Thu 10th Feb: SL: St Helens v Catalans Dragons KO 20:00 SKY

[JohnM]

Saints deserved to win, as the scoreline shows. ( no "gritted teeth" emoticon, sadly) First game of the season for both sides, though. Things will settle down once teams get used to the new interpretation of the  ptb rules, flopping and lying on,  offside and forward passes. 

[Jughead]

36 metres from 7 carries, 6 missed tackles and a red card. That’s some debut from Napa. 

[meast]

6 hours ago, Loiner said:

So what have we learned from that game apart from it was garbage? Catalans cannot create anything  Pierce and Drinkwater were anonymous and if we can get a referee to get Saints onside other teams might have a chance.

As Dave Woods used to say 

"Enjoy your rugby league, we do" 

 

[Harry Stottle]

10 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

He only ran as far as was needed , put the ball down an inch over the line

So have you changed your mind about Hurrell coming to Leigh, I suspect the poster who suggested that Saints should pay Leigh to take him maybe having second thoughts.

[Wolford6]

I think plenty of the posters ridiculing the Catalans will have a different opinion when it's their team that gets to play them.

When the Catalans' half backs start to click, they'll find power all across the field to work with and two really good wingers to finish moves off.

[Harry Stottle]

9 hours ago, Damien said:

Yeah a very good crowd against Catalans.

Aye, a complete lack of a garlic odour in the air!

[northamptoncougar]

I thought the Cats played a very narrow game & I can’t understand why? Tompkins spend more time at the ptb than creating on the fringes. If Pearce is over here for an easy going retirement fund he’s going to have a hard time. 

[Harry Stottle]

8 hours ago, DoubleD said:

Saints weathered the storm and showed composure, unlike Catalans. Pearce was anonymous, he looked like a bystander. Tomkins and McMeekan also had poor games by their standard. Napa doing what I expected. McNamara has a job on his hands, but he very competently coped with it last year and I expect them to be top 4 again this year 

So you reckon by comparison Cats will not be as good as last season?

[Just Browny]

33 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Aye, a complete lack of a garlic odour in the air!

Interesting that a weekday night away game is a good excuse for Leigh fans not to travel, but not a good excuse for Catalan fans.

[Davo5]

3 hours ago, George Watt said:

One  player in SL who plays the ball correctly every time is Welsby. Tonight Hopoate was also faultless in this area. One of these days I will see Walmsley at least attempt to touch the ball with his foot!

 

To be fair to Walmsley it must be incredibly hard to get your foot on the ball when your either diving or walking 5 yards at the PTB.

[Just Browny]

5 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

To be fair to Walmsley it must be incredibly hard to get your foot on the ball when your either diving or walking 5 yards at the PTB.

For the Lussick try he also brought in a little barge on the marker to create the space.

[Davo5]

47 minutes ago, Wolford6 said:

I think plenty of the posters ridiculing the Catalans will have a different opinion when it's their team that gets to play them.

When the Catalans' half backs start to click, they'll find power all across the field to work with and two really good wingers to finish moves off.

I agree,writing the off after 1 game is crazy,as is the labelling of them as just dirty headhunters,yes Napa took it too far but it was a Grand Final rematch & there was plenty going on from both sides even though Saints fans take their usual we are angels stance.

[Harry Stottle]

9 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

Interesting that a weekday night away game is a good excuse for Leigh fans not to travel, but not a good excuse for Catalan fans.

It was a quip JB, I realise that you may be a little slow on the uptake but surely that shouldn't have gone over your head.

[Chris22]

3 hours ago, George Watt said:

One  player in SL who plays the ball correctly every time is Welsby. 

I noticed that too. He's always played the ball with the foot ever since getting pinged in Round 1 of 2020.

On to the match, thought we were really impressive. Mata'utai and Batchelor led the way and justified their starting jerseys. 

Can't draw too many conclusions from a round 1 match alone, but plenty to be optimistic about.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

32 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

Interesting that a weekday night away game is a good excuse for Leigh fans not to travel, but not a good excuse for Catalan fans.

They’re obsession/hatred towards Catalans and Toulouse is bizarre, Leigh Brexiteers would be an appropriate name for the club. 

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, Harry Stottle said:

So have you changed your mind about Hurrell coming to Leigh, I suspect the poster who suggested that Saints should pay Leigh to take him maybe having second thoughts.

Nope , 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

8 hours ago, Josef K said:

I thought it was a good hard game, Catalans in spells looked dangerous and their try was a cracker. The time wasting going on was ridiculous at times something needs to be done about it. Batchelor improves with every game he has been a cracking signing. Roby still ceases to amaze me with his fitness.

I did witness a correct PTB by Paasi in the 2nd half but there wasn’t many from the other 33players. Take Walmsley out of the saints side and we’d be knackered, but we might need Walmsley to take over kicking duties after Dodds pitiful efforts.

I expect both sets of players will be carrying a few knocks into next week. I can’t see Percival playing, Hopoate looks like he’s done a rib or something. Matautia was limping when he came back on. 

I think Catalan looked good for 20 mins but I didn't see them do much after that.... though Saints defence was so quick to set and move that not sure many SL attacks would have been able to crack it

The ball steal from Pearce after they had a break says it all (Welsby?)

Interesting to see if a more unstructured on the fly approach will work against them

Makinson to take over the kicking?

[JohnM]

2 hours ago, meast said:

As Dave Woods used to say 

"Enjoy your rugby league, we do" 

 

Indeed.  Just glad to have it back . Now we can stop arguing about inconsequential things and start arguing about important matters, like "how do Saints get away with it every time"         

[Harry Stottle]

1 hour ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

They’re obsession/hatred towards Catalans and Toulouse is bizarre, Leigh Brexiteers would be an appropriate name for the club. 

What do you mean Leigh Brexiteers no need to single us out don't forget Kev there are more Out's than Stayers countrywide.

Sorry mods, but he started it!

[DoubleD]

2 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

So you reckon by comparison Cats will not be as good as last season?

It's not so much as I don't think Catalans will be as good this season, but that the other challengers like Wigan and Leeds will be better this season

[DoubleD]

As an aside, is Joe Batchelor the most improved player in SL? Could he make a late claim for international honours at the end of the season?

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

8 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

As an aside, is Joe Batchelor the most improved player in SL? Could he make a late claim for international honours at the end of the season?

Yeah I was thinking that last night....a Westerman style call up by Wane

[Saint Toppy]

Not had a chance to watch the game back yet to review some of the incidents but watching it live a couple of things stood out.

The pace of the PTB was incredibly slow and a lot of the fans were getting pretty peed off with the Ref (it was slow with holding down from both sides contrary from some of garbage posted already on here just claiming Saints were holding down). This was just poor officiating and needs to be addressed by the officials otherwise every game this year is going to be dull to watch.

What a complete flop Catalans big money signings were. Napa has been going downhill for a few years now and his discipline has been getting worse & worse. Its going to be another long year for him with plenty of visits to the disciplinary. Pearce has done his usual 'flatter to deceive' as he's done most of his career, all hype & no delivery. Maloney was a grub but he was a real competitor with that desire to win when the things got tough, Pearce just fades away. As for May, glad to see him get smashed a few times last night, complete a$$$wipe of a person.

Catalans as a team seem to have reverted to type, just try to smash the opposition into submission and if that doesn't work revert to thuggery. Last year they seemed to have cleaned themselves up with their ill discipline but last nigh was just like watching Catalans of previous years. But I suppose any team with Tomkins, McIlorum, McMeekan, Dudson,Napa & May in is never going to have a good discipline record.

I was please to see a Saints 7 to actually play some head-up rugby, something we haven't had for years since Long left. It was noticeable how much more Lomax ran the ball last night knowing Dodd was doing most of the organising.

Did I just imagine that the RFL were introducing the 'Green Card' for injury stoppages ? When Dazaria was seeing stars and their trainer got the game stopped I though he had to leave the field of 2mins or be substituted ??

[Saint Toppy]

14 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

As an aside, is Joe Batchelor the most improved player in SL? Could he make a late claim for international honours at the end of the season?

Said that last season, once he got his chance as a starter he completely pushed Thompson out of the side and just got better as the season went on. I thought he as one of Saints best forwards in the GF.

[JohnM]

some of garbage posted already on here just claiming Saints were holding down. 

Has anyone actually posted that Saints were the only ones holding down - which of course they were not. That's a far cry from posting that Saints were holding down., which of course they were.

 

Glad to see him get smashed a few times last night. That's Saints in a nutshell: One rule for them, another for everyone else.

 

Did I just imagine that the RFL were introducing the 'Green Card' for injury stoppages ? 

Yes, I though that, too. Looks like it's as rare as a set restart.