after fridays game we should go into every game this season excepting a win which would put us in top 3 finish and if everyone fit we would have a good chance in the playoff

My thoughts too.

From the 3 above us. Wigan are in theory 4 points ahead. I think that is too much for us to claw back. They would need to lose 3.

Warrington and Huddersfield are 3 ahead assuming wire win today.

We still play Wire and Huddersfield. So they are only 2 losses from over taking. 1 of those is in our own hands and given that they both play wigan and each other. It is not beyond the realms of maths that we could finish above them. But we need to beat at least one of them.

Warrington maybe tricky, but Royce has turn our team around before.

If we don't beat Warrington or Huddersfield, it would be tough to beat all 3 in the playoffs. Wigan, Warrington and Huddersfield.

A win against the Wire will give confidence to the team that we are still in the hunt. A win against Huddersfield would give fans some faith.

Exactly, our pack should be good enough it's our attitude that's in question. We are at the bottom of the league for giving penalties away, which might suggest we are a bit soft and don,t play with enough aggression.
We let the Wigan pack get in our faces, whilst our pack didn't move up in defence, if we play the same way against the wire, then we can expect the same kind of game and result.

We have just let two opportunities to go top pass us by due mainly to lack of composure (and against Wigan, pack absence). Upon reflection that, to me anyway, shows a lack of mental strength. In part this might be due to the inexperience in our ranks - our halves are not yet tough enough to overcome pressure nerves. But it may also be just that we have a bunch of wusses in our team who can't step up to pressure but instead opt out/panic. I doubt that will disappear in time for next week as it seems to be a cultural thing. We've been like this for a few years, most notably at Grand Finals. It's frustrating because we have the ability in the team to beat Wigan (not sure about Warrington) and yet we yell 'surrender!' at the time when we could have put them in their place. But IMO that just shows where we are at and Friday suggested to me that we are not a finals winning team of any description.

I've changed my hopes regarding this team after the last two showings. I am now just hoping for some good performances over the remainder of the season. I'd like to see our halves be able to pass to the right before we approach winter and I'd like to see them be able to take control to the extent that we don't have to rely upon James Roby quite so much.

And if they do all that then we will make a final.



Wigan v Warrington in the CC, so that's one of them gone. Come on you still have that nagging deep inside that we will just come good during one of these key matches. If we don't I fail to see how next year will provide more oppertunity other than a years extra experience.

For me the pack just isnt performing to its potential.

The names in our pack make it look superb but, just like in the GF, it was out performed by a perhaps more modest list of names who shared the workload, played as a team and showed more determination to win.


We looked lost for go forward whenever we had one of TP or Grham of the pitch.
On about 65 mins, Soliola made a hit up shortly after a kickoff and flattened the first tackler and it was the first time I recalled anyone running with any venom all night.

Our bench is weak. If Clough and Perry retuned that would solve that, but we'll still not beat the like of Wigan and Wire if we play like we're scared of them.

We looked lost for go-forward full stop, whether Jammer or TP were on the pitch or not. In the first half especially. I don't think we were up for the fight.

According to todays League Express.
Magennis made 24 metres and Ashurst 7 metres.
Coley made 157 metres and Prescott made 108 metres.

Deary me. That is pathetic - they should be ashamed of themselves.

Yep, the should. But it just goes to show how they are just not ready. We need Perry and Moore and Clough in there.

How about Roby and Graham?

Roby 142 metres Graham 110 metres.

Roby is still impressive given that there were zero quick play the balls on Friday. Graham has dropped a good 50m this season compared to last year.

Quick play the balls, Saints 4 - Wigan 4, from the same League Express stats.

I could trip up coming out the tunnel and make more than 7 metres

Did we have the ball in attack whilst Ashurst was on the pitch????

He dropped it on Wigan's try line after being flattened by Coley. Don't think he touched it again after that

I think it was cruel to put him out there, actually! But we had no choice given our lack of Moore and Perry.

Why? He's far more experienced than, say, Chris Tuson who played for Wigan. I'd assume Ashurst has made double Tuson's SL appearances.

Ashurst has probably made as many as Mossop.

That doesn't make him up to the job. Or big enough for it.

Precisely. He's never going to be good enough for Saints.

I still see it as Magennis > Dixon > Ashurst but I'm not confident any will be anything other than average at best. I still have reasonably high hopes for Magennis though.

Mossop, on the other hand, could go on to be on of GB's best in my opinion.

He's the same size as Jon Wilkin and bigger than Liam Farrell, they're both far better players.

His size isn't the main issue, the main issue is that he lacks the aggression to play in the pack.

True. Either way, I don't think he's up to it. I'm not one to jump to that kind of conclusion about young players but I think he's been around long enough now to be showing us what he's made of. I don't think Ashurst, Dixon or Magennis are up to it although Magennis is probably the best of the three, his tendency to drop the ball at important times aside.

I think it's time to start trying out some new youngsters in the position to see if they don't have more to offer.