Re: Good Friday : Fri Apr 07, 2023 8:29 pm  

Zig wrote:

But Stu, winning is all about getting over the whitewash. Wigan were good value for their win today. I thought that Wigan won the arm wrestle and controlled Saints for long periods. The only try Saints scored was from a kick which tells you something about Wigan’s defence. One noticeable thing is that Saints lack pace and that should be of concern going forward. I thought it was a cracking game where 34 players gave it everything.

Correct.

Or as Stu wants us to believe .... Wigan lost and Saints won.

Re: Good Friday : Fri Apr 07, 2023 9:55 pm  

Brilliant day, the DW gets some stick but on a sunny Good Friday with 24,000 in its super league at its very best. Fantastic Atmosphere.

Some rambling thoughts on the game -

This will forever in my mind be known as the “Joe Shorrocks game”. This is what most clubs miss out on. A local lad, academy product who was willing to bust a gut to get the job done for his club. He kept it simple with the ball and his try savers were great.

Peet got the team spot on, I think O’Neill would have struggled with the intensity for 80 minutes and Powell is such a good defender and bossed the ruck.

Harry Smith is one of our best players, class today. Was worried that over the next few months he’d start getting stick as he’s under huge pressure but he was massive today. His defence has improved.

Smithies, Havard, Byrne, - for the last few years these lads have struggled against, being young rookies but this felt like a coming of age game. They really stood up as legit experienced superleague players and got the best of Saints pack.

Mike Cooper had his best game in a Wigan shirt hope he’s not too long. (Singo’s lazy arm after he’d been on a minute nearly cost us).

We were out Saintsing Saints at times. The 10 minutes before Kings try. We line speeding them to death and they could barely make 30m a set then the broke.

King, Miski’s yardage carries were excellent and helped the pack massively.

On Saints thought Hurrell was absolutely immense with ball in hand, game changer.

Roby is the SL GOAT in my mind but he showed his age today. He was well off the pace.

Great day for the club.

Re: Good Friday : Fri Apr 07, 2023 10:57 pm  

Zig wrote:

+1 That game was a credit to the sport. I want to see that kind of contest every week.

Agreed. I was chatting to someone tonight who said, I went to the game, I really should make the effort to go more often, it was great. I imagine I'm not the only one to have heard such talk.

Re: Good Friday : Fri Apr 07, 2023 11:17 pm  

From the sounds of it a couple of Saints fans got thrown out today for fighting for acting like d@ickheads

Re: Good Friday : Sat Apr 08, 2023 1:06 am  

Stu M wrote:

No.

The Knowles clean break and pass to Shorrocks.
Makinson trying to beat French on the outside rather than stepping inside
Lomax clean break when Farrell bats it back
A bombed 2 on 1 from a scrum 20 metres out
Welsby clean break, no one in support
Knowles not grounding it properly for the no try (correct decision)

There’s large elements of Wigan scrambling well to defend but I can’t recall us making as many clean breaks for a long time. On another day we convert those, that’s what I’m saying.

It’s like the Liverpool 7-0 against Utd. They had 8 shots all game and scored 7. They’ve scored one goal since.

Wigan were clinical today.

A bit more composure and we win that by 10 today. Whilst I’m disappointed I’m not massively worried yet about the games that matter at the end of the season.

Answer me something honestly Stu; when saints win a game by tenacious scrambling defence and clinically taking their chances when they come, do you say the other team should have won by 10?

Wigan won by being the better side today. Simple as that. Saying if Farrell doesn't bat the ball down or French doesn't pull off a try saver or that Knowles was good enough to score and the game would have been different is being disingenuous. All those things DID happen because Wigan were good enough to make them happen or Saints weren't good enough to stop them happening.

The "if this would have happened instead of what actually happened, it would have had a different result" is the worst argument in sport. You're better than that.

Re: Good Friday : Sat Apr 08, 2023 1:35 am  

Fabulous occasion today felt like the 1990s all over again and a credit to the sport.
Interested in the narrative that we had two chances and took them and Saints bombed 5 or something. Firstly, when has opposition misfortune been acknowledged by Sts in recent narrow squeak years? I would argue KPP dropping the kick he won when it was easier to score and an unmarked Marshall dropping a quick fire French pass were spurned opportunities too before we get on to the defensive efforts of French, Shorrocks x2 and Farrell as well as the blatantly forward pass for the second half Welsby “opportunity”

Sts have been and still are a champion side but Wigan were better and wanted it more today. Simples & Bravo

Re: Good Friday : Sat Apr 08, 2023 3:52 am  

When people talk about Saints bombing chances, they’re ignoring the fact they don’t have the pace to score from deep. A chance is only a chance if you actually have a chance of scoring but Saints are so slow across the board. They’re a fantastic side and you need to be squeaky clean against them but they’ll only beat you by scoring from within your 20. If you can win the territory battle, you’re most of the way there against them. We’ve learned that lesson this past 14 months and are now sticking in games and being patient. They’ll get you sometimes, like that game in Newcastle but they won’t run away from you as long as you decide to stick in the battle with them. They’re still the favourites for the major trophies this year IMO but we’ve worked out a way of beating them this past season and a bit and I think we can all be confident now that they’re not going to trample over us, like they did in 2021.

Re: Good Friday : Sat Apr 08, 2023 5:11 am  

Dai Jones wrote:

Fabulous occasion today felt like the 1990s all over again and a credit to the sport.
Interested in the narrative that we had two chances and took them and Saints bombed 5 or something. Firstly, when has opposition misfortune been acknowledged by Sts in recent narrow squeak years? I would argue KPP dropping the kick he won when it was easier to score and an unmarked Marshall dropping a quick fire French pass were spurned opportunities too before we get on to the defensive efforts of French, Shorrocks x2 and Farrell as well as the blatantly forward pass for the second half Welsby “opportunity”

Sts have been and still are a champion side but Wigan were better and wanted it more today. Simples & Bravo

If KPP would have caught that kick and passed to Ellis, if Marshall would have caught that French pass and raced to the line and if Wardle would have caught that French pass we’d have won by 24!

Love the saints fans defence online it’s either - “rubbish game and Wigan were slightly less rubbish”, “refs fault didn’t get singleton off and didn’t get loads of 6 agains”. “we take our chances and we win easy” or “if Walmsley and Batch play we win easy”


They can’t seem to comprehend that the super duper world champs who beat Penrith in a friendly in front of 10k in the preseason challenge lost to Joe Shorrocks playing 6.


How many Saints players would make it into Wigans 17? Maybe Welsby on the bench ?

Re: Good Friday : Sat Apr 08, 2023 5:30 am  

NSW wrote:

If KPP would have caught that kick and passed to Ellis, if Marshall would have caught that French pass and raced to the line and if Wardle would have caught that French pass we’d have won by 24!

Love the saints fans defence online it’s either - “rubbish game and Wigan were slightly less rubbish”, “refs fault didn’t get singleton off and didn’t get loads of 6 agains”. “we take our chances and we win easy” or “if Walmsley and Batch play we win easy”


They can’t seem to comprehend that the super duper world champs who beat Penrith in a friendly in front of 10k in the preseason challenge lost to Joe Shorrocks playing 6.


How many Saints players would make it into Wigans 17? Maybe Welsby on the bench ?

Just as well they didn't, I had Wigan to win by 8.

Re: Good Friday : Sat Apr 08, 2023 7:00 am  

People clearly being selective with what they are reading from my posts.

“Wigan had a good game plan, Peet did his homework. They played at a good intensity. We were second best for a lot of the game”

Not sure why the above comments are being ignored.

All I pointed out was the number of clean line breaks we made. Bearing in mind we’ve been largely awful since the WCC then I was surprised. I can’t recall the last time we broke an opponents line so often.

If Warrington have half those chances next week then they will be good enough to convert them.

I said last night that Shorrocks was outstanding. Smithies was also the best forward on the pitch.

With a full team out it could well be Wigan and Warrington in the Grand Final this year.

This is the end of an era for Saints and we are seeing an ageing team devoid of pace and a couple of greats not performing.

It’s Sport, it happens. I’m a Utd fan so I’ve seen it happen with my own football team.

Congratulations to Wigan. They defended well and had the better performers on the day.