Injuries are part of the game - it's all about making the best of what you do have available and we simply didnt. Wheeler on the bench ???? Clough starting in the second row when he should have been used as prop 4 (not when he's already knackered). The fact we had a good prop in Emmitt not even on the field is also barmy ..

Emmitt, Gaskell and injury prone Wheeler are not players that can win you games. We could have tried Wheeler at stand off (his preferred position) but because of injuries in the centres and wings he,s stuck out there near the sidelines.
I,m sure once we have a full strength side we will compete with any side........at the moment we are struggling no matter what tactics or selection we try to employ.

That's funny, at half time I said losing the 1st half 22-6 was very, very poor (only not as politely).


I think you may have us confused with our neighbours, you remember, the ones you've scored 1/5 of your total points against in 2 matches



Is it really so painful to give us ANY credit? I remember similar comments on this board when we beat you at the start of the season. Just because we're usually your whipping boys doesn't mean it always has to be so. The game could have gone either way until the death and was a pleasure to watch, albeit nailbiting.

Whiting is always in your 17, Reece who? and Calderwood is dross. So you were really missing three, and none of them are your dedicated 7 or recognised playmaker. Fitzgibbon and Long seemed to have that covered. Luake is just another monsterous forward, a lack of forward power was not an issue for you and never is.

Anyway, I'm not devaluing the Hull victory in anyway, just don't pretend that Hull's injury crisis is worse than Saints because it isn't. We have more injured and in key positions.

Sia Soliola 1st choice
Jon Wilkin 1st choice
Chris Dean
Maurie Fa'asavalu 1st choice
Tom Armstrong
Ade Gardner 1st choice
Kyle Eastmond 1st choice
Tony Puletua 1st choice
Dixon (injured/went off last night)
Roby (injured/went off last night) 1st choice

10 in total with 7 of those from our 1st choice 17. Nearly half of our best 17.

Apologies, but it was called for!

Whiting is always in the 17, but not as a winger, if Lyne was fit he would probably be on the wing in Calderwood's absence. Calderwood btw was fans player of the year last season and is a better player than Gardner. I thought we missed a bit of power when Manu was off the field and Lauaki would have given us that. Roby went off injured, so did O'Meley. Dixon went off injured, Hall never played at all. Puletua and Lauaki cancel each other out. Eastmond and Horne cancel eachother out (admittedly Eastmond is better but they play a similar role). Gardner and Calderwood cancel each other out (Calderwood is better). Armstrong and McShane, Dean and Lyne. So that leaves Berrigan and a 50% Sean Long for us vs Fa'asavalu, Wilkin and Soliola. Hardly a huge difference.

Don,t think some of our fans on here "haven't woke up and smelt the coffee" have they.

Its not a matter of blaming losses on injuries or tactics, but fans to get real and realise that expectations may have to be lowered these next few weeks.

Doing a great job - top manager.

Against Wire he is, for these last 2 seasons to date.

Wire fans getting really giddy about this result.

But not against Salford though lol.

Wire fans giddy - to let a 24-6 lead go and to lose is shít by any teams standard even crusaders bt hull.

I went last night so saw it in the flesh - for what it's worth here is my twopenceworth...

Potters tactics - why 3 props against a big team - Emmit was 18th man and would have done a job he has after all held his own in NL1. Why Wheeler on the bench? moving Flanno from centre to 2nd row did nothing but disrupt. If wheels was going to play he should have started in the centre and left Flannery in the middle. Scott Moore is never ever good enough to play 7 admittedly we had no other options but his in play kicking was poor, his decision making was worse and his distribution was abyismal - an example was half way through the second half applying pressure on the Hull line 3rd tackle and scotty passes to Hull.

Players effort - great effort Jammer and Robes were outstanding again unfortunately others went missing, and once the tide turned in the second half we didn't have a spark of inspiration that could have made a difference.

Basic Skills - where have they gone? we CANNOT defend a kick - high or low it doesnt matter we either conceed a try or a drop out. Hull were going through the motions tackles 1-5 waiting for their chance for Longy to kick at us as they knew we are incapable of dealing with it. And it's NOT just Meli, 4 kicks 4 try's last night -shocking. Tackling - at one point in the game it looked like we had forgotten how to tackle both KC and Leon were going for hero shots using the shoulder and missing - we tackle with arms and when we did we got the results. Positional kicking was poor no pressure Hull kicked 2 40/20's we put the ball into the hands of the back 3.

It was a very disappointing performance last nigh - 20 points is not a winning marging BUT IT SHOULD BE - after the 4th of Meli's try's we stopped going down that side and went back to trying to beat up Longy - stupid.

Injuries are killing us - but its not getting any better its about time somebody did a Peacock for the team and came back - he's not fit but he knows his team needs him - well god knows we need somebodies back cos with the kids for the next 2 weeks it's not going to be pretty - they wont let us down but nobody wins with 6 inexperienced players in the team.

Come on the S.

Losing a league game, when decimated by injuries is not the be all and end all. Saints are a good side and will be challenging anyone in the division. We just need a few troops back and hopefully when it matters we can do the business.

Gardner is still our 1st choice winger, regardless of how you rate him. Dixon wouldn't make the 17 if we were at full strength.

Yes Roby went off but that left us with 10 of our best 17 available.
If Hall wasn't used and you put a wasted 3/4 on the bench that's your look out. He was still available if needed!!!

Dean isn't 1st choice, neither is Armstrong. Both kids drafted in this year because of the crisis.

Comparing Horne with Eastmond is a joke, because you wouldn't have signed Long if Horne actually made the plays for Hull and made you tick.



The facts are that you didn't have seven 1st graders out of action, including your best three playmakers and goal kicker, come the end of the game.
So our situation is clearly worse than yours (for a change). Hull have had some shockings runs of injury in the last three years though, I'll admit.

I agree your injuries are worse, but we weren't that far behind, and you can't really use it as an excuse. We had 5 first teamers out by the end (two of them key playmakers) and our main playmaker played when he probably shouldn't have.

As for Horne/Eastmond. I said Eastmond is a better player, but the point is we both had a first choice half back unavailable. The point about us having to sign Long because of his failings is stupid, Horne is a fine stand off and ball runner, but not really an organiser. We needed a good 7 to compliment him.

Hurrah! The boo boys are back in town to bestow the fruits of their selective memories, skewed reasoning and poisonous agenda.

Best leave them to blow their hot air and guff.

So in conclusion, your injury crisis is clearly not as bad as ours then. For a change.

One thing Potter got right last night was spreading the ball out wide and quickly in the first half, we have a real weakness out there and you certainly exploited it in the first 40.

It was strange because for the last 13 years the oposition has ran at Long. Most of the time he was up to it but he is a weakness. We did it last night, and bizarrely all the tries came on the other side as if you were sliding too much and then getting caught on the opposite side. If Gidley and Lomax had genuine pace there would have been a few tries down the Hull left hand side as well.

I havn't said your injury crisis isn't worse than ours, but it's not sufficiently worse to be able to use it as an excuse for letting a 20 point lead slip. Also I'm pointing out that we weren't full strength by any means. Both sides will improve when key players return.

Thats because some of our players thought it was in the bag before kick off. In fairness Crusaders have had some good results.
As far as I am aware,no team has a divine right to win every game.

only wire fans by the postings on their board!

I agree. put in an appeal to the RFL to see if you can have the points instead

Who's booing? nobody allowed to have an opinion now unless it involves gushing over how great we are or how great Potter is etc . The sensible people here are just discussing Potters tactics and where he went wrong.

On the whole you come across as an intelligent individual but sometimes you do spout drivel. I know I leave myself wide open for one of your more sarcastic comebacks by pointing that out but I still had to say it.

We gave away a 20 point lead. I believe it is some years since we did that. To have had the 20 point lead in the first place was in fact a shock to me personally because I expected us to lose against Hull either by being clattered by their props (given our lack of umph up front) or kicked to death (given our total inability this season to deal with any kind of kick). However, I did not expect us to take such a lead and so when I saw the score I thought Saints must have been playing in their Hull KR/Leeds mood rather than their Salford/Barrow mood. How wrong can a girl be?

I accept that the loss of Roby could have impacted the side to some degree, but not to the degree of not only surrendering such a substantial lead in 30 minutes but to go on and lose the bloody game into the bargain.

From now on in I'm taking the safe option. I'm going to assume we will lose and then a win will be a bonus! And I don't think it matters who we have on the field. We can put out a strong team on paper and play bollox and then the next week have a bunch of youngsters playing and play great. Saints make no sense at all this season and nor does their coach.