Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Sun Oct 03, 2021 6:50 pm  

Think it’s all been said really.
On the way out my son asked me was it like that when Wigan won everything ?
I thought for a few seconds and said yes, because you knew they would win every big game and the gap would sometimes get a bit smaller but was generally massive.
Saints deserve great credit to do that in the salary cap era.
Wigan were a great side but even as a callow youth I knew signing Ellery, Andy Gregory, Lydon, goodway, Platt, Connolly etc etc was a good idea.

As Nicky Kiss said other teams don’t have the same intensity. I think Woolf has made them more conservative than Holbrook but it’s brutally effective.
The thing that depressed me was in addition to the gap in intensity (appreciate some of this list is based on intensity) was line speed in defence, how fast they run onto the ball, chasing from marker to leg tackle our props, accuracy of passing, numbers in motion, kick chase, handling skills and to my eye conditioning.

I think next year they will be even stronger.

Since 2015, we’ve succumbed to the idea behind the salary cap, the theory of an equal competition. We like many other sides have a mix of talent with some real tripe included. We’ve overloaded on tripe.

However, to date saints have resisted this descent into mediocrity and I can’t see it coming yet. Cleverly signing Lussick before Roby’s legs go the way of his hair.

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Sun Oct 03, 2021 7:40 pm  

Sport like many things in life is cyclical. Saints are on top at the moment (along with Cats) but it won’t last forever.

I actually think Catalan will beat them on Saturday.

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Sun Oct 03, 2021 7:53 pm  

fantastic post mark

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Sun Oct 03, 2021 8:46 pm  

Can't fault Saints.some excellent plays.

Just frustrated with usual issues. Silly penalty/ cards, poor last tackle options,lost ball etc.

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Sun Oct 03, 2021 8:59 pm  

We aren’t a million miles off, although it might feel like it after two heavy defeats to Saints.

Myler, Tom Briscoe, Sutcliffe, Gale, Dwyer and Mellor are all going to be under pressure from younger players next year.

To be fair I think a few other sides will improve next season too. I hope our lads get a decent mental and physical break, and I hope Gale, Sezer and others heal up fully… then we need a serious pre-season.

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Sun Oct 03, 2021 9:03 pm  

KaeruJim wrote:

We aren’t a million miles off, although it might feel like it after two heavy defeats to Saints.

Myler, Tom Briscoe, Sutcliffe, Gale, Dwyer and Mellor are all going to be under pressure from younger players next year.

To be fair I think a few other sides will improve next season too. I hope our lads get a decent mental and physical break, and I hope Gale, Sezer and others heal up fully… then we need a serious pre-season.

Agree. Reallly curious to know how Sezer's injury is coming along. It would be great to start the season with a full squad, or there abouts.

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Sun Oct 03, 2021 9:46 pm  

KaeruJim wrote:

We aren’t a million miles off, although it might feel like it after two heavy defeats to Saints.

Myler, Tom Briscoe, Sutcliffe, Gale, Dwyer and Mellor are all going to be under pressure from younger players next year.

To be fair I think a few other sides will improve next season too. I hope our lads get a decent mental and physical break, and I hope Gale, Sezer and others heal up fully… then we need a serious pre-season.

We’re still a couple of good players short of being a GF potential team imo. Need a gun outside back and replace King.

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Mon Oct 04, 2021 11:33 am  

To do what we did between 2004 and 2017 sucked the life out of the club and it will take a while to recover from that. It's highly possible that if we hadn't lost McGuire and Peacock at the end of 2010 we would be looking at 6 straight GF wins, 5 out of 6 in that period is hardly "bad" though. But it's come at a cost. Key players in key positions simply haven't been replaced with anything even close to similar quality and those players stretching their careers and retiring in a short space of time has been very difficult to deal with.
We are "steady" now. No chance of disaster and clearly playoff potential and competitive to a certain degree.
I don't see enough of this team and the guys coming through to know where the future lies and what it could look like but I do know it needs to get better. How that is done is beyond me. I can't see where players could come from, where we get two high quality halves from, where we get real leadership from, where we get brains and where we get genuinely terrifying strike runners.

A lot of the players in this years squad will be long gone before we really become title contenders I think.

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Mon Oct 04, 2021 12:13 pm  

KaeruJim wrote:

We aren’t a million miles off, although it might feel like it after two heavy defeats to Saints.

I almost talked myself into seeing a possibility of a Leeds win. You're obviously short in the HBs, a winger & a big back rower. But I think the main difference is the intensity Saints have played at most of the season. It's a different sort of controlled aggression to that which Wane instilled at Wigan. I don't see Agar having that in his coaching. It will be interesting to see what Powell can do with a blank cheque book at Wolfs.

Re: SL GF E | St Helens (A) : Mon Oct 04, 2021 12:20 pm  

Missed the game on Friday due to work commitments and havent been able to bring myself to watch it and probably won't.
Stopped reading the posts on this thread as I can't accept either the doom and gloom or we are not good enough diarreaoh.
We have played most of this yeart with 1 or 0 halfbacks. Got 2 good ones in for next year and if we have any of them on the field at the same time they will make a huge difference. Almost all teams have had injury or covid issues to deal with but I don't think any have had to deal with them in such critical, pivotal positions as we have. Maybe the exception of Huddersfield.
The kids have shown tonnes of promise and hopefully will only get better. Like most i think we need a prop for next year.
I was underwhellmed when we appointed Agar coach and have been pleasantly surprised ever since. For me he has credit in the bank on keeping the job and look forward to a decent run in an uncomplicated season
Looking forward to the GF and hope Cats can do a number on Saints, all I want to see is a showpiece final whoever wins