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Saint Toppy

Non-Political
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Everything posted by Saint Toppy

  1. It appears that a large number of clubs, coaches, commentators & fans would disagree. But thanks for your opinion anyway Mrs Cullen
  2. While I agree about the 'trial by media' part there are still some serious flaws that need addressing in the process. While there is an official process (and this is something Wellens has alluded to) in that the RFL appear to not be engaging with clubs when they raise concerns about the process. They just 'dig their heels in' and say, "we're right, your wrong, we'll maybe look at it after the season is over" I know one thing that Wellens queried and asked for further clarifications over was the apparent inconsistency in gradings. One week a player can get hit late after passing the ball and there's a Grade B change and the next there's a late hit and just a caution or not even a charge of any sort.
  3. Players & officials are bound to make mistakes given they're the ones making split second decisions in a live scenario. Players are held accountable by their coaches and the officials by the RFL. While people get frustrated by these mistakes I think most people will accept they're always going to happen. The MRP on the other hand should not be making mistakes. They're not time limited in having to make instant decisions, they can spend hours scrutinising every incident and have multiple people review it. I think most people would agree that at the moment the MRP isn't operating as it should. There's huge inconsistency in gradings with almost every week clubs, coaches and fans unhappy with how incidents are dealt with (or not dealt with as the case may be). The bulk of the challenges to charges appears to be around the actual gradings which (and please correct me if i'm wrong) is decided initially by the review panel made up of ex players like Cullen. Its their recommendations that then get sent to the main panel for the actual sentence to be decided (with that panel made up of legal professionals). IMO its that initial review panel thats flawed at the moment and while those people may have an understanding of the game as ex players im not sure they have the skills to be making interpretations of the games laws
  4. Shuddersfield to get trampled by the Rhino's to such an extent they get renamed the Shuddersfield Dwarf's. Watson to whinge that every ref's decision was wrong, that they should have had 10 penalty try's given to them and Leeds should have had 5 sent off. Shuddersfield 10 - 48 Rhino's
  5. This game is going to be a lot closer than many on here think. Saints dominated the game last week against HKR but they lacked that clinical scoring ability when in good positions. The Saints of the last 4-5 seasons would probably have put 50-60 past HKR in that game. In recent years Cas always seem to step up their game when playing Saints and given their added desperation to avoid relegation I can see them putting in a massive performance.
  6. and by my reckoning they lost all but 4 of those games with him playing.
  7. Awful signing, truly awful. Too slow for a winger, they tried him at centre and was awful, so tried him in the 2nd row where I guess they thought his size could do some damage, but I don't think i've ever seen such a big guy run so weakly. Never seems to run with any sort of power or aggression. Oh and he tackles like a winger too, lots of arm grabbing instead of putting his shoulder in. He's only still at the Dogs because a judge ordered them to reinstate his contract and unlike Haraweira-neira nobody else would take him so the Dogs were stuck with him on a fairly decent contract. They must be rubbing their hands with glee that someone has been daft enough to take him off them.
  8. or is it that he refused to respect his boss and his bosses decisions and when his boss refused to do what he wanted him to do he had a paddy and went public. Lets see how he reacts when people start questioning his decisions. His actions show he's not a man to listen & respect other people's opinions exactly like Powell. Any player who questioned his decisions found themselves being pushed out of the club
  9. Given the stories now coming out of the NRL they should be more concerned about his ability to work as part of a team. It sounds very much like he'll be operating exactly the same way as Powell did in that its his way or the highway. There's likely to be yet another mass clearout at Wire next year, with Burgess giving the boot to every player who he thinks doesn't meet his standards. This undoubtedly then means another year of complete disruption and another year of failure on the pitch. Are the Wire board really prepared to wait until sometime in 2025 for signs that he's truly turned the club around and is likely to bring them success - can't see it, can you !!!
  10. Looks like Saints are going with the exact same team as last week. Hurrell trained this week but given all the other injuries they've decided not to risk him for this weeks game and he'll return next week against Wakey along with Matty Lees (and possibly Sironen)
  11. Difference is one's a young Brit in his first full season playing in the FB position and still learning that role, and the other is a 30yr old reserve grade Aussie release after just 1 season by all his NRL clubs for not being good enough. Dufty is the only other player I can ever remember seeing run the other way to avoid having to make a tackle. That clip from earlier this season has to be the single worst and most pathetic piece of full back play i've ever seen - it was truly embarrassing !!! Will the amber on Millers Leeds shirt next season just be a single streak down the back
  12. Nothing wrong with having debts, particularly at sports clubs, it all comes down to whether you can service them year after year and are working towards improving your financial position. I know that since the Covid hit years Saints have increased their turnover by £2.4M and reduced their annual losses by over half (all be it they are still making a £300K loss instead of a £600K+ loss each year). But and this is the important thing, their losses are all being covered by the board of directors and not just 1 man as there are several multi millionaires on the board. They don't have to borrow money to service debts or to run the club. The club has also already made their single big investment in a new stadium, again all paid for by the directors with no external loans and they continue to invest in the facilities (several hundred new solar pannels will be going up on the south stand to make the stadium self sufficient in its electricity needs), plus they will be building a brand new training facility in the next few years as well. Obviously there's an issue if several board members all decide to leave simultaneously (as there probably would be at almost any sports club), but the likelihood of that happening is fairly small. So as a Saints fan i'd say the club is pretty well run
  13. You only need to look at the Academy to see where the respective counties are at. The Lancashire lads gave the Yorkies another thrashing in the Origin last weekend meaning its now over 3 years since Yorkshire even won a game against their Red Rose counterparts. Lancs ever had the luxury of leaving out several of their star players in order to give a few new lads a game at that level yet still won easily. If you look at the current Academy league table, with just a couple of games to go the top 3 are Saints, Wigan & Wire.
  14. Savelio has always flattered to deceive. He looked outstanding coming through the juniors but when he got to 1st team his body has always struggled with the physicality. There's a recurring pattern with him, he gets injured, spends months getting back to fitness, has 1 or 2 good games then gets injured again. It doesn't matter what club he's at or what competition he's playing in its always the same. Whoever signs him has to expect he'll be spending lengthy periods on the treatment table.
  15. Not quite it was the other way round in fact. Bell, Delaney & Mata’utia were outstanding. Bells defence in particular was brutal at times leaving a few HKR players in a crumpled heap. And as for Delaney the kid just gets better every week was the best prop out there by a mile. Saints could and probably should have been out of sight in the first 15mins given they had 3 try’s disallowed, think at least 2 of them would have been given if there was a video ref. Think rovers need to rethink using Lewis at FB he was absolutely awful, couldn’t catch, couldn’t tackle, comedy of errors from him all night. Rovers tried hard but were just completely outplayed on the night, probably not helped by the awful conditions.
  16. Yep and of the props in the reserves, 1 is injured, 3 are playing already but unfortunately 2 are pretty useless (Norman & Baxter) leaving only 1 good one in Delaney. The props in the Academy are only 17/18 and nowhere near ready for 1st team yet.
  17. We only have 1 centre fit in Percival. He was switched to the right last week and no coincidence it contributed to Makinson scoring a hat-trick. Poor Ritson got lumbered with Davies as his centre and I think probably only got 1 pass from him all game (which he nearly scored from just putting a foot in touch as he put the ball down)
  18. Not a chance Catalans are going to lose 3 of their last 6 games and Wigans points difference is far superior so top spot for Saints is never going to happen so from that point of view a Catalans win is far better.
  19. Not as bad as the current guff coming from Rah Rah land. They're claiming the use of ground breaking innovations by using 'The Bunker', the 'Shot clock' (both ripped off from the NRL) and 'Hawkeye' (ripped off from cricket)
  20. HKR by 10. Saints dominated the opening exchanges against Hudds but tired badly as their lightweight pack struggled to make much yardage as the game went on, and they relied heavily on Lees putting in a big shift up the middle. Neither LMS or Batchelor looked remotely fit and with Norman plodding round like a 3 legged carthorse that only leaves 1 decent prop out there and he's just a teenager.
  21. Forget about the result of the game, its about the battle of the whingers in the coaching box. They can't both have all the decisions go against them, have the officials favouring the opposition team and both get constantly held down in the tackle while the opposition get away with everything. My bet would be the 'whinge-ometer' slightly in favour of the petulant schoolboy in the white rose corner
  22. So despite all the claims of "its great for RL having 2 new teams in the final" this is the 2nd lowest post war Wembley attendance ever with only the 2018 Catalans game being lower !!!
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