Fri 8th Sept: SL: St Helens v Leigh Leopards KO 20:00 (Sky)

[redjonn]

54 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

"His feet stay planted"

He literally lifts his feet and moves into the player.

That is VR commentary utterly divorced from what is happening.

yep, would agree it was an incorrect call in my opinion. Their again it wouldn't fit the narrative of Saints always getting the rub of the green from Ref's, and whomever the opposition, in this case Leigh, getting duff calls that caused loss of game.

[Snowys Backside]

42 minutes ago, JonNgog said:

On the other hand, dominating territory to this extent without two biggest forwards is pretty impressive 

Bloody hell, even the video ref was told to ignore the knock ons. 
 

Im really surprised Saints didn’t smash us. There is hope !

[17 stone giant]

36 minutes ago, Phil said:

So why are we unable to market this sport? 

Can you be more specific about who you are trying to market the sport to, and give me some ideas as to how you'd go about it?

[FearTheVee]

What a fantastic, tough game of RL.

Loved it - well done Leigh, well done saints.

[Leyther_Matt]

Outstanding game. The best rugby game I’ve seen since, erm, my last one (and we got a trophy at the end of that one).

A real contest throughout. Unreal defence from Leigh in the first half and ultimately that’s what counted in the end, conceding a couple of tired tries. 

Tremendous atmosphere, too. I’ve seen Saints dozens of times over the years and never heard their crowd up for it quite like they were tonight.

A couple of marginal plays either way and it’s a different result on another day. Nothing to fear from Saints should our paths cross in the play offs. 

[FearTheVee]

Seems like we have another game where it isn’t toughness and desire and commitment that wins a game for saints but the referee.

Amazing how this has happened for five years now.

[bobbruce]

I can’t get my head round this late tackle rule. If you pass the ball and someone hits you half a second later its a penalty and ten minutes in the bin and probably a ban next week. Kick the ball through on the line and someone tackles you 2 seconds later it goes up to the VR and you get the tap on the 20. 

[Zilla Budgie]

Saints used all their luck up tonight, I doubt Wigan, Catalans & Warrington (and us) will be too worried about meeting them in the play-offs.

[north yorks trinity]

6 minutes ago, bobbruce said:

I can’t get my head round this late tackle rule. If you pass the ball and someone hits you half a second later its a penalty and ten minutes in the bin and probably a ban next week. Kick the ball through on the line and someone tackles you 2 seconds later it goes up to the VR and you get the tap on the 20. 

Or when it's Hurrell against a Wakey player it is a ban next week but no penalty, no 10 mins in the bin just an "OK, OK, play on"!!

[Phil]

1 hour ago, 17 stone giant said:

Can you be more specific about who you are trying to market the sport to, and give me some ideas as to how you'd go about it?

To people

 

and no I’m not involved in marketing 

[Just Browny]

5 hours ago, FearTheVee said:

Seems like we have another game where it isn’t toughness and desire and commitment that wins a game for saints but the referee.

Amazing how this has happened for five years now.

Has anybody said that incidentally? I'm amazed by how many times people come on and offer no comment on the game, but just to whinge that others haven't expressed the opinions they wanted to read.

I thought Saints won by the finest of margins, probably the width of Joe Mellor's fingernail. They can thank the Heavens for the longevity of Roby, because Dodd and Welsby failed to provide any creativity whatsoever despite the weight of possession and territory.

[Gerrumonside ref]

Checked the thread and happy to tick off the usual Saints conspiracies resulting in the win:

- Refs decisions;

- General rule breaking;

- Fake moon landings affecting gravity around Leopards tryline;

- Abominable snowman used as mascot to intimidate away fans;

 

Good effort by Leigh, great game and Roby played a vital part in Saints keeping up their end of season momentum.

 

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Gerrumonside ref

[Just Browny]

8 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Checked the thread and happy to tick off the usual Saints conspiracies resulting in the win:

- Refs decisions;

- General rule breaking;

- Fake moon landings affecting gravity around Leopards tryline;

- Abominable snowman used as mascot to intimidate away fans;

 

Good effort by Leigh, great game and Roby played a vital part in Saints keeping up their end of season momentum.

 

 

Yet another person moaning that people haven't expressed the opinions they wanted to read. At least you actually snuck in a comment on the game at the end.

Most of the comments on the ref I can see are people complaining about the Welsby no try.

[Gerrumonside ref]

1 minute ago, Just Browny said:

Yet another person moaning that people haven't expressed the opinions they wanted to read. At least you actually snuck in a comment on the game at the end.

Most of the comments on the ref I can see are people complaining about the Welsby no try.

Just trying to make light of the very tiresome comments we see on every match thread about Saints and refs.

[GeordieSaint]

Good game. Only saw the last 25mins but it was exciting with two evenly matched teams. Thought Amone was excellent for Leigh. Davies can consider himself to be a lucky lad… the hand of Mellor. Sounded like a belting atmosphere. The game is alive and kicking IMO.

[Chrispmartha]

Thought it was a really entertaining game, very tough, Saints still look a bit ‘off’ to me though, they are going to lose a lot when Roby retires, not sure Daryl Clarke is the answer.

One thing and Ive thought this all year is what’s happened to Dodd, he’s looked really poor all year, I know he’s young so certainly not writing him off!

Wonder what Saints fans thoughts are?

Leigh are a perfect example of a team being more than the sum of their parts IMO, I reckon they’ll go ok in playoffs but just fall short

[sam4731]

I'll tell you what, can we have two threads for each match next week? One where people can discuss the match and one where people can moan about the ref.

[meast]

Another matchday thread dominated by comments about the refereeing.

Standard

#obsessed 

RL really needs to get rid of this unpleasant obsession with referees and the decisions they make, concentrate on the game, on the good things that the players do instead ffs!

[meast]

12 hours ago, Phil said:

Superb game!!

So why are we unable to market this sport? 

See my previous post, there's far too much negativity around what the refs are or aren't doing, led by the media!

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, Chrispmartha said:

Thought it was a really entertaining game, very tough, Saints still look a bit ‘off’ to me though, they are going to lose a lot when Roby retires, not sure Daryl Clarke is the answer.

One thing and Ive thought this all year is what’s happened to Dodd, he’s looked really poor all year, I know he’s young so certainly not writing him off!

Wonder what Saints fans thoughts are?

Leigh are a perfect example of a team being more than the sum of their parts IMO, I reckon they’ll go ok in playoffs but just fall short

I genuinely think Clarke will thrive at Saints. If Roby can make those decent breaks on the back of the big Saints pack, Clarke should rip it up. 

Clarke's distribution is very underrated imo. 

As much as I hate to say it, I expect Clarke to be outstanding at Saints. 

[Dave T]

13 minutes ago, meast said:

See my previous post, there's far too much negativity around what the refs are or aren't doing, led by the media!

We don't need to overstate that point. Nobody bangs on about refs more than football. 

[Harry Stottle]

48 minutes ago, meast said:

See my previous post, there's far too much negativity around what the refs are or aren't doing, led by the media!

Someday Meast and I know you have in the main been the refs champion, will realise that games and futures are dependent on the man in the middle and how good his officiating is.

It does nothing whatsoever to say to people "have a go yourself if you think you can do better",  this is the chosen profession of the guys we see on TV and SL games,  and their performance just like player's/coaches will always be under scrutiny, mistakes get highlighted just as good officiating does, do you expect the media to ignore game changing decisions, they won't nor should you expect fans of clubs after seeing 'highlighted' errors to say 'oh well, that's life'

[daz39]

Tense, exciting game up to the end, Saints ground it out and in my opinion edged it and deserved the win.

I'm going to go against the grain and say the officials had a good game too, the key decisions were all correct.

[Harry Stottle]

Fully expect that Percival will pick up a ban for the head tackle on Amone, it could even be construed as premeditated the way he broke the line by about 2 meters, and it will have nothing to do with Mr Cullen on the panel, bit what I could not understand was the words of the ref, "I know the tackle was high but the free kick is for offside" can someone please explain that to me.

Edited September 9, 2023 by Harry Stottle

[sam4731]

14 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Someday Meast and I know you have in the main been the refs champion, will realise that games and futures are dependent on the man in the middle and how good his officiating is.

It does nothing whatsoever to say to people "have a go yourself if you think you can do better",  this is the chosen profession of the guys we see on TV and SL games,  and their performance just like player's/coaches will always be under scrutiny, mistakes get highlighted just as good officiating does, do you expect the media to ignore game changing decisions, they won't nor should you expect fans of clubs after seeing 'highlighted' errors to say 'oh well, that's life'

No one is in any doubt that referees make mistakes, maybe some more than others but the toxic culture of believing that some referees are corrupt or have a certain narrative they try to play out is off-putting. Also the idea that the authorities have a preference for who they want to win comps is ludicrous, even more when people say that they want Saints/Wigan/Leeds to do well, as if dominance is good for the sport.

Edited September 9, 2023 by sam4731