Yes he said something about the ref not policing the ruck and on our first two tackles there should have been penalties for us as the Leeds players were all over the Saints man bringing it forward.

My issue with him is it shows how he cannot adapt his tactics accordingly and slow Leeds down if the ref is not penalising for holding down. Just like the Leeds offload plays; if you can't beat them join them.

Like I say, very lame way of hiding why you lost the game. Leeds only benefitted from 3 penalties throughout the whole game, Cunningham sounded like a fool. Every game is different regarding ruck speed, the "10"

metres and various other interpretations. Cunningham should be instructing his team how to adapt a bit better. He should also be teaching his team how to defend, attack and raise the intensity of a game when needed. The nearest Saints have been in 3 games is 10 points against Leeds. He needs to start accepting the limitations of his players and the limitations of his coaching ability.

I'm trying to find a point on which to disagree. I can't.

KC is still very much an amateur from an experienced coach point of view, pre match he was very complimentary to Leeds, post match you will get it from a Saints perspective not a Leeds one. Also I,m pretty sure this subject thread won;t go the distance of the McDermott 123 pages version.
I would wait until he starts criticising about how another superleague club is run, then you can moan about that.

In going for a young home grown coach, the club has to accept that he will make mistakes and give him time to grow, if they have confidence that they will be the right man for the job. Everyone makes mistakes, it's just how we are, and KC is going to make mistakes too. But if he can do that and keep us in the top 2 or 3, whilst learning, then that has to be acceptable? Brian Mac did at Leeds, just look at the threads calling for his head, largely due to being tactically naive.. And he has turned out ok.

But, the one thing I don't like about KC is how he is happy to criticise his players in public, often individual players. To my mind, this is his team and he should accept the responsibility for the losses as well as the glory from the wins. He should take the pressure from the players, and deal with them in the dressing room. We all know the players aren't performing, we don't need KC to tell us that. Just get on with the coaching.

This is the key for me. I don't mind giving KC time. We are third in the table having lost where only two teams have won this season. Yes, we played dumb football against 12 men, constantly ploughing up the middle instead of throwing the ball around to tire out the stretched defence. To say the team played dumb is acceptable; to then go on to specify the half-backs is going too far. This sort of criticism should be kept in the dressing room. No need to panic just yet, however.

Kicking early can be a great tactic. Remember Burns's 40/20 earlier in the season? But the whole point is that the wingers haven't dropped back, so its easy to find the ground, it takes time for the oppo to get back and collect it and its more likely to find touch.
If the opposition are waiting for it, they've dropped back the wingers, the fullback's deep, then you should be able to identify that, use the number advantage in the line to get the ball wide or even use Stevo's move of a little chip over. As you say though, everything is prescribed in advance and carried out no matter what's in front of them.

Our halves aren't there for their pace, they're there for their brains. They're just not using them.