I thought Wardle was a bit late and over zealous but a ban would be harsh, the other penalties where very harsh imo, the tackles where just after the ball had gone.

Rocky returns?

Still about 4 weeks off I think

The Ellis one was a shocking decision.

shame, as would have made a good story, but so would Astley

A little more on this. King has played 2 games on the wing for us. Solid in the 1st and excellent in the 2nd. Using our "small sample" method, he's now a winger!

*pew pew*

There was no deliberate foul such as a shoulder charge, or hitting the player blind. Yes it was late but at the speed these people play at we are talking about fractions of a second. A fine will suffice.

Front on, arms spread, contact chest to chest, 5 matches

He doesn't play for Saints, we'll be fine.

The slow motion replays do my nut in. People saying they’re late when they watch them seem to ignore the fact that it wasn’t the speed it actually happened at. I think he’ll get a ban simply based on O’Brien being hurt in the incident but there wasn’t much in any of them.

If I was Wigan, I'd be showing the Davies late hit on Myler, should a ban be issued. The Wardle and Davies incidents are night and day, and Davies avoided a ban...

Absolutely agree and the game is being officiated more and more in slow motion with the VR getting involved after watching something 10x over in super slow mo. It will always look worse that way.

Terry “Oooooo that’s a bad one, he’s late there”

Baz “Ooooo he could be in trouble for this”

10 minutes after a promo of Baz punching Stuart Fielden for 2 minutes.

I guess we all have different definitions of 'class'.

His runs from wing is convincing me more and more he could make a great back rower. He eats meters when he returns the ball

Well, possibly a bit of hyperbole on my part, but I just mean that I thought he played really well, his energy, application & aggression were exactly what was needed.

I don't get what people want from the lad, he's been a superb squad player for us, always fit, will play anywhere he's asked to, tackling machine, part of the leadership team, runs above his weight. The only mark against him as far as I'm concerned is his NFT status.

Wardle as got a fine and no ban good news. Isa one game ban.

Good that we have a specialist left centre opposite Konrad Hurrell who may well be St Helens' top performing player at the moment. Will be a test for him but rather than him than playing someone out of position.

He's going great for us. I think he's a player that really needs to be in a highly professional set up to get the best out of him and he has that right now.

I was against his signing after seeing him balloon at Leeds but he's been a revelation really and given the injury issues with Percy and Hoppa last year (and this!) we would have been in a tough spot without him.

Was Leeds not a highly professional setup? Interested to know where theirs and Saints setups differ.

I would say general standards and S & C. Big reasons why we have won 4 in a row.

He’s put a bit of timber back on looking at him this season and niggly injuries have crept in across the squad this past 12 months.

Have there been changes in personnel in that S and C department?

No. I think its just a culmination of ageing players and players that have played a lot of rugby. Percival and Walmsley for example. Makinson missed a few last season too. Batchelor was more or less an ever present the past few seasons bar his ankle injury the week before the WCC. Dodd was a freak type of injury.

Hopoate has been constantly injured. The Tongan medical staff said that they'd sort him during the WC and he got injured with them so not sure Saints can be entirely blamed for him.

We've probably had more bans than injuries

i'd start with they lost their golden generation of peacock, burrow, sinfield, mcguire, JJB etc and that was the start of it

Brian McDermott left, replaced by Furner (i think) who was quickly replaced by Agar (along with a spell of Sinfield in some form of capacity), and now Smith

whether the setup was as professional or not, no doubt massive changes in personnel after having those guys around for seemingly umpteen years, and a steady coach who was there for about 8-9 years i think and i am pretty sure you can see that in the results on the pitch too, as they have been dire at times over the last few seasons.

Saints, however have changed coaches successfully after the Cunningham era, and that has reaped rewards for them. They have had a core of players there for a considerable number of years, Lomax, Makinson, Roby, Walmsley, LMS etc who have set the standards and culture, whereas Leeds lost virtually all of that.
Saints have seemingly recruited well, especially from an overseas perspective and that has complimented the home grown players that have come through too. The likes of Coote, Paasi, Sironen, Naiqama, Peyroux, Barba have all worked in the Saints system and fit in well.