Thurs 23rd March : SL : Huddersfield Giants v St Helens KO 20:00 (Sky)

[WN83]

Got to hand it to Wilkin saying Lomax isn’t the type to stay down If the lad spent anymore time on the deck, they could sell him in the Saints Superstore as a rug. 
 

Big wins for Saints these. They’re clearly on the come down from their trip to Oz and to just kick ticking over, until it’s out the system is massive. 
 

As for Huddersfield, it was better than last week but it’s still very conservative and the recruitment continues to baffles me. There seems to be a few changes to the side each week, to try and get players some game time. You can’t plan for an injury crisis surely?! So why the need for such a big squad is beyond me. Connor will add to them but can hurt you just as much and they lack pace, which is something he won’t fix. 

[daz39]

Good game, enjoyed that, close but no cigar still for us.

At one point it looked like Saints players had fallen asleep on ours such was the length of time they spent on top of them and Mr Smith had fallen asleep watching it as he forgot to wave 6 again, luckily though he managed to stay awake for the 3 seconds our players did it!!.

Thought we got some pretty harsh calls in the 1st half and the referee was very, very leniant with some of Saints slowness but i will rewatch the game and maybe have a different viewpoint with the emotion gone.

Again we lacked creativity in attack but Jake should help when he regains fitness, not too downhearted as we just about matched them and on another night would have beaten them if certain things were a little different.

 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

8 minutes ago, daz39 said:

Good game, enjoyed that, close but no cigar still for us.

At one point it looked like Saints players had fallen asleep on ours such was the length of time they spent on top of them and Mr Smith had fallen asleep watching it as he forgot to wave 6 again, luckily though he managed to stay awake for the 3 seconds our players did it!!.

Thought we got some pretty harsh calls in the 1st half and the referee was very, very leniant with some of Saints slowness but i will rewatch the game and maybe have a different viewpoint with the emotion gone.

Again we lacked creativity in attack but Jake should help when he regains fitness, not too downhearted as we just about matched them and on another night would have beaten them if certain things were a little different.

 

You are bang on Daz....they got away with murder at the ruck first half

[daz39]

2 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

You are bang on Daz....they got away with murder at the ruck first half

Someone by me said it was probably an rfl instruction to make sure the 'world champions dont embarass the sport by losing 3 in a row'

[yipyee]

1 hour ago, daz39 said:

Someone by me said it was probably an rfl instruction to make sure the 'world champions dont embarass the sport by losing 3 in a row'

They won last week though haha 

[Damien]

8 hours ago, Jughead said:

It’s interesting that Wilkin and Brown, both retired in the last 4-5 years, see late hits very differently to McDermott, O’Connor and Clarke, retired approximately 20+ years ago. 

Wilkin sees hits differently purely when a Saints player is the one being hit.

[Dunedan]

The "late hit" on Lomax - the Huddersfield player stood his ground, Lomax initiated contact, good no call.

If Rugby League is serious about head injuries, incidents like Matty Lees' high shot on Ashton Goulding needs to be a red card. It was a swinging arm with direct contact to the head.

[GUBRATS]

28 minutes ago, Damien said:

Wilkin sees hits differently purely when a Saints player is the one being hit.

Wilkin should stick to making coffee 

[GUBRATS]

26 minutes ago, Dunedan said:

The "late hit" on Lomax - the Huddersfield player stood his ground, Lomax initiated contact, good no call.

If Rugby League is serious about head injuries, incidents like Matty Lees' high shot on Ashton Goulding needs to be a red card. It was a swinging arm with direct contact to the head.

Done deliberately 

[Tommygilf]

6 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

You are bang on Daz....they got away with murder at the ruck first half

I've noticed with Saints over the past few years that they are good at slowing the opponents ruck down in ways that aren't very obvious. For example, one of the tacklers, often a big man like Walmsley, might roll off pretty quickly but proceed to kneel next to the ptb. Not crime of the century no but it does mean that if the attack want to play quickly they are restricted to passing to one side. 

Thats just a single example but throughout a game Saints are experts in slowing down their opponents. They don't do it in the more obvious physical manner Wane’s Wigan used to, but its pretty consistent and it does push the refs in another way.

[Jughead]

51 minutes ago, Damien said:

Wilkin sees hits differently purely when a Saints player is the one being hit.

Of course he does. I suppose it makes a change from 20 years of Wigan TV, eh? 

[Harry Stottle]

9 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

There’s no structure there, no moves, no deception. Not good enough any Super League side, let alone a fancied one. 

Now people will believe me when I stated more than once, that Paul Rowley was the brains behind the offence play when both Watson and Rowley were together at Salford.

The evidence is there for all to see.

[Jughead]

2 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Now people will believe me when I stated more than once, that Paul Rowley was the brains behind the offence play when both Watson and Rowley were together at Salford.

The evidence is there for all to see.

A Challenge Cup Final, 3rd place and narrow defeats to Wigan and Saints? Yeah, that’s damning evidence. 

[Dunbar]

8 hours ago, daz39 said:

Someone by me said it was probably an rfl instruction to make sure the 'world champions dont embarass the sport by losing 3 in a row'

 

7 hours ago, yipyee said:

They won last week though haha 

So the RFL have put the entire integrity of the sport in jeopardy by issuing instructions to referees on who should win matches, and just so St Helens don't lose one in a row.

Some people would call it a conspiracy theory, but when you do your own research it starts to make sense. 

[Damien]

22 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Of course he does. I suppose it makes a change from 20 years of Wigan TV, eh? 

Ah strawman time. Phil Clarke being woeful doesn't make Wilkin any better.

[Jughead]

4 minutes ago, Damien said:

Ah strawman time. Phil Clarke being woeful doesn't make Wilkin any better.

Who’s arguing Wilkin is better? I’m not even sure what you’re arguing in that case but you feel free to crack on. 

[Damien]

1 minute ago, Jughead said:

Who’s arguing Wilkin is better? I’m not even sure what you’re arguing in that case but you feel free to crack on. 

You are the one rambling about Wigan TV which has sweet fa to do with Wilkin. If you don't even know what you are trying to say and are simply being all precious because its an ex Saints player that's fine, let's leave it at that.

[Just Browny]

I thought decisions went both ways last night. But the whole thing showed the farce of the six again rule, and in particular the idea that it speeds the game up. Actually it makes it much slower because the 'penalty' for committing a foul (slowing the play the ball and six again) is lesser than the counterfactual (letting someone play the ball quickly). 

[Damien]

34 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I've noticed with Saints over the past few years that they are good at slowing the opponents ruck down in ways that aren't very obvious. For example, one of the tacklers, often a big man like Walmsley, might roll off pretty quickly but proceed to kneel next to the ptb. Not crime of the century no but it does mean that if the attack want to play quickly they are restricted to passing to one side. 

Thats just a single example but throughout a game Saints are experts in slowing down their opponents. They don't do it in the more obvious physical manner Wane’s Wigan used to, but its pretty consistent and it does push the refs in another way.

Saints do what all teams do and push these things as far as possible. I'm loathe to criticise any team for it because all teams try and do the same. It really is up to the referee to act more firmly and issue more yellow cards.

The trouble for me is that the bigger more successful team often seem to get the rub of the green more as they are generally more dominant. We've seen it with all the big teams, Saints and Wigan have done it as you say, Leeds did it for years with Bailey, Ablett and co, Bradford before them. We see the same at international level too.

[Harry Stottle]

29 minutes ago, Jughead said:

A Challenge Cup Final, 3rd place and narrow defeats to Wigan and Saints? Yeah, that’s damning evidence. 

"Brains behind the offensive play" can you not read!

[Harry Stottle]

21 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

 

So the RFL have put the entire integrity of the sport in jeopardy by issuing instructions to referees on who should win matches, and just so St Helens don't lose one in a row.

Some people would call it a conspiracy theory, but when you do your own research it starts to make sense. 

What is strange about what Daz wrote is that you took it seriously and commented on it.

[Harry Stottle]

1 hour ago, Dunedan said:

The "late hit" on Lomax - the Huddersfield player stood his ground, Lomax initiated contact, good no call.

If Rugby League is serious about head injuries, incidents like Matty Lees' high shot on Ashton Goulding needs to be a red card. It was a swinging arm with direct contact to the head.

And on the Lomax one, he actually took the ball up to the contact area and delivered a forward pass.

[Harry Stottle]

1 hour ago, GUBRATS said:

Done deliberately 

Matty Lee's is becoming quite a 'Grub' player. 

[Dunbar]

1 minute ago, Harry Stottle said:

What is strange about what Daz wrote is that you took it seriously and commented on it.

Is joining in with the joke taking it seriously?

What is really ironic is the post above this one is you accusing people of not being able to read.

[dkw]

Nothing funnier than reading back a Saints match thread on here, the amount of bitter would keep a good pub running for 12 months, minimum