This is quality. they had two programmes running at the same time and could hear Ray French keep saying "Are we still live?"

Sounds like they merged the two frequencies

If he'd said 'Are we still ALIVE?' then I would have assumed he was talking about Saints ...

I hate to sound too negative and I know we have far too many injuries but that still doesn't excuse some of the poor play and poor decision making today.

Meli had a STINKER again!

Most of them had a poor match, to be honest.

Proud of the lads again tonight.

The scoreline may make some people question that statement, however the pride in wearing the red vee was there for all to see, especially when Gardner, Makinson and Armstrong put their hands up to do stints in the back row at various stages of the match.

Thought Scott Hale had a decent debut and ran and tackled his blood to water. Mcgennis also put himself about. Roby was clear MOM again though.

Soliola was exposed again to a man cutting back inside to his left. He hits hard does Soliola and runs in with aggression, but he does leave alarming gaps at times.

Looking like it's a broken knuckle for Perry.

I can excuse that at times we looked lost and toothless in attack with a lack of geniune half backs, however with; Jammer, LMS, Perry, Roby, Sia, first choice outside backs on the field there are no valid excuses for the poor defensive display we saw tonight.

I seem to remember Soliola saying he's come over here to smash a few Brits around, at the time this excited me, I now would however like him to simply be able to tackle a little bit, the big shots are fine specticle but with a 50% success rate it should be back to basics on the tackle bags for Sia.

And broken knuckle for Perry, that'll make his free lunch hard to eat.

Agree with this 100%, sooner or later we were going to get caught out, and away to Hudds was always going to be difficult, even at full strength. Was proud of the ffort oput in, right to the final hooter.

Wasn't the last time Hudds beat us also the last time we played them without any halfbacks?

Just wondering.

Not including the pre season I think you are correct ?

the tackling was diabolical...and it wasn't only the junior players who were missing em either.

Pryce and Long were the halfbacks in the 2008 defeat.
In the 2009 CC semi final loss, it was Pryce and Eastmond, Eastmond was probably 2nd in the order behind Long.

I'm getting mixed up with Leeds at the Galpharm aren't I? It was when we played Leeds last year, of course.

I wondered whether I had gotten it right!

I know we had injuries and put the effort in like we have over last month or so and can be proud of the effort but today our one on one defence was shocking at times!

Shenton, Ashe and sia missed simple one one tackles today which resulted in tries. Injuries are no excuse for poor tackles like that.

We are urgent for a halfback to return, even if it's just one as we can't function in attack with no halfbacks.

Is it really that bad for you guys at the minute?

Should we at Fev fancy our chances of an upset? Or just enjoy the day regardless of the result?

We will be up for the cup game but St the rate we are losing players it's going to be tough. If I was a fev players I'd fancy it to be honest.

Those commenting on the poor defence - you're looking at an exhausted side out there, of course they'll miss.

We're doing fantastically well, we'll lose a fair few more games over the next couple of months but if we secure top 4 and get our players back at the business end we'll be brilliantly placed for a real crack at the title.

I didn't have a huge amount of hope at the start of the season, with the Eastmond issue, playing at Widnes, question marks around Simmons etc. but as the season as progressed I truly believe we could be watching champions in the making.

And boy, will we have done it the hard way.

Come On You Saints!

I can understand the are some players that need rests which is showing more each week but I don't accept the Sia, Ashe and Shenton misses was due to being tired.

Sia got his postion all wrong which was exactly the same at hull, nothing to do with needing rest.

Ashe was all hands and grabbing and no shoulders, nothing to do with needing a rest.

Shenton was grabbing and was handed off, nothing to do with needing a rest.

They are simple one on one tackles which cost us tries.

How do you know?



But could have been down to being off the pace and out of position due to having a busted knee



How do you know?

Some harsh judgements being made today IMO - we've had 17 lads put their bruised and battered bodies on the line today and that's all we can ask.

Nah. That's no excuse. They were poor defensively from the outset. With the exception of Roby and Jammer. I think Royce had it right after the Sheffield game. He saw them give up defensively and was worried. It's a bad attitude and it's come back into the side. We went into halftime nilled again. Clearly there is an issue with this side about taking pride in their defence.

And besides, I know that when a Saints player speaks to the press about what they need to do, it's not going to happen! Wilkin spoke to the press last week about needing to take more pride in defence and what happens? We ship in over 40 points for the first time in how long? I can't remember.

Eh?

Where's the correlation between us being nilled and not taking pride in defence?

Do you not think we could have been fatigued / sore / injured from the outset?

We had 8 fit for non contact training earlier this week.

8.

The Sia one was a head on tackle, he got flat footed as he did at hull.

If Ashe and shenton are missing tackles due to being to tired and needing a rest then we have big problems!

There is none, if it was 0-0, but it never is. Too many times this season we have gone into halftime with nil but with the opposition at 12 or worse. That means we are defending more than we need to, quite often because we've dropped the ball or something. But to ship 40 plus points for the first time in five years is very poor.

And you can talk about tiredness, but not making effective tackles and then having to scramble defence is far more tiring to a player than making the initial tackle properly. We were flying all over the place and mostly missing.

There is no excuse for that lack of defensive effort. None.

I'll give you the Sia one, I don't think his defence is his strength (although when he hits them, they stay hit).

Ashe is injured, and Shenton may well be fatigued if not injured also.

The point is, rather than pick out individual mistakes, there has to be a recognition that we're sending out a team that's knocked about, full of kids and out of position players due to an injury situation the like of which I've not seen in 27 years of watching Saints.

It's harsh, IMO, to be overly critical on individual mistakes when the reality is with the luck and off field issues we've had thus far we are punching well and truly above our weight.