Cannot understand this love in with Ta ai.

Most of us know nothing about him other than see him scoring two tries from five metres out on Youtube.

As far as i am concerned he is a squad player until he gets here and does something

Watch Fooey,he has to double pump to get the ball any distance from dummy half by which time the defence are up on us.

Errrr....Who was the guy in the fur trimmed parka doing the half time draw?

The three quick tries scored in the second half when we were 12-6 down were scored when Lunt had come back on for Faiumuand were directly as a result of Lunt speeding up play from dummy half

From where I was standing Fiaumu was slower at dummy half, he also threw two terrible forward passes from the PTB, but these pre-season friendly games are for exactly that; blasting the cob-webs away and getting back upto speed. And don't read this wrong, I don't have anything against Fiaumu, just my opinion.

You could see how rusty our attack was in the first half, putting the ball down a lot and inviting Widnes up to our goal line. Once a bit of fluidity came back and people switched on it was a different game and the pace came back.

It was good to see Jerry doing what he does best, a pack built around some big props making decent meters and Lunt playing a fantastic game.

I think we will see Faiumu start the first 20 mins and then Lunt do 60 with Faiumu sparing with who-ever plays 13.

Anybody any news on Bruno? He looked to be really struggling, I hope it's nothing too serious.

Two more thoughts on today -

Not sure are half backs will very creative but that's not the team nor style Anderson has built

Today without taai and lod - our last 2 close seasons marquee signings. If they both hit form... Dreams may come true.

Looked very rusty at the start and lots of mistakes, people blowing out of their whatsits - on both sides, but this is to be expected pre-season.

I'm sure the lads will benefit alot from the run out, not to fussed with this and we all know it's not how you start a season it's how you end it.

Lunt was clearly MOTM for me, a great 'new' signing



Last 10-15 mins we were trying a few attacking plays which is good to see.

Thing that did stand out with Robbo back at Scrum Half was that Broughy wasn't in the game half as much as used to seeing him and he didn't seem to have as much time as he used to do.

Might be cos its still early doors but if we are gonna do owt this year both halfs are gonna have to be on top form behind what I must say is a monster pack

I thought Lunt was outstanding - especially when he came back on in the 2nd half.

Brough & Robbo - work in progress.

Grix didn't have much to do at FB, he caught every high ball, and was always backing up whenever a forward looked as though he would break through.

The forwards were steady and fairly domineering.

Other backs were OK, with Leroy standing out.

The first half was dire. We didn't have a lot of the ball, but we lacked attacking ideas. However, as the match progressed, confidence seemed to grow.

Far from perfect, but still early days. As people have said, better to end the season in full flow rather than start like a house on fire and burn out.

Not dispirited at all, but quick improvement is needed if Saints aren't to repeat last week's performance.

Good to see Phil Joseph back in SL action. Another one whom I feel was treated badly by a certain previous coach!

Oh, and good to see Chris Thorman back in action - albeit in a different role.

true... i havent put him in my starting 17 team BUT with lawrence now injured it leaves me a space to fill so may give him a chance from the bench.

ferguson , fairbank and cording could fit in to the side nicely with odonnell,ferres and chan.

lets just hope lawrence is ok to play then the space is filled.

? wasnt it chan who was doing the half time draw..

think odonnel was down by the tunnel too

did anyone spot where anderson was sat? wasnt in the usual seat in the upper tiers

seems faiumu is getting abit of stick!

do not under estimate what this guy brings to the team.... very experienced international hooker... different player to lunt and they will compliment each other well

no doubt lunt had the better game today but faiumu will have just as many good games this season im sure.

agree with a few others about brough too, didnt seem to be as involved as he usually is...which can never be a good thing!

but lets not got too worried just yet, early days and they have warned us not to expect them to be firing on full cylinders early in the season.

big positives were the props and lunt/mcgillvary yesterday... odonnell and taai to come yet too

Didn't see the game so can't comment on that but my worry when we failed to recruit a halfback was the speed of pass of both Faiumu and Robinson, particularly off their left hands. Robinson particularly struggles passing long to the right and this could seriously hamper our attack and Brough.

after yesterdays game i thought our two half backs not very interested though when grix was involved in second half looked more organized just a thought grix and brough at halves robbo and lunty interchange murphy fb no room for fuey at the mo

So is everybody clear / know who the scapegoat is for 2013??

no scapegoating just was i saw yesterday

Cannot agree with the criticism of Foey - not clear what the doubters feel he did wrong. Slow at the PTB? - not always from what I saw - nowt wrong with a bit of variation of speed to get the opposition guessing. Different player to Lunt and they compliment each other well - I have no qualms about our options at 9 - and Foey does still hold a massive threat with his awesome side step in open play. Early days yet and these friendly games are there to provide the chance to highlight areas where further improvement is required - in that respect both games have served us well.

From what seen yesterday the halfback options were those that appear to need most improvement - but Robbo/Brough are both excellent players and I am sure they will get this right as the season progresses. To be clear this is a team issue as we have yet to get support players running the right lines - at times we were far too predictable and flat - add slow to that and a failure to spread the ball quickly or wide enough - then we just invited Widnes to close us down. Not just a halfback problem therefore.

Much better in second half - we have some great players when we do break loose - like the score created by Ferguson running down the line. Much happier this year - pack sorted so we won't be a push over for anyone - and once we get some proper game time in I am sure that the attack options will improve.

Kopcak the stand out player so far - but would agree with Lunt as MoM due to the 3 tries!!!

Nobody seems to rate us this year - Schoey predicts 7th in todays League Express - I think we have the capability to go really well and hope to see us improve as the season progresses rather than stall post Magic Weekend as we did last year.

Bring on the Saints - COYG!!!

In reality there are 6 teams that can honestly make the top 3. Cant all fit can we & given Baloo is an unknown entity and out recent season ends have been damp squibs I can see where the pundits come from - though they are clearly ignoring that we strengthened the one area we were genuinely weak in

However, if the pack is solid the halfbacks will work well and our outside backs are the match of anyone's.

Yeh - bookies not liking us - so some good odds available on us at the moment.
Challenge cup finalists and top 4 finish good odds with sky bet who have us 7 th favourites at moment. Worth a fiver.

Think Paul Anderson and his team were the ones sat in the upper tier of the rope walk end stand.(Forgot the sponsors name of that stand these days)

Agree with the comments about Phil Joseph,thought he went well for Widnes,took it up strong in the opening quarter.

About 'scapegoating', surely none of the coaches or players take any real notice of what speccies put up on here.It's just a talking shop after all.

is it the fantastic media stand (old panasonic end) i thought it could of been him and his team but dont think it was, they looked like younger players.. prob sat where the press sit i reckon... will be able to tell when he gets his wooly hat off!

They were definately in the North stand. they always have a young contingent there helping with filming the games!

[url=http://www.giantsrl.com/news/article/2080/anderson-pleased-with-hit-outPaul[/url Anderson happy with the hit out on Sunday.

Very complimentary towards Lunt's defensive efforts.

cheers

might be his new spot for the 2013 season..will take abit longer to get to the changing rooms though at half time

yes all seem happy enough, and why not

one of browns reasons for leaving lunt out was his defence, great if hes sharpened it up

such a danger close to the line darting over, so is faiumu! will see alot of it this season