Fri 1st March : SL : St Helens v Leigh Leopards KO 8pm (Sky Sports Action)

[Old Frightful]

Discuss the SL game between St Helens and Leigh Leopards here without any inferences that the officials are anything but impartial please.

[phiggins]

Saints. Comfortably 

[LeytherRob]

We looked very undercooked in week 1 and I'd be surprised if that changed much tonight considering the enforced week off. If we can keep it competitive i'll be happy as Saints have come out swinging this season.

[Thunder Road]

Saints....

[NRLandSL]

Saints 22-2

Welsby MOM

[phiggins]

11 minutes ago, NRLandSL said:

Saints 22-2

Welsby MOM

We've no goalkicker to take the 2

[Harry Stottle]

If Leigh play as they did in Week 1, seemingly having ditched utilizing the ball in hand stretching defences and getting the ball out wide and all that was good about their play in favour of playing down the middle up to a position where they could grubber kick they could be looking at a big deficit. I have no doubt whatsoever that Lam snr. got it all wrong when pre 1st game he said teams will know what to expect from us this season so he changes tactics round completely, it did not work.

[phiggins]

6 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

If Leigh play as they did in Week 1, seemingly having ditched utilizing the ball in hand stretching defences and getting the ball out wide and all that was good about their play in favour of playing down the middle up to a position where they could grubber kick they could be looking at a big deficit. I have no doubt whatsoever that Lam snr. got it all wrong when pre 1st game he said teams will know what to expect from us this season so he changes tactics round completely, it did not work.

Didn't have a problem with the idea of putting grubber kicks in behind in round 1. Found last season that Charnley's tries slowed down a bit as defences pushed up on our left hand side. The only issue is the vast majority of the kicks were poor. There might also be a case of too many cooks, with Moylan being more involved in the attacking play than Reynolds was, and Asiata still playing as first receiver.

Big ask without Amone and Ipape tonight, though Amone was targetted and nullified pretty well in the same fixture towards the end of last season, and had a poor game against Hudds imo.

[Snowys Backside]

You have to fancy Saints on the coupon giving 14.

 

Wonder what the odds are on a Red card ??

[FearTheVee]

Think this will be much closer than everyone is suggesting, and should be a good game to watch.

[sweaty craiq]

Saints by plenty, Lam did some weird things v Hudds and didn’t change them. Amone is a huge loss but hopefully Trout is fit and Halton starts with O Donnell leaving a bench of Dwyer Norman Hughes Holmes

we can’t afford Bens small minutes tonight with Amone missing 

[sentoffagain2]

     Of the three games on SKY this is the one i will watch live.I have a feeling Leigh will improve and i hope they make it a close game.

[Wollo Wollo Wayoo]

I think this is the pick of tonight's games.  Hope Leigh can compete.

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

Saints by 10.

[Old Frightful]

1 hour ago, Snowys Backside said:

Wonder what the odds are on a Red card ??

Hull FC don’t play until Sunday.

[Zilla Budgie]

Saints 30 Leigh 10

[phiggins]

3 hours ago, sweaty craiq said:

Saints by plenty, Lam did some weird things v Hudds and didn’t change them. Amone is a huge loss but hopefully Trout is fit and Halton starts with O Donnell leaving a bench of Dwyer Norman Hughes Holmes

we can’t afford Bens small minutes tonight with Amone missing 

How many minutes will Trout be able to play, after such a long lay off? Struggle to understand how Hughes makes the 17, let alone the starting 13 regularly.

[Harry Stottle]

9 minutes ago, phiggins said:

How many minutes will Trout be able to play, after such a long lay off? Struggle to understand how Hughes makes the 17, let alone the starting 13 regularly.

What does Mr Lam see in Hughes that every Leigh fan I have spoke to (and that is a lot) doesn't?

[Josef K]

I enjoyed watching Leigh last season (apart from the two games when they deserved to beat us). They move the ball around really well and spread it out quickly.
Id imagine the pitch will be very heavy, roll on summer. I wonder if Saints will go with “whoever scores the try can go for goal”, id rather Makinson didn’t bother. 

[sweaty craiq]

1 hour ago, Josef K said:

I enjoyed watching Leigh last season (apart from the two games when they deserved to beat us). They move the ball around really well and spread it out quickly.
Id imagine the pitch will be very heavy, roll on summer. I wonder if Saints will go with “whoever scores the try can go for goal”, id rather Makinson didn’t bother. 

We struggled on our left after losing Leutele last season, but he will be approaching full fitness after the Hudds game. Hudds simply slowed the ptb, markers not square and moved up early out wide. Smith never stopped it and we made countless errors forced to play it tighter.

Expect a loss tonight but hopefully a faster and more enjoyable game

 

[binosh]

Can’t see a win tonight for Leigh, I believe the focus this year is to peak nearer the business end of the year hence the lack of pre season friendlies, we fizzled badly last year but all part of the learning curve to consolidate ourselves in SL, I’d expect a few reinforcements mid season. 

[Harry Stottle]

What a load of sh-ite Sky talk, only 3 hookers since SL began for Saints  what about 116 games Mickey Higham played?

[The Blues Ox]

Laughable sin binning. Seemed to be just because the Saints players ran in.

[tiffers]

Big call already in this game. Seemed more like a penalty than a sin bin to me.

[DavidM]

That’s just a tackle surely .