Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Feb 04, 2021 11:17 am  

MattyB wrote:

Did you not watch the Grand Final? We were mullered in possession, couldn't get out of our own forty at times.

Spot on.

The two sides were pretty evenly matched, but Saints shaded it with better go forward. Having Havard back will help, but we definitely need another starting prop. GB was signed for a reason and that requirement hasnt gone away.

The winger debate is a good one though. I still believe that if Burgess would have been on the field at the time, he'd have scored the chance Hardaker got held up on. Likewise Bibby (a player I rate) didn't convert a couple of chances and maybe Manfredi would have taken them.

Wing and prop are the only two positions there's question marks over. Prop comes first however as it gives a "bump" to the rest of the team.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Feb 04, 2021 11:24 am  

Jukesays wrote: I wonder why? I've got friends in L-O-O-W places. Cause I've got friends in low places Where the whiskey drowns And the beer chases my blues away And I'll be okay I'm not big on social graces Think I'll slip on down to the oasis Oh, I've got friends in low places https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0_der_ ... 2FJWKCraft Good one for JF to learn!!

Jukesays wrote: I wonder why? I've got friends in L-O-O-W places. Cause I've got friends in low places Where the whiskey drowns And the beer chases my blues away And I'll be okay I'm not big on social graces Think I'll slip on down to the oasis Oh, I've got friends in low places https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0_der_ ... 2FJWKCraft Good one for JF to learn!!

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Feb 04, 2021 11:31 am  

MattyB wrote:

Did you not watch the Grand Final? We were mullered in possession, couldn't get out of our own forty at times.

Spot on, not seen any stats or anything but felt like saints were making 60m a set and we were making 35/40m.

Despite us playing great I hope the club realise this is a problem against the bigger teams (Leeds semi as well)

Hopefully Bullock can improve his fitness and get more game time. He’s good for metres.

Smithies and Partington as well hopefully develop more and have more impactful carries.

A pack leader Hil/Cooper, Walamsley, Thompson, Watts, Taylor, Peacock etc would transform us. They are hard to find though.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Feb 04, 2021 11:34 am  

MattyB wrote:

Did you not watch the Grand Final? We were mullered in possession, couldn't get out of our own forty at times.

Agreed.

The 2 big games we lost this year semi final of the cup and Grand Final we were absolutely dominated by the opposition Props.

2 quality props in the squad in both games and we could have quite comfortably done the clean sweep last year.

It’s a game of very fine margins.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Feb 04, 2021 12:08 pm  

I think the 2016 and 2018 GF wins have maybe masked this issue in the eyes of some. I've always thought that we've won trophies in spite of our front-row weakness whereas others may have felt that the trophies were a sign that smaller and more durable forwards were the way to go. I think it speaks volumes about our qualities in other areas that we've won so much and went so close last year. We cover up our immense difficulty getting up the field with a phenomenal work ethic in defence and a resilience that no other club can match in my view.

I've not been able to find any stats for the GF (probably because many of the SL team may be on furlough) but I'd be interested to see some territory percentages and also the stats on line breaks (on the rare occasions we did have some good ball I thought we were going through them with relative ease on the fringes.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Feb 04, 2021 1:37 pm  

jonh wrote:

Agreed.

The 2 big games we lost this year semi final of the cup and Grand Final we were absolutely dominated by the opposition Props.

2 quality props in the squad in both games and we could have quite comfortably done the clean sweep last year.

It’s a game of very fine margins.

Yep, Moley said we’re searching for a prop

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Feb 04, 2021 4:13 pm  

We can manage without a new prop and certainly can without a new winger but that’s just it - manage.

With the squad we have and expectations of fans and the hierarchy ‘managing’ just isn’t good enough and I’d hope that because of that we’re on with sorting a quality prop. I agree with all the points above about our go forward. IMO that’s where we’ve lacked for 10years or more but we’ve been good enough in the backs to get the wins and trophies.

For me we should go all out for Liam Watts or (if the unsettled rumours had an ounce of truth in them) Luke Thompson. Either would immeasurably improve our pack.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Feb 04, 2021 4:58 pm  

100% Warrior wrote:

We can manage without a new prop and certainly can without a new winger but that’s just it - manage.

With the squad we have and expectations of fans and the hierarchy ‘managing’ just isn’t good enough and I’d hope that because of that we’re on with sorting a quality prop. I agree with all the points above about our go forward. IMO that’s where we’ve lacked for 10years or more but we’ve been good enough in the backs to get the wins and trophies.

For me we should go all out for Liam Watts or (if the unsettled rumours had an ounce of truth in them) Luke Thompson. Either would immeasurably improve our pack.

Or better still, both

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Feb 04, 2021 5:00 pm  

MadDogg wrote:

I think the 2016 and 2018 GF wins have maybe masked this issue in the eyes of some. I've always thought that we've won trophies in spite of our front-row weakness whereas others may have felt that the trophies were are a sign that smaller and more durable forwards were the way to go. I think it speaks volumes about our qualities in other areas that we've won so much and went so close last year. We cover up our immense difficulty getting up the field with a phenomenal work ethic in defence and a resilience that no other club can match in my view.

I've not been able to find any stats for the GF (probably because many of the SL team may be on furlough) but I'd be interested to see some territory percentages and also the stats on line breaks (on the rare occasions we did have some good ball I thought we were going through them with relative ease on the fringes.

I think that is a fair call, but we had a coach who knew how to win with the limited resources available to him.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Feb 04, 2021 5:09 pm  

Sweaty Betty's wrote:

Or better still, both

Imagine the melt down if we did