WN83

Saints will win pretty comfortably I’d imagine but we’ve got reasons (excuses) and I’m confident we’ll be there or thereabouts when the big games come around. We can’t get any momentum in to the season at the minute but all being well, there is time to find that.

Game of the weekend potentially. Two clubs making strides, with good coaching and good players. I have a feeling Salford might get it done. Tim Lafai makes a big difference for them. Salford by 4

Saints to do enough for the 2 points I reckon. They’re not at their best but Huddersfield play too safe to really panic them. Saints by 10

Expecting a tight one. The lack of options in the forwards for Wigan will hurt more in some games, than others and this could be one. If I was being honest I’d go Catalans by 4.

Suppose it depends on HKR’s thoughts on it being at Hull FC if it were to play out that way. If they’d be comfortable with that, happy days. You’d like to think there would be a 20k+ crowd on.

Wherever the games are played, I’d expect decent crowds if clubs like Leigh and HKR are involved. The feel good factor around those clubs is something that can really help drive the attendances. Looking at the gap between the quarters and the semis, I think there is 5 weeks and that’s enough time IMO to hold off making a decision on semi final venues until they know who is in them. If it’s a Hull club vs a club on this side of the Pennines, you’d probably take it to Headingley. A Hull Derby would probably need to be at Headingley as well or maybe Doncaster. A game involving 2 of Wigan, Saints, Wire, Leigh, Salford etc should be easy to arrange locally.

Seems like a fair old licence to me. He came in and went on a signing spree and that’s carried on ever since. He isn’t building the club by blooding youth or working to build on what was there when he turned in. It’s been a bit like Powell at Wire-come in, tear the squad up, keep the few you’re happy with and get your own guys in. He’s made nearly 20 signings by my reckoning since he came in, including some guys well in to their 30’s. He has the deepest squad in the league in terms of first team experience. If that squad isn’t costing as much as anyones in the league I’d be surprised and with that comes expectation to produce ‘now’. It just feels like an extremely easy ride for Watson if a really poor season to date is just brushed under the carpet because there is a plan to maybe win something within 5 years. He’s got a better squad on paper than HKR, Leigh and Salford IMO and and those 3 clubs/coaches are comfortably out performing his side.

The game doesn’t help itself. It was Jack Smith, as pointed out above but he is also a Wiganer. There are a massive percentage of the refs from Wigan, so maybe we have to have one at times but it happens too often for me and it leaves the refs open to accusations of bias. You say he was bias because he was a Wiganer but Wigan fans will say he’s biased against them, as he wants to prove he’s not leaning towards his town team. We always seem to get Liam Moore for Saints games and it irritates the life out of me. I do feel like he goes out of his way to show he’s not a bias Wiganer in that fixture but realistically I’m just being a cynical fan and the refs are professional and just call games as they see fit, without any bias either way. The game should be doing better in avoiding the issue though.

No way in the world Huddersfield can be comfortable with where they sit, 5 year plans or not. When you get free reign, like Watson has been given, to build a side, let players go, bring your own in and your carrying the deepest squad in the league and I presume one of the most expensive, being so low in the table can’t be acceptable. You add in the dour style of play and if it is a long term plan, I’m struggling to see what he’s building.

The time has come to give somebody else a go. Harry Smith has lost confidence with it and it feels like it’s starting to impact on his general game. Thanks for the info.

If he fancies coming back to Wigan, we’ll take him.

Question for you, based on how bad we have been at kicking goals for a decade now! How does Wardle look kicking? Thought I recalled him having a go at some point, so checked his record and he’s kicked 10 in his career. That’s 10 more than we look like booting over currently! Presume he looks like a young Mal Maninga?

Golden point is pathetic. Two great games, this last two nights have been taken in to a drop goal contest and it’s shambolic. HKR, Wigan, Leeds and Saints all derserved a point each, without a shadow of a doubt.

Don’t want to over work the young Australians. That would kill their development, tire them out, not be a duty of care blah blah blah.

I find it sad at times that there is so much focus on decisions after a game like that. It was a superb advert for the sport last night and it's easy for me to say that when my side came out on the right side of the result but even as we were losing in the dying moment, I messaged a couple of mates and just said 'that's been a brilliant game' presuming we were done for. There were a couple of decisions I wasn't massively happy with during the game but that is the game in general.

Fantastic game. HKR gave us more problems tonight than anybody else all season. We needed to play on the break and thankfully we’re ok with that. We need more games like that and it’s really pleasing to see a club like HKR pushing hard to break the usual Saints, Wigan, Leeds etc traditional top sides.

In fairness Huddersfield weren’t picking him last season, to the point he was loaned out, so people weren’t going to be shouting from the rooftops during that period. Prior to that I’ve seen his name mentioned in parts but he was young and some injuries held him back. I’ll be honest, before Saturday I wouldn’t have been shouting to get him in the England team. He’s had what I’d call a ‘decent’ start for us but that was his first exceptional game and it’s left me wanting to see more of that. He’s all class for sure and has a bit of everything about him and I think it’s just confidence really that needs building, so the standard from Saturday becomes the norm. He seems a really quiet lad, so hopefully he can have that belief about him.

Newman all day for me (if fit). Wardle ways superb on Saturday and he's been 'pretty good' this season but that was the first game where he's been at that level and he'll need more of those to push for a starting place. I saw a mention of Toby King above but he's not at that level IMO. Again he has been good for us this season and I'm pleased with how he's going but I don't think he has the pace for top level international rugby league. Newman got absolutely battered for incident on Saturday and maybe that is fair enough (he did get away with one in the first half after all) but I think the contribution of Bevan French has been underplayed. I was at the game and hadn't noticed it and even in the replay I didn't notice it myself but somebody on social media pointed out the feint French made, to make it look to Newman like he was committing to tackling Myler. It was absolutely sensational fullback play and it's not been given the credit it deserves due to the focus being on Newman and him not passing the ball.

Definitely need start giving that bag more of a shake and save us from yet another Wigan/Wire cup tie. I think fans of both clubs must be sick of each other by now (5th tie in 7 years).

He’s a cracking player Newman but clearly there seems to be some attitude issues. It’s a tough one because the aggression and attitude he plays with, makes him the player he is. He’s been unbelievable against us this past 12 months and at times it’s felt like he’s bullied us and you don’t see that very often from a back. He went after Field and French in the game at Headingley last season and totally put them off their game. I’d breathe easier if he wasn’t in the Leeds team, that’s for sure. I bet Newman wishes we had a goal kicker. His brain fade at the end should not have mattered.

We’ll definitely see a reaction in terms of energy and physicality (which even at 14-0, I thought were lacking) but I worry about the confidence now, especially in regards to Cust and Smith. In general across the whole side, we don’t seem to have a player who can throw accurate and well timed passes, that can open up defences. You don’t know if a pass from French, Smith, Cust (or Field when back) etc will end up hitting its target, fly over players heads, hit the deck or like last week, get intercepted. It’s my main worry in regards to challenging to win trophies this season and I’m torn now on the need for a new halfback going in to 2024.

Not a clue what to expect after last week. I thought we were saving ourselves a bit, even at 14-0 but our confidence and by the same token, Leeds confidence will have changed drastically on the back of that second half. I wouldn’t be surprised by any result.

Saints will bounce back this season and challenge for honours but I still think their squad needs a couple of fresh bodies in it going forward in to next season. They seem to have a few players currently getting towards and past 30 years of age, who are picking up niggles reasonably frequently. To me Clark is a good player but could fall in to that bracket as well. There's no doubting his quality when he is fully fit mind, so if he can stay clear of problems, he'll do a good job.

Very true. Catalans were at it from the first whistle and Saints scored a couple of try’s against the run of play really. After that, there was a period of 5-10 mins where it looked like Catalans might fold but they composed themselves and got back to it. They deserve a lot of credit and I like the looks of their steel and attitude this year.

Saints looked rusty after the weeks rests.