The Key wrote:
I've not seen a thread dedicated to this but I think that some of the issues will probably have been discussed but anyway. Am I the only one that is really concerned that we very rarely finish games off? It seems to me that no matter how well we do for 60 minutes, the opposition most of the time seems likely to come back into it.
The first game we played a terrible Wigan side, and we really should have put about 20 points between us if we played to our best.
Second game against Celtic, we seemed to be controlling the game but still let them in with sloppy tries.
The third game against Catalans was probably as close as we have come to closing a agem out and is really example of what we should be doing in the games we dominate.
The forth game against Hudds we always seemed to be letting them back into the game despite dominating them all over the field. Their last try typified our problem.
The fifth game against Bradford, we were 30-12 up with about 15 mins left on the clock (give or take) we let them score a couple of silly tries and although we got the win with another try, still we looked very shaky.
On Friday it is where we got stung and this issue finally caught up with us. We were 18-12 up, 4 tries to two, kick to come, a very vocal crowd behind them and they end up throwing it away. We didn't dominate this game but the game was there to be won with 2 penalties in front of goal and 2 attempts to get a drop goal (one which was fluffed by Horne iirc). Our defence also let us down and we didn't hold on and lost.
My main concern is that while we are winning most games, this could really come back to haunt us come a cup semi-final or final, and nailbiting play-off games, and even the Grand Final. Look at the past few Grand Finals. Leeds got their noses in front of Saints and killed the game of in 2007 and 2008. Saints went in at half time against us in 2006 and ended up killing the game off in the second half. Saints also did this in the cup finals of 2006 and 2007, and to an extent against us in 2008.
We are generally playing well this season. The effort is much higher than last year and so are the peformance levels, especially from many pack members. Do others think that the inabilty to kill off games could be our downfall? What needs to be done to improve this?
The point in bold is what we were lacking on Friday night. The performance levels were that of last season imo. After we had scored the early try, I am convinced that a large proportion of our team thought the game was already won. As a consequence, we did not do the things that we had done in the previous 5 games and ended up losing.
It is all about mental toughness and having the ability to put the same amount of effort into every play, every game, regardless of what the score is. When a team has that type of mentality that is when you see a ruthless streak develop, and teams all of a sudden start to win big.
If we want to develop a cutting edge, then this week’s game is a vital point in the season imo. Are we going to be a team, who fights for every inch, every week and ensures nothing is left in the changing rooms when we enter the field, or are we going to be a team that tolerates the odd poor performance as long as we win more games than we lose?
I share your sentiments about not killing teams off, but with the parity that we now see in super league any win is a good one imo.
