Re: RD 16 | St Helens (A) : Thu Jun 23, 2022 9:37 pm  

Any positivity on first half performance or mitigation via poor refereeing is imo lost based on that last 20 or so minutes.

There is a clear discipline problem still in the squad that needs routing out and it starts with so called senior players in tetevano and Bentley. I do think Smith has the ruthless streak to deal with this.

I reckon Thompson (Trip) Bentley (knees in on try scorer and high shot) Newman (crusher and gobbing at the ref) and Tet (need I say more) will all be banned next week. There’s also whoever caught Lomax high on the line? I thought it was sezer?

I could blame halves but the pack just needs so much major surgery it’s almost not fair to judge them ball in hand at least. I’m starting to think that the back row is as much issue as the front because without Martin there it has zero punch.

Re: RD 16 | St Helens (A) : Thu Jun 23, 2022 9:41 pm  

Myler on the bench was a poor call tonight. Leeming wasnt great and neither of the halves were either but he still only did last 9 mins when the game was done.

Re: RD 16 | St Helens (A) : Thu Jun 23, 2022 9:43 pm  

Seth wrote:

My only issue would be if he's as good as our prop recruitment gets, as he is another project and we know how theyve turned out. We'll wait and see. But I hope to god that Tetevano goes home. Closely followed by prior, between them that must be a wedge of cash that's getting splashed up a wall.

I agree about Tetevano, I think it’s at least his sixth suspension in a season and a half. It was a terrible, blatant foul after showing no aggression when he should have in carrying the ball or tackling. Think Hetherington needs to be looking at whether we can cancel his contract for persistent unprofessional conduct.

We desperately need a vocal pack Leader. A project prop may be OK he may not but we need a forward who leads and the others respect and listen to.

Bentley needs to improve his discipline but he ran his blood to water unlike quite a few.

I thought the game was too big for the ref and the shirt looks too heavy for quite a few of our players.
Smith’s insane bench choice of both Myler and O’Connor bit us badly.

Finally, what worries me is we have a wider malaise at the club perhaps similar to Man Utd, summed up by last season’s 2 marquee players. Tetevano has been rubbish value for money and still is and Hurrell looks to have lost at least 2 stone from the fat clown playing for us last year. This reflects badly that nobody could get him even close to being fit and he could
Not be arsed.

Re: RD 16 | St Helens (A) : Thu Jun 23, 2022 9:44 pm  

Seth wrote:

My only issue would be if he's as good as our prop recruitment gets, as he is another project and we know how theyve turned out. We'll wait and see. But I hope to god that Tetevano goes home. Closely followed by prior, between them that must be a wedge of cash that's getting splashed up a wall.

You can’t have it both ways Seth. Tetevano came as a big name, NRL winning international prop. Signing a big name or a name we know doesn’t mean anything, especially in the front row. I agree prior and Zane need to go, ideally both at the end of the season but signing Sangare as a 4/5th prop option is not bad business given the other non quota props available at this time of year.

Re: RD 16 | St Helens (A) : Thu Jun 23, 2022 9:48 pm  

Im still confident Smith is the right man for us, you can see a clear change in how he wants us to play we’re obviously short in the prop department

Re: RD 16 | St Helens (A) : Thu Jun 23, 2022 9:48 pm  

Lprhino wrote:

You can’t have it both ways Seth. Tetevano came as a big name, NRL winning international prop. Signing a big name or a name we know doesn’t mean anything, especially in the front row. I agree prior and Zane need to go, ideally both at the end of the season but signing Sangare as a 4/5th prop option is not bad business given the other non quota props available at this time of year.

Both those things aren't mutually exclusive, zane is sht and sangare isn't going to lead our pack, he's young and does short stints of the bench.

Re: RD 16 | St Helens (A) : Thu Jun 23, 2022 9:50 pm  

Sir Gregory ParsloeP wrote:

I agree about Tetevano, I think it’s at least his sixth suspension in a season and a half. It was a terrible, blatant foul after showing no aggression when he should have in carrying the ball or tackling. Think Hetherington needs to be looking at whether we can cancel his contract for persistent unprofessional conduct.

We desperately need a vocal pack Leader. A project prop may be OK he may not but we need a forward who leads and the others respect and listen to.

Bentley needs to improve his discipline but he ran his blood to water unlike quite a few.

I thought the game was too big for the ref and the shirt looks too heavy for quite a few of our players.
Smith’s insane bench choice of both Myler and O’Connor bit us badly.

Finally, what worries me is we have a wider malaise at the club perhaps similar to Man Utd, summed up by last season’s 2 marquee players. Tetevano has been rubbish value for money and still is and Hurrell looks to have lost at least 2 stone from the fat clown playing for us last year. This reflects badly that nobody could get him even close to being fit and he could
Not be arsed.

We won’t get a vocal pack leader until both Prior and Tetevano leave. They will be taking up serious cap and are experienced players. Prior just looks shot he can only manage short bursts and against top props he isn’t that effective. Zane just doesn’t look like he wants to be here and I would offer him the chance to leave and go back to the NRL where he would still easily get snapped up by somebody.

Re: RD 16 | St Helens (A) : Thu Jun 23, 2022 9:51 pm  

It needs to be Sangare + at least one more. Preferably someone Paasi/Walmsley/Mago sized/style as we just don’t have that in our arsenal and find it really difficult to deal with defensively. Clearly throwing smaller bodies at big bodies isn’t working.

A real pack leader would be nice too but they’re arguably even harder to come by.

Re: RD 16 | St Helens (A) : Thu Jun 23, 2022 9:52 pm  

How would zane easily get snapped up by an NRL side on his form the last 2 years?!

Re: RD 16 | St Helens (A) : Thu Jun 23, 2022 9:52 pm  

Seth wrote:

Both those things aren't mutually exclusive, zane is sht and sangare isn't going to lead our pack.

I appreciate they aren’t mutually exclusive.
However, Zane was signed for lead our pack, that was his role and he was signed with that in mine. I think the point is that he hasn’t done that and we all agree he doesn’t look good enough. The prop issue is not simply we need a leader, it is we need a leader, we need more numbers and we need more size. Sangare solves two of those three requirements doesn’t he?