St.Helens : Fri Oct 01, 2021 8:33 pm  

As much as it pains me to say it…this club is doing something very right.

Entertaining rugby played in terrific atmosphere led by a very aggressive and dominant pack including the consistently impressive Alex Walmsley.

There was never a moment tonight when you didn’t think they were going to win although Leeds were very similar to Wigan…dumb, no aggression and unable to get on the front foot.

It’s an impressive turnaround when you think of where they were under Cunningham.

Just makes you realise how critical our next coaching appointment will be.

Re: St.Helens : Fri Oct 01, 2021 8:42 pm  

It’s no coincidence the 2 teams heading to Old Trafford look like they are playing in Fast Forward compared to all the other SL teams.

Power and pace in SL makes you competitive.

Re: St.Helens : Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:53 pm  

It’s pathetic how far in front of everyone they are. They’re a good side by current standards and they’re clearly better than any other superleague side but the thing that all the other teams should feel pretty embarrassed about, is that they’ve actually gone backwards since Holbrook left but are in reality further away from every other side than they were at that point. That means the other teams have gone backwards as well but at a greater rate than Saints.

I’ve seen sides comfortably better than this Saints side struggle to win things but the game is on its backside and they’re reaping the rewards of that. It’ll be another walkover at Old Trafford unfortunately. That Catalans side is in a totally false position IMO. If they stick within 20 points I’ll be amazed.

Re: St.Helens : Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:59 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

It’s pathetic how far in front of everyone they are. They’re a good side by current standards and they’re clearly better than any other superleague side but the thing that all the other teams should feel pretty embarrassed about, is that they’ve actually gone backwards since Holbrook left but are in reality further away from every other side than they were at that point. That means the other teams have gone backwards as well but at a greater rate than Saints.

I’ve seen sides comfortably better than this Saints side struggle to win things but the game is on its backside and they’re reaping the rewards of that. It’ll be another walkover at Old Trafford unfortunately. That Catalans side is in a totally false position IMO. If they stick within 20 points I’ll be amazed.

It’s so very basic what they do.

Stunning others cannot.

I do though fancy Catalans next week. Of any team in SL Catalans version 21 are the ones that have a style that could dethrone them.

Re: St.Helens : Fri Oct 01, 2021 10:13 pm  

jonh wrote:

It’s so very basic what they do.

Stunning others cannot.

I do though fancy Catalans next week. Of any team in SL Catalans version 21 are the ones that have a style that could dethrone them.

It’s literally intensity in every single area of the game and Walmsley and teams can’t raise themselves to go with it. We managed it twice at the end of last season and won one and was unlucky to not win the other. Leeds were a shambles tonight but it wasn’t surprising. A mate who loves a bet messaged me pre game and said he couldn’t believe Leeds had been given 12 and he’d lumped on them to hold it to less. I told him I thought they were very nearly as bad as us last week and I’d go Saints by a distance more than 12. I honestly think that pound for pound, I’ve never seen a bunch of teams this bad. They’re all a joke pretty much and Saints are the least worst. The fact we finished 4th tells you absolutely everything you need to know. That was relegation form in some years gone by.

Things need to change and quick. If you can win as many trophies as Saints are by simply being prepared to run yourself to a standstill, than things aren’t right.

Re: St.Helens : Fri Oct 01, 2021 10:28 pm  

So judging by the responses Saints have just been lucky?

Ok then.

Re: St.Helens : Fri Oct 01, 2021 10:43 pm  

TheWarringtonWolve69 wrote:

So judging by the responses Saints have just been lucky?

Ok then.

What do you think as a Warrington fan? Interesting to get other fans opinions.

Re: St.Helens : Fri Oct 01, 2021 11:34 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

It’s literally intensity in every single area of the game and Walmsley and teams can’t raise themselves to go with it. We managed it twice at the end of last season and won one and was unlucky to not win the other. Leeds were a shambles tonight but it wasn’t surprising. A mate who loves a bet messaged me pre game and said he couldn’t believe Leeds had been given 12 and he’d lumped on them to hold it to less. I told him I thought they were very nearly as bad as us last week and I’d go Saints by a distance more than 12. I honestly think that pound for pound, I’ve never seen a bunch of teams this bad. They’re all a joke pretty much and Saints are the least worst. The fact we finished 4th tells you absolutely everything you need to know. That was relegation form in some years gone by.

Things need to change and quick. If you can win as many trophies as Saints are by simply being prepared to run yourself to a standstill, than things aren’t right.

Leeds we’re awful
Yet they nilled us last week.
We’ve a mountain to climb

Agree with you 100% that Saints aren’t great but they are on a different planet to us
Poor management on our side

Re: St.Helens : Sat Oct 02, 2021 6:22 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

It’s literally intensity in every single area of the game and Walmsley and teams can’t raise themselves to go with it. We managed it twice at the end of last season and won one and was unlucky to not win the other. Leeds were a shambles tonight but it wasn’t surprising. A mate who loves a bet messaged me pre game and said he couldn’t believe Leeds had been given 12 and he’d lumped on them to hold it to less. I told him I thought they were very nearly as bad as us last week and I’d go Saints by a distance more than 12. I honestly think that pound for pound, I’ve never seen a bunch of teams this bad. They’re all a joke pretty much and Saints are the least worst. The fact we finished 4th tells you absolutely everything you need to know. That was relegation form in some years gone by.

Things need to change and quick. If you can win as many trophies as Saints are by simply being prepared to run yourself to a standstill, than things aren’t right.

Sorry mate but that’s hugely disrespectful to this Saints side to call us “the least worst.” We may not play the same brand of entertaining rugby as we did under Holbrook but defensively this is one of the best sides Super League has seen. We have conceded 10 points a game on average this season. That’s some record. You can’t just dismiss that as us simply being a bit less crap than everyone else.

It may stick in your throat mate but sometimes you have to acknowledge a very very good side and that is what this Saints side are.

Re: St.Helens : Sat Oct 02, 2021 7:03 am  

The Yellow Giraffe wrote:

Sorry mate but that’s hugely disrespectful to this Saints side to call us “the least worst.” We may not play the same brand of entertaining rugby as we did under Holbrook but defensively this is one of the best sides Super League has seen. We have conceded 10 points a game on average this season. That’s some record. You can’t just dismiss that as us simply being a bit less crap than everyone else.

It may stick in your throat mate but sometimes you have to acknowledge a very very good side and that is what this Saints side are.

It’s the wrong term, I’ll go with that but the point I make is more to do with the other sides inability to improve over these past few seasons. The Saints side play at a fantastic intensity but that shouldn’t be as difficult to work out for teams as they’re making it look. The standard across the board is just woeful, literally the worst I can remember in 35 years watching the game. Are Saints a good side? Absolutely they are. Do I think they’re that good that they should’ve been able to dominate the comp for 3 or 4 seasons now without at least one side getting close to their level? Absolutely not.

I mentioned on the Leeds board that I’d sensed they were reasonably confident going in to last night and I hadn’t a clue why. That game against us last week was two really poor sides playing against each other and had it not been for a dropped ball, it probably would’ve finished 0-0 (a really bad low scoring game, not like the final last year). That’s two of the premier sides in the competition and the standard was shameful really. Then you look at Wire the night after and we’re talking about a side spending fortunes and again, just absolutely woeful against a side missing loads of it’s best players. I look at us, Leeds and Wire in particular and it’s just not good enough. To be spending the money they are and to be so poor is unforgivable.

So in summary, I think this Saints side is a good one and full credit to them for success but I can’t help put some of it down to the standard of teams they’re facing. I can’t lie and sit here saying they’re batting away fabulous teams with ease because they’re not. They’re dominating a poor competition.