28 Jun: SL: Warrington Wolves v St Helens KO 7.45pm (TV)

[John Drake]

Discuss Warrington Wolves v St Helens here.

[hullste]

Saints have a great record at the Halliwell Jones. Depends which Warrington turns up, I will go Saints by 10 and extend their lead to 8 points at the top. 

[ELBOWSEYE]

Burrell named in squad, if he plays it will be a baptism of fire. 

[Cheshire Setter]

39 minutes ago, ELBOWSEYE said:

Burrell named in squad, if he plays it will be a baptism of fire. 

Pretty sure that’s just to make it a sell out but with this unpredictable Warrington side who knows?

[Dave T]

I'd be surprised with anything other than a solid Saints win, but looking forward to it anyway and hopefully they can prove me wrong.

[ELBOWSEYE]

22 minutes ago, Cheshire Setter said:

Pretty sure that’s just to make it a sell out but with this unpredictable Warrington side who knows?

Looking at who he has left out it looks more likely he will be on the bench. 

[Cheshire Setter]

3 minutes ago, ELBOWSEYE said:

Looking at who he has left out it looks more likely he will be on the bench. 

It will be interesting to see where he lines up if he makes it onto the field.   Late in the game at second row?   (Where he’s probably less exposed?)

I’m not sure your first game of RL should be 2nd vs 1st, in the centre or on the wing marking some international class players

[Dave T]

2 minutes ago, Cheshire Setter said:

It will be interesting to see where he lines up if he makes it onto the field.   Late in the game at second row?   (Where he’s probably less exposed?)

I’m not sure your first game of RL should be 2nd vs 1st, in the centre or on the wing marking some international class players

I'm not sure he will play, but maybe there is something in him being thrown in for a game like this if you are hoping he will be a key part of your end of season run-in?

[The Future is League]

Can't see beyond another Saints win.

[Cheshire Setter]

8 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I'm not sure he will play, but maybe there is something in him being thrown in for a game like this if you are hoping he will be a key part of your end of season run-in?

Yeah I too think it’s a bit of a stunt and he won’t actually feature but by all accounts he’s impressing in training, so maybe as you say it’s to blood him now in preparation for when it matters.

I was pretty ambivalent about his signing but I’m not qualified to judge his potential and I hope it works out for him.   Moran has been a big fan of his for a while.

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

Saints by 12.

[Dave T]

29 minutes ago, Cheshire Setter said:

Yeah I too think it’s a bit of a stunt and he won’t actually feature but by all accounts he’s impressing in training, so maybe as you say it’s to blood him now in preparation for when it matters.

I was pretty ambivalent about his signing but I’m not qualified to judge his potential and I hope it works out for him.   Moran has been a big fan of his for a while.

I don't know whether he will turn out to be a good signing, but I will be happy with a tactic of moving into the Union player market. As I have said before, some of my favourite Wire players were from Union, and with the cap benefits I think it could be a good tactic. 

Interested to see how this one pans out.

[Dave T]

 

 

[Cheshire Setter]

14 minutes ago, Dave T said:

 

 

Love it!

That’s quite a lengthy bit of publicity on a national channel.   My only worry is that he becomes more famous than his employers and leaves to pursue a solo career a la Robbie Williams...

[Cheshire Setter]

On Wolfie’s Twitter

[Chris22]

Really not sure which way this one is going to go. We have Roby, Taia and probably Percival missing. Whilst I know that's not many, I think one of our weaknesses is that the replacements in Smith/Bentley, Costello and moving around to give Amor a bench place represents quite a significant drop off.

That's not a slant on Smith or Costello. The former has done well since he has come into the team and the latter has been significantly better this season than last when given an opportunity. It's just that those players are tough to replace.

For that reason, I don't have the best feeling about the game, won't be overanalysing it if we do lose and would have Warrington as favourites. We may end up playing Wire 4 more times before the end of the season after this game, so will inevitably win some and lose some.

I'm interested to see how Warrington approach the game. I felt that they tried to attack us and were ambitious in our March meeting and we comfortably bettered them. Conversely, in the play off last year, they (and it has to be said, we) were more conservative and they won. This will probably come into Price's thinking about tactics.

What is good is that this feels like a "big" occasion, with a near sell out crowd expected. The game at our place felt the same too.

From a Saints perspective, I'm looking at our next 3 game spell - Warrington (a), Hull FC (a) and Wigan (h). That's as tough of a run as we can expect to have all season, including the play offs. If we can get 2 wins out of 3, I'll be delighted, 3 out of 3 would be incredible 0 or 1 out of 3 would be disappointing.

[Hemel Stag]

8 hours ago, Cheshire Setter said:

Yeah I too think it’s a bit of a stunt and he won’t actually feature but by all accounts he’s impressing in training, so maybe as you say it’s to blood him now in preparation for when it matters.

I was pretty ambivalent about his signing but I’m not qualified to judge his potential and I hope it works out for him.   Moran has been a big fan of his for a while.

He left Northampton Saints in fine form, some dazzling performances and strong carries through the middle. High hopes for Luther to shine in RL, but first game against St. Helen's ? That would be beyond harsh, surely?

[Hemel Stag]

5 hours ago, Cheshire Setter said:

On Wolfie’s Twitter

Wolfie - Captain, Leader, Legend  

And if you were wondering why Catalan's Dragons have lost their mojo, it may be because Wolfie Junior bought up all the bottles of Dragon Stout in Perpignan ! ! 

[Cheshire Setter]

4 hours ago, Hemel Stag said:

up all the bottles of Dragon Stout in Perpignan

Didn’t realise the French even liked stout?   You learn something new every day!

[Old Frightful]

17 hours ago, hullste said:

Saints have a great record at the Halliwell Jones.

Can you repeat that please?, not sure JB heard you the first time.

Wire to follow in the footsteps of Les Cats and Larndan and leave Saints thinking about the likelihood of successive defeats with a visit to my lot on the horizon.

Wire 28 Skints 22.

[Essai Machine]

A Roby-less Saints v. Austinful Wire ? I'm thinking Warrington will edge it .

[Moove]

Looks like it could be heading for a sellout, over 3000 sold at Saints, less than 200 to shift today. Should be a good atmosphere at least!

"Saints fans don't need a plane! Saints fans don't need a plane!"

[Cheshire Setter]

8 hours ago, Essai Machine said:

A Roby-less Saints v. Austinful Wire ? I'm thinking Warrington will edge it .

Warrington are still without Ratchford and Brown though which means Austin will be doing all the creative work (no offence to Patton but he doesn’t Marshall the team around the pitch too much).

Saints have the edge but I hope it’s a decent contest.   Hope the Burrell thing doesn’t backfire if he does actually play, but it matters little anyway as long as we secure second.   No race for first place In the top 5 system of course.

The real test will be in the semi finals (both cup and league).

[CiderWire]

I'm all for throwing Burrell in at the deep end, it's just where, when and how Pricey decides to utilise him that is the intriguing factor. I've a feeling Saints will edge it but here's hoping for a great advert for our game and may the best team win. 

I shall be watching this on the TV in the shade of the living room as the French sun is doing a better job of a 'scorched earth policy' than Napoleon ever did

[Denton Rovers RLFC]

If Warrington have any semblance of taking the LL trophy then this is a must win, sure it'll still mean a 4 point gap but otherwise a win for Saints here and you can 'shut the gate and put your glasses down'.

I think Warrington by 4