having a right go at Percival who in turn had a go at Fleming in the first five minutes wasn't good to see.

Re: This is not St Helens RLFC : Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:22 pm  

St pete wrote: I'm bored at the games. I find myself watching idiots in the crowd or messing on my phone as im so bored. Hudds will put a score on us next week. I and plenty others agree going by the atmosphere tonight. We are an incredibly boring team to watch, this forum seriously needs renaming. www.threedrivesandakick.net

St pete wrote: I'm bored at the games. I find myself watching idiots in the crowd or messing on my phone as im so bored. Hudds will put a score on us next week. I and plenty others agree going by the atmosphere tonight. We are an incredibly boring team to watch, this forum seriously needs renaming. www.threedrivesandakick.net

Re: This is not St Helens RLFC : Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:27 pm  

I preferred us when we had no half backs.

Re: This is not St Helens RLFC : Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:32 pm  

MickeyMo wrote:

I preferred us when we had no half backs.

This is what happens when teams sign below-average, reserve-grade standard Australians and expect them to be good just because they're Australian.

Re: This is not St Helens RLFC : Sat Aug 15, 2015 12:18 am  

Saddened! wrote:

My rant this week isn't going to be about our deluded Chairman or our woeful halfbacks or even our shambolic, unambitious recruitment. It's not even about how inept Childs was tonight or about how shocking our performance was. It's about the style of play we have.

To me it feels like the soul of our club died when we left Knowsley Road. We used to play the game at speed, everything was done quickly and in an exciting way. We had ambition, we tried things and we never knew when we were beaten. Even when we weren't the best we'd try to be. Offloads, attacking from deep, flowing moves, flair.

Now, its rinse and repeat one out barges by our overworked pack. Everything is slow, boring and regimented. There is no creativity, no passion, no ambition.

Personally I don't see any of this improving with KC and McManus in charge.

We need a coach that fist pumps and wears shades ASAP.

I agree with a lot of that mate.

It hasn't got anything to do with moving grounds though. I believe the entertainers tag was lost the day Sean Long moved on and we never replaced him. He, and Bobby Goulding before him gave us personality and character.

This might sound ridiculous but I believe that when you have an exciting half back, the team starts to mirror him in a way. Sean Long and Bobby Goulding had us ticking over like a dream. When they were injured and others stepped in, even with star players like Newlove, Lyon, Sculthorpe, Cunningham, Martyn etc we just looked a bit one dimensional. We still had enough quality to win games but it wasn't pretty.

We never replaced Longy. Eastmond was injured a fair bit and although people will disagree, I don't think he was great at guiding the team around the park. Lomax was proven to not be a natural scrum half. Gaskell never worked out either. We weren't interested in Matty Smith.

We bought Walsh in, and he looked good for a while when he was fit and we all know what happened after that. Was/is he the typical exciting, daft as brush, maverick style half back that we've got used to as Saints fans over the years? I don't think he is or was.

I wish we'd have coughed up for a Brough or a Kevin Brown...

Re: This is not St Helens RLFC : Sat Aug 15, 2015 6:20 am  

headhunter wrote:

This is what happens when teams sign below-average, reserve-grade standard Australians and expect them to be good just because they're Australian.

The is more below average overseas to come in 2016.