Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Thu Feb 09, 2017 11:23 pm  

Hardly a classic in terms of free flowing attacking rugby, but a tight, tense game tonight. We started poorly, plenty of dropped balls from Swift and Douglas in particular, but we defended superbly, Leeds were really up for the game and we stood up to the superbly. Throw in LMS and Walker and I think we'd have been clear by a couple of scores.

Highlight of the game for me was Tommy Makinson's cover tackle. It had shades of Keiron's famous tackle at Knowsley Road, it looked like he had already beaten him from where I was, sensational stuff.

Plenty of resilience and togetherness from the boys tonight, loved how quickly they went in together when it threatened to kick off and no one put a foot wrong in defense. As for the new boys Douglas defended well and I think will end up a great signing for the club. Ryan Morgan got absolutely nothing to work with but still came up with two promising half breaks. Tommy Lee surprised me as well, got to give him some credit as I gave plenty out when we signing him.

Credit too for KC. It would have been very easy to fall back on Jon Wilkin's experience and play him in the halves tonight but he kept faith with Danny Richardson and it paid off. I thought he looked very classy tonight, clearly ready for Super League, putting plenty into the tackles and looking composed with the ball. Brian McDermott put the defeat down to our superior kicking game and it was Richardson who pinned them on their line a few times. The pack was solid tonight, Amor and Thompson were solid and Walmsley made crucial inroads in the second half.

Stand out MOM though was Theo Fages, he was everywhere both in attack and defense.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Thu Feb 09, 2017 11:32 pm  

Morgan didn't get a decent pass after his two good touches in the first half. Shame really he looked like the one player who could cause Leeds trouble.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 12:23 am  

Having two halves, both of whom can tackle both positionally and one-on-one, was a real relief after the last few years. In fact the defence was more or less faultless. Everyone deserves credit on that, but particularly Fages.

With the ball, it was a different story. Leave aside the errors, and the story of our attack is summed up in the difference between the defence our halves had to do, and the defence they didn't have to do on the flanks. Real echoes of last year, in that we just don't seem able to get the ball wide with any purpose. It was so frustrating that Morgan's touches suggested a bloke with footwork and speed, but compare the amount of decent ball he had with the amount of ball Walker had. Even in the 75th minute, Leeds were shifting it from one side to the other with regularity. We seemed to be gritting our teeth to get as far as a kick on the fourth.

I'll be generous in that we prepared for this season with all moves coming off Smith, so there's bound to be a greater impact in terms of disruption in attack than in defence. But we need to find a way to use our threequarters for more than two dummy-half drives in each set.

On the individual front, like I said, no problems with anyone's defence, but Douglas isn't going to want to give away that many penalties and drop that many balls again. Likewise Peyroux and Greenwood need to offer a bit more go-forward than that. I don't know how many carries they each offered, but it didn't seem like many. Swift needs more glue on his hands, and Roby really has to challenge more than that if he's finally going to get a spell in the game. No point resting him if all he does is exactly what he did last year, but for only 40 minutes instead of 80!

Win's a win, though, and Leeds were no mugs. Defence won that one, and I'll take the two points.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 7:43 am  

2 poor teams, least you both have the middle 8s to look forward too.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 8:10 am  

Despite the rustiness in attack thought it was a decent game especially with the efforts in defence from both teams. Pleased for KC in sticking with his young guns in Fages and Richardson as they didn't do much wrong so that's the first experienced game under there belt.
Also thought Lee did OK in the first half did a solid stint allowing Roby to run at a tired defence in the second half. Makinson,s tackle one of the highlights of the game. First match of the season and the 2 points we will take very despite not being a high quality game.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 8:16 am  

blinkstudios wrote:

2 poor teams, least you both have the middle 8s to look forward too.

I,m assuming this is your first season watching rugby league, we need to tell you that trying to be mystic meg is not a good idea based on the first game of the season. Widnes and Salford fans will tell you that from 2016.

[Wildthing]

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 10:57 am  

Judder Man wrote:

I,m assuming this is your first season watching rugby league, we need to tell you that trying to be mystic meg is not a good idea based on the first game of the season. Widnes and Salford fans will tell you that from 2016.

He's a Cas supporter. Likes to wind up other supporters on thier forums.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 11:00 am  

Chuffed with that performance. The defensive attitude was outstanding from 1-17 and in attack we always looked for a potential offload.
Lee and Roby worked together brilliantly and as such, Roby looked more of a running threat as a result.
Richardson & Fages showed a lot of intelligent game management for their age.

I'm really excited for this season.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 11:08 am  

Judder Man wrote: I,m assuming this is your first season watching rugby league, we need to tell you that trying to be mystic meg is not a good idea based on the first game of the season. Widnes and Salford fans will tell you that from 2016. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/yo ... nd-sadists Don't give them the fuel bud.

Judder Man wrote: I,m assuming this is your first season watching rugby league, we need to tell you that trying to be mystic meg is not a good idea based on the first game of the season. Widnes and Salford fans will tell you that from 2016. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/yo ... nd-sadists Don't give them the fuel bud.

Re: Saints v Leeds - Enjoyed that : Fri Feb 10, 2017 11:08 am  

Judder Man wrote: I,m assuming this is your first season watching rugby league, we need to tell you that trying to be mystic meg is not a good idea based on the first game of the season. Widnes and Salford fans will tell you that from 2016. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/yo ... nd-sadists Don't give them the fuel bud.

Judder Man wrote: I,m assuming this is your first season watching rugby league, we need to tell you that trying to be mystic meg is not a good idea based on the first game of the season. Widnes and Salford fans will tell you that from 2016. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/yo ... nd-sadists Don't give them the fuel bud.