Re: Team for Saints (CC) : Mon May 02, 2022 9:29 am  

I think the Lomax injury and potential Percival ban has massively changed the landscape.

I’m nowhere near as confident as I was and feel that Wigan could edge a close one this time. I know that they are missing 3 starters too but you could argue that Smith has improved them in attack and his goal kicking is worth it’s weight in gold.

Defensively he is weaker of course. We still have the pack to win but no halves changes the way we will play no doubt and I can imagine we’ll play a simple game plan, look to complete well and let the forwards win the game.

We won’t have a FB if Welsby plays 6 so that may mean Makinson playing there. It’s a lot of disruption at a crucial stage of the season so we may well get found out on Saturday.

Re: Team for Saints (CC) : Mon May 02, 2022 9:47 am  

Stu M wrote:

I think the Lomax injury and potential Percival ban has massively changed the landscape.

I’m nowhere near as confident as I was and feel that Wigan could edge a close one this time. I know that they are missing 3 starters too but you could argue that Smith has improved them in attack and his goal kicking is worth it’s weight in gold.

Defensively he is weaker of course. We still have the pack to win but no halves changes the way we will play no doubt and I can imagine we’ll play a simple game plan, look to complete well and let the forwards win the game.

We won’t have a FB if Welsby plays 6 so that may mean Makinson playing there. It’s a lot of disruption at a crucial stage of the season so we may well get found out on Saturday.

I think Powell is the bigger loss. I've liked the look of O'Neill in the minutes that he's played, but there have been one or two occasions where his defence has been exposed in such a key position and the game on Saturday is only going to be more intense.

The loss of the two halves for Saints (and possibly Percival) is obviously massive for them and evens out the contest a bit, but if anything it incentivises them even more to make the most of their pack to overpower us down the middle, and really testing how well the likes of O'Neill and others can stand up to that sort of challenge.

If Saints complete their sets well I still think we might struggle to deal with the physicality of their pack, but I'd give us a decent chance with their issues at half back.

Re: Team for Saints (CC) : Mon May 02, 2022 10:07 am  

I definitely think losing Leuluai and Powell hurts our defensive organisation - despite the win on Friday our line had more holes in it than Swiss cheese. A better attacking side than Warrington would have scored more points. Plus as individuals Leuluai and Powell are two of the strongest defenders in the league.

Re: Team for Saints (CC) : Mon May 02, 2022 10:21 am  

MadDogg wrote:

I definitely think losing Leuluai and Powell hurts our defensive organisation - despite the win on Friday our line had more holes in it than Swiss cheese. A better attacking side than Warrington would have scored more points. Plus as individuals Leuluai and Powell are two of the strongest defenders in the league.

Both superb defenders.

I have to admit that I like the thought of Sironen or Matautia running at Smith however on Friday it was noticeable how our attack dropped when Lomax went off. We looked devoid of ideas and given we may have someone playing FB on Saturday for the first time this season then our spine is completely different.

It may well be that Wigan don’t need to worry about defending as much as they think.

Re: Team for Saints (CC) : Mon May 02, 2022 10:42 am  

Stu M wrote:

I think the Lomax injury and potential Percival ban has massively changed the landscape.

I’m nowhere near as confident as I was and feel that Wigan could edge a close one this time. I know that they are missing 3 starters too but you could argue that Smith has improved them in attack and his goal kicking is worth it’s weight in gold.

Defensively he is weaker of course. We still have the pack to win but no halves changes the way we will play no doubt and I can imagine we’ll play a simple game plan, look to complete well and let the forwards win the game.

We won’t have a FB if Welsby plays 6 so that may mean Makinson playing there. It’s a lot of disruption at a crucial stage of the season so we may well get found out on Saturday.

It’s tough to say what Saints struggles on Friday were down to. Was it the players having an eye on this weekend? It was it the disruption caused by the loss of Lomax? I’d suggest it was a mixture of both. That mean this weekend will be extremely intense from you guys, as usual against us but it might not be pretty. We had the conversation on here a few weeks back about how both sides could cope with injury disruption and in particular injury disruption in the spine positions. That test could well be upon us if Lomax is out. They might not be Leuluai and Powell, especially in defence, but to have a natural 7 and 9 to throw in has been very useful for us. In attack I’m not sure we’ve lost anything and we might actually be better off but it’s defensively that the worries creep in.

Saints still big big favourites for my money but I’m not totally ruling us out (I was before Friday).

Re: Team for Saints (CC) : Mon May 02, 2022 10:49 am  

I've never posted on there but I do read RedVee so I'm well aware not a single Wigan player would make the Saints squad let alone a place in their starting 13 so them possibly missing a couple of players won't make the slightest difference to the result unfortunately

Re: Team for Saints (CC) : Mon May 02, 2022 10:51 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

In attack I’m not sure we’ve lost anything and we might actually be better off

).

I think this part of your post nails it. That’s my point. I think you’ve ended up making a bad situation actually better than it was before.

In terms of Friday it’s hard to say why we were off. Salford slowed the ruck down massively, Kendall absolutely hammered us with pens and 6 agains and I do agree that the players may well have had an eye on this week.

Whenever we have a week off we always struggle and it was the case this time. Walmsley and Knowles had their worst games of the season (bar that try saver from Knowles in the last minute)

Matautia was gassed too although he’ll come on from that performance and another weeks training.

Of the two teams Wigan look fresher now which seems daft after our week off and are certainly the more in form of the two.

Re: Team for Saints (CC) : Mon May 02, 2022 10:52 am  

apollosghost wrote:

I've never posted on there but I do read RedVee so I'm well aware not a single Wigan player would make the Saints squad let alone a place in their starting 13 so them possibly missing a couple of players won't make the slightest difference to the result unfortunately

I know that this is tongue in cheek somewhat but I think if you talk to any reasonable Saints fan you’ll know that this is not the case.

Re: Team for Saints (CC) : Mon May 02, 2022 11:02 am  

Stu M wrote:

I know that this is tongue in cheek somewhat but I think if you talk to any reasonable Saints fan you’ll know that this is not the case.

When did RedVee and reasonable ever come together in the same sentence

Re: Team for Saints (CC) : Mon May 02, 2022 11:12 am  

Stu M wrote:

I think this part of your post nails it. That’s my point. I think you’ve ended up making a bad situation actually better than it was before.

In terms of Friday it’s hard to say why we were off. Salford slowed the ruck down massively, Kendall absolutely hammered us with pens and 6 agains and I do agree that the players may well have had an eye on this week.

Whenever we have a week off we always struggle and it was the case this time. Walmsley and Knowles had their worst games of the season (bar that try saver from Knowles in the last minute)

Matautia was gassed too although he’ll come on from that performance and another weeks training.

Of the two teams Wigan look fresher now which seems daft after our week off and are certainly the more in form of the two.

The problem we have though is that if it does improve us, it’s only in attack. We’ve lost probably the best defensive 7 and 9 in the comp and I know as fans we love to concentrate on attack but there’s two try lines to think about and it’ll hurt us pretty badly. Saints minus all their pivots would still be a tough nut to crack defensively, so we won’t be walking in try’s like Friday and if we don’t pick up defensively, a lack of halfbacks for Saints won’t matter as that Saints middle unit will have a field day.

I’m looking forward to it anyway. It felt a forgone conclusion at one point but possibly not now.