In reply to Jon. Ok, what about Matautia? Cover for second row, prop and centre.

Not for me he’s a player very much on the decline.

Of lads who are off contract I’d be looking at Jacob Alick-Wiencke from the Titans, 6’4” dynamic secondrow (who has covered centre). I don’t think the centre cover though is essential as that’s what Eckersley is in the squad for this and next year however it’s a good fallback position.

I don’t think there is any need for further prop cover.

I say give Walters time as he clearly has a much higher ceiling than Chan....he has to or he'd keep banging his head

Text of email sent to Saints today

I also cc'd the email to the Warriors.

Firstly with everything going on in the country it’s a strange thing to be annoyed about and to actually e mail the club.

However you’ve got me thinking now and I’m going to check it tomorrow on my way to the game. Does it not say “World Champions 2023?”

If it does then that’s factually correct. If not then you’ve got a point. I’m more worried about taking my 13 year old lad to Wembley on Saturday with the riots/protests than wording on a sign but each to their own.

I'm not really 'annoyed', Stu, probably as amused as anything else. As for what's going on the country, I'm sure you'd agree with me rugby league is very much one of those binding effects on a community which help protect us against such things. Not always, sadly.

If memory serves me well, I think it does say home of the world champions meaning saints and Michael Smith. I think Humphrey’s is world champion now. From Ashton so see this sign a lot

Harry Robertson is a diamond

Well I’ve drove past that sign tonight and checked. It says “home of world champions” which is factually correct. It doesn’t say home of “the” world champions.

Both Smith and Saints have been world champions so move on nothing to see here and don’t expect an e mail reply moto!

As for the game…

Just like in the 2020 GF with Lomax’s kick return from Hardakers missed penalty, Harry Robertson makes that winning DG with his kick return and effort. What a player we have on our hands

And the home of the team who have just posted a £2 million loss. It was an expensive world champions win?

He's a good player, I saw Tomkins doing that when he was 17. Regarding the game, it was exciting but short on quality. Personally, I thought young Burns was excellent.

Quote ="Rogues Gallery"And the home of the team who have just posted a £2 million loss. It was an expensive world champions win? '" For anyone interested https://find-and-update.company-informa ... ng-history

Quote ="Rogues Gallery"And the home of the team who have just posted a £2 million loss. It was an expensive world champions win? '" For anyone interested https://find-and-update.company-informa ... ng-history

Really good talent along with the young hooker burn, showing a few of the older lads how to do it. Robertson needs some media training haha his comments at the end about no knowing what he was doing made me chuckle

Let's not forget, Saints won that game without Lomax, Welsby and Dodd. Although, it was very low on quality, I enjoyed the last 15 minutes.

They'll be a threat in the playoffs, as they will look to defend their way to the GF. I'm just not sure they'll be able to keep up with the attacking power of ourselves, Wire or KR.

I'm not sure what it is, but they hardly ever suffocate teams in their own 20 anymore. I think they did it once in the whole game. I used to dread when we got the ball back close to our line, as you knew we wouldn't be getting out of our own twenty. Knowles will be sat down for a few weeks, was a bad one and he's becoming a liability.

Very good player which is why I am a bit confused by the recruitment of Sailor.

For me I’d be running with a spine of Clark, Lomax, Welsby and Robertson next year.

Find it very strange they have recruited Sailor to displace/reduce his minutes/opportunities.

I understand the need to maybe manage his game time so I do think a signing who could cover one of the 7/6/1 spots would be needed, but Sailor whilst not getting marquee money had offers to stay in the NRL and from other SL clubs so won’t have come cheap plus whilst mid/late 20s he’s not coming in, in that mentor role as he’s fairly inexperienced himself for his age.

He would be even better if he got a pass too. He didn't receive one pass in attack in the whole of the first half yesterday and barely any all game. He's feeding off scraps and still looking dangerous. The only time he touched the ball really was on his kick returns.

Our attack is and continues to be our Achilles heel. I've literally no idea what we do in training as its appalling. It will mean that come the play offs we bow out first or second game. Briers (if indeed he is coming) will hopefully improve that significantly.

Sailor will also add pace and flair, something that we lack without Welsby (who isn't the quickest but has the X factor) and obviously now with Robertson who will get more games next season but probably all across the backline similar to what we did with Welsby in 2021

Field and French both weren't ripping up trees in the NRL but they've turned out okay! If he turns out half as good I’ll be happy. He’s also at a good age with a point to prove rather than the last couple of years of his career

Personally, I think Saints are back as contenders for the league. They are getting some good players back - AW is huge for them.

Obviously a lot of their big names don't have years in front of them, but for this season - there's no reason they can't go all the way. They know how to wins this could be their last hurrah.

They were awful SP. Couldn't score in a brothel and had Deon Cross not forgotten how to slide in for a try in wet weather (what the hell was he thinking?!?) I doubt anyone would be suggesting Saints were anything other than in freefall.

Whilst our attack was poor there is a lot of mitigation. No Welsby, Lomax and then Dodd goes off during the game. We've seen how Wigan look less fluid without French..

Paasi goes off in the first 20 mins and Walmsley is playing his first game in 16 weeks.

Also 9 times out of 10 that ridiculous Hankinson try isn't given and granted I haven't watched the game back yet but there are a few saying Ritson's try should've been given too. Thats a big point swing.

The other point to consider is that Salford are no also rans anymore. They were a Sneyd brain fart away from beating Wigan this season.

At the moment its all about results for us rather than performances

They've got injuries - just like we've had them. You could say we were in free fall after the Wire game.

IF they get bodies back, then they'll be contenders. Experience and knowing how to win the big game, can't just learned overnight.

Your attack has been poor for a couple of seasons no matter who is playing Stu. You were critical of Wigan's fluidity against Leigh on Tuesday yet we scored 22 points in the first half without French, Field and O'Neill. How on earth do you offer mitigation for Saints awful attack just 2 days later with similar disruption? Saints could only dream of scoring 22 points against either Leigh or Salford, nevermind in one half! More pertinently, you once again couldn't score against 12 men! Wigan scored twice when Leigh were down to 12 yet you somehow turned that into a negative! As I said on that thread: I bet you wish Saints knew how to score against 12...or even 11...

All the decisions were correct Stu, although I thought the Hankinson try would have been disallowed given it had gone up as no try. That said if Cross knew how to slide in for a try*.....


*What has happened to this way of finishing btw? He was 2 yards from the line in wet weather

We lost 2 games and still sat joint top of the league with a game in hand! Hardly free fall! Had Saints lost yesterday that would have been 6 of the last 7. Not even remotely comparable.

They had as close to a full strength pack as they're going to get this year playing last night and at times struggled to make yards. They relied on Salford errors (of which there were many) to get them up field. Moreover, of their 'missing' backs, only Welsby has been in any sort of form and even he hasn't been great. Lomax has been a liability and Dodd (who people seem to be forgetting actually played last night) has been in terrible form for 2 years, to the point he was dropped only a couple of weeks ago . I hope they do get Lomax and Dodd back for the end of the season because it will make them even worse!

For me it was the lack of accuracy in the passes before it got to Cross that stopped them scoring. Hankinson's final ball was behind Cross which gave Saints the chance to get across.

Probably right MD. I've seen it a few times now though and he tries to stop to come inside for some bizarre reason when a simple 2 yard slide guarantees a try. I think he was saying the same to Sneyd post game.

My own take on this is that wingers are automatically looking for the spectacular dive that we've all become accustomed to and, when it's not on, look to cut inside. The slide over is becoming something of a forgotten art.

Agree about our attack overall and I've already said its why we won't win anything again this season, I just feel there is mitigation last night compared to other occasions or the season in general. Salford didn't defend like Leigh. 12 of your first half points were through rank bad defending. You didn't do anything special to score, Nsemba and Keighran literally walked through Moylan defending with one arm and won't score easier tries in their career. You didn't carve them up, that's my point.

Welsby by his own standards has not been as good this season but his tries and assists are still impressive. As I've said I think Wigan have dipped without French. Naturally they will as he is world class.