Disgraceful to see. What was worse though, in my opinion, was the way he ran out from the defensive line to lay down in front of the sticks feigning cramp, when Cas forced the drop out a couple of minutes earlier. Absolutely shameful and lost a lot of respect from me as a result.

It's not just LMS though. Roby was appalling tonight, easily his worst game ever. His distribution was horrific, dropping off tackles, kicking out on the full, the knock on under their sticks that cost us the chance of a shot at winning. Percival, as good as he did throughout the game, really didn't need to give that penalty away.

Cas are a really strong side, I'm never confident going there. Grant Millington was the best forward on the field tonight by a mile, what a player he is. Gale had a good game and Roberts, Solomona and Carney give them a lot of threat. As bad as we were tonight, they weren't great either, making some horrendous mistakes themselves and coming up with some awful defensive reads. Had the ref not allowed the touch judge to take over reffing the game briefly, Cas would have lost and I'm sure they would still be in there now getting the first few layers of skin ripped off by the fury coming from Powell.

Anyone else sick of the two run away interception/rubbish-kick returns we concede per game? Burns again the main culprit. Adam Swift had an awful time tonight. He can't catch, bombing a try and costing us defensively. He looked like bambi tonight and the horrible head knock he recevied was the result of falling over into that tackle. Hope he's okay, but he needs time out of the first team.

Cas fan here, I used to love LMS, he was a breath of fresh air to SL, A young Londoner who had done well and was enjoying his deserved success with Saints and playing with a smile on his face. Just my opinion but lately his success seems to have gone to his head and its effecting his game. Hope KC gives him a kick up the rear and gets him back to what he was.

Bit OTT? Players ALWAYS do the knee drop on drop outs, it's been going on for decades and almost all sides do it when under pressure. LMS has clearly been told to do this by the coaching staff, he does it as blatantly as that all the time, even in games we're winning comfortably. It's not shameful, it's a loophole in the rules that they need to close. But how can they? What if a player really is injured? How do you tell?

Well done on the win tonight. Despite not being happy with the loss there's something very Saints-like about Cas and you are great to watch despite probably also not being at your best tonight. I wish we had a coach like yours - knows the game and, more importantly, can translate that knowledge and communicate it to his team effectively and turn it into a winning mentality. He's a bloke I admire a lot and appears to have a lot of integrity.

I agree with your comments on LMS - he's too much of it. His penalty count alone is reprehensible and feigning injury is as bad as I have seen. He should be ashamed to call himself a rugby player after that.

There's no way our coach will kick his backside however - KC doesn't do discipline on or off the field if you're in the 'in club'.

I don't think it's over the top at all. I'm not used to seeing it and the fact that you say he does it all the time is a disgrace and tells me you're used to it so not as shocked by it.
It's blatant cheating and the only way you stop it is to make him leave the pitch for treatment (as in football). Let's see if he still does it all the time then.

You can't have watched many games if you aren't used to seeing players sit down on the 10 at drop goals or go down with 'cramp' when it comes to the final minutes. It needs cutting out, just not sure how you do it. What if a player really does get hurt?

Andy lynch was the best tonight. And I love millo. Thought saints really tired 2nd half. Which seemed unusual. Whereas we have looked class in the last 10 minutes of our last 3 games when close. Powell's tactics of bringing lynch millo and Massey on in the final quarter at once works a treat, again. Whereas didnt walmsley leave the field last 10?

Ssshh don't tell anyone the facts. KC doesn't want people to realise he played Greenwood on the wrong side despite his previously having been devastating on the other. Also he sneaked LMS back to prop, a position where even the local slug colony can see he is utterly useless in.

But please don't tell anyone that we left Amor and Walmsley on the bench for sustained periods despite them bossing it in the first 40. It's all a secret.

A secret that only our hero supercoach knows about. He's got a statue you know. That makes everything alright.

It's nothing to do with how many games I've watched.
My gripe is that LMS ran out of the defensive line after the ball was dead to lay down in an area that he knew would prevent the drop out from being taken. I wouldn't have minded so much if he laid down where was and would've given him the benefit of the doubt. What he did makes him and saints look small time in my opinion.

It clearly was a penalty but if he's kept his arm down to shove him after he dropped the ball it wouldn't have been, And lying on the floor like a dead 'un was stupid.

On the game overall it was strange game and to be caught out by Cas pushing at the scrum three times was naive to say the least. We looked knackered in the 2nd half and for some reason decided to try to defend a slender lead against a very good attacking side.

I pray Swift is OK but he was having a mare.
SMD looked a lot more serious injury.

Can't believe Dawson has a new contract - he was awful as per usual..

Did KC ruin your marriage or something? Pretty sure Amor was off for so long because he took a knock, with LMS doing a stint at prop to compensate.

Greenwood still looked good on the right side so don't really see your issue with that beyond the fact that it is a change, and KC implemented it. Given his strength is his line running rather than his passing or offloading, why would this be affected? He's still playing off the same halfbacks. The reason Greenwood moved to the right side (and will stay there) is because Wilkin is our first choice left second rower. As Wilkin is left footed, to use his kicking game needs him to be on the left side so that he isn't kicking with his outside line, which carries more risk of charge downs.

LMS did exactly the same at the magic weekend when wire were pressing late, bad form dear boy

No I was never married to him



I just see a very one dimensional team that rarely plays to the standard I'd expect with the players at his disposal. I said when he was appointed that it was a dumb decision and I have seen nothing this year to change my mind. Added to which his appraisal of players/games is borderline comical and he seems more interested in coming out with buzz words than addressing the issues that every man and his dog can see.

Great player. Never a coach.

The players at his disposal? He's not had a 1st choice backline to choose from all season. He's got quality in forwards so he's keeping it a forward battle...not fantastic to see, but the evidence it's worked is that we're at the top. We finished that game losing another 2 backs to injuries. I think what Cunningham has shown is that he's adaptable. He's still got a lot to learn no doubt but he's St.Helens through & through.

He's doing a top job so far imo

He,s a rookie coach given the job 1 year earlier than planned, he,s took us top of the league with most of our pivotal creative players injured and sat in the stands. To be a multi dimensional team you need a match plan with most of your influential players available.........we could probably say we have not had that at all this season.
Luckily, superleague standard is very poor these days so 1 or 2 losses isn,t a disaster this season as there are no consistent stand out teams.

1 - Why do St Helens RFC have a rookie coach?

2 - It's a poor poor competition. Being top means you're the least crap, not the best.

3 - When we have been poor when has he given good reasons instead of Press conference clichés?

4 - What's changed the following week?

5 - How's our discipline this season?

6 - Why do players who continually underperform or commit Hari Kari (à la LMS) keep getting picked?

Never ever ever a coach fit for St Helens. I love the guy and watched him all the way through his playing career and, hats off, he was a great player. That doesn't make him a great coach and people forget that this is effectively his SECOND stint in charge; good coaches improve teams quickly and sustainably and if last night wasn't a good example of what we SHOULD have then nothing else is.

I see in the paper this morning he is saying that we got what we deserved - fair enough. He then goes on to say that, paraphrased, the players weren't up for it. Let's just re-read that:

The. Players. Weren't. Up. For. It.

That's [uHIS JOB[/u - it's not acceptable for players not to be up for it. Never. Not acceptable. No excuses. Ever. That's [uHIS JOB[/u to make sure they are, at least, UP FOR IT, every week.

The only reason we are where we are is because the comp is terrible. Nothing else.

OK, if we remove the Rookie bit, can you name a current coach in super league who is significantly better than KC. I would,t say good coaches improve teams quickly, an experienced one with player stability would be more apt. I think most fans on here would agree he is doing a reasonable job under the circumstances and the first objective of a top 4 place is almost complete.
Probably next season is the best to judge KC when we get a repetitive of errors, poor tactics etc. Its been another difficult dissruptive season so far, so personally I would give him some slack, its very unlikely that you can become a good or great coach in 20 games.

A guy last night who lost half his team pre-season and has transformed them from also rans into a very effective unit. There's one. That's the standard we should be aiming for in a coach (and I am not suggesting we should have him, simply we deserve someone of that calibre).

Every great coach was a rookie once. Cunningham has been under the wing of a few different coaches. He's been groomed for the job for years. He knows the club from top to bottom, he's not just some Aussie who thinks a game against Wigan is just another 2 points. He knows what it means to the fans.

He's got us sat on top of the league (until Leeds play) whilst missing several key players throughout the season. They're playing with heart and character, and you single out LMS, well he's been playing brilliantly imo this season.

And now we're getting the league's so poor, no wonder we're top blah blah blah. Well he's damned either way isn't he? If he wins the league, well it's because it's a crap league but if he doesn't win it then he's a crap coach.

You're being incredibly negative, mate. You simply don't like Cunningham and nothing will shift your opinion of him. I can't really have a go because if I'm honest, I was exactly the same about Brown.

Its took about 6 years for Powell to reach that Standard, time at Leeds, in the championship, and now 2 years in at Cas. Give KC half that time 3 years to see how he develops because he's come to the "coal face" a lot earlier than Powell ever did. The only real concern at the moment is our discipline that needs corrected very quickly as it breeds lack of focus, attitude and creates extra defensive demand, I,m sure the coaching team are working on it, maybe playing our strength in the forwards contributes to it.

Most of the time the heart and character has been created with good team spirit this year, I,m putting that down to KC and Longy. On the subject of LMS I,ve currently got him and Alex as Club Player of the Season so far.

Some fair points but the last not strictly true. When I see his/his influence/tactics/motivation make a significant difference to [uhow we play and it's sustained[/u, then I'd be happy to hold my hands up. I actually WANT him to do well. Thing is I don't see it happening as we are regressing to the standard we were at during the year he and Rush were in charge - sterile, one dimensional rugby. We are the first to criticise our friends over the lump for not having a Plan B - can you honestly see ours if our pack don't get on top?

With no disrespect to Cas at all, we had virtually a full team out there last night and SHOULD have won that game. Regardless of opinions on individual players we had enough COLLECTIVE nous and experience to win that game and let's not forget we were winning for most of it. Cunningham's view of why we didn't was because HIS players weren't up for it. There's more to coaching than on the field - I find that statement embarrassing and he should be ashamed to come out and say it. I have no issue if we get beat fair and square as long as we lose trying and at least being creative - we have neither when our pack can't bully others.

Hence I think I can be forgiven for assuming that this is the 'Cunningham style'.

I'd die of boredom in that time. Sorry but I don't agree - if that's the price we have to pay for a 'rookie' coach then we shouldn't have one.

KC would be in his 3rd year next season, so personally I,m expecting better control of players and tactics next year. Also would like Longy to coach our attack for next season. I can see us going forward this year compared to the Wire under Smith and Agar. Regards to Powell, I think he has had about 13 years experience in some form of coaching capacity with 6 years as a head coach.