Re: Saints (Magic Weekend) : Mon Aug 12, 2024 3:08 pm  

Phuzzy wrote:

I've only seen it during the match as chose not to watch it back for some reason On the multiple replays on the day I didn't see any contact and you would normally get stills flooding social media if there had been and I haven't seen any.

I'm not going to complain too much, as I say. I thought Hiku did make contact, albeit minimal, and was worthy of a ban regardless of contact as the intent was clearly there. They don't punish intent though, so if Smith hasn't made contact I'd hope they would at least be consistent*

*I know... consistency and the disciplinary don't belong in the same sentence!

I'd give him three games for pure stupidity.

Re: Saints (Magic Weekend) : Mon Aug 12, 2024 4:40 pm  

The two 21's should be interesting, should be a prize for whoever can name both 17's correctly

Re: Saints (Magic Weekend) : Mon Aug 12, 2024 4:57 pm  

Phuzzy wrote:

I never want to lose against Saints, Itchy, but I feel we're in a "bigger picture" situation at the moment and losing Doris the tea lady (see other thread ) has tipped the balance in Saints' favour again.

Being serious for a moment, I think that, were it not for our form, this would be a bit of a banker. I know we have players out but Saints' losses are probably bigger than ours now. It's just that, looking how gassed we were on Saturday and knowing how the week after Easter used to go, I don't feel the players we have left will be at anywhere near their best. I hope I'm wrong, of course and maybe the fact that it's a derby will raise them.

Regarding Mago, I don't agree he can only do 15 mins mate, and that's my point. His defensive deficiencies are overstated in my opinion and he did long minutes several times last season with no drop off in quality. It's worth checking out what was said on here during that period as most agreed that he tended to look more gassed than he actually was and his performances bore that out. I haven't seen anything that suggests he couldn't do 20 minutes either side of half time at the very least.

Not a criticism of Peet, mainly because this tactic has worked reasonably well, but if he (and Hill and Byrne to a lesser extent) are consistently asked to play 15 mins then thats what they will be able to play.

Bringing Mago on when the opposition are gassed or losing by a couple of tries, he can look really good. But if we are being matched then we just get a drop in intensity and the "rested" guys have got to come back and work even harder to get us back in the game.

The whole thing needs a tweek.

Re: Saints (Magic Weekend) : Mon Aug 12, 2024 5:07 pm  

Phuzzy wrote:

I never want to lose against Saints, Itchy, but I feel we're in a "bigger picture" situation at the moment and losing Doris the tea lady (see other thread ) has tipped the balance in Saints' favour again.

Being serious for a moment, I think that, were it not for our form, this would be a bit of a banker. I know we have players out but Saints' losses are probably bigger than ours now. It's just that, looking how gassed we were on Saturday and knowing how the week after Easter used to go, I don't feel the players we have left will be at anywhere near their best. I hope I'm wrong, of course and maybe the fact that it's a derby will raise them.

Regarding Mago, I don't agree he can only do 15 mins mate, and that's my point. His defensive deficiencies are overstated in my opinion and he did long minutes several times last season with no drop off in quality. It's worth checking out what was said on here during that period as most agreed that he tended to look more gassed than he actually was and his performances bore that out. I haven't seen anything that suggests he couldn't do 20 minutes either side of half time at the very least.

If Mago was capable of doing more than 15 minutes I just don’t see how Peet wouldn’t have got more minutes out of him.
The next few weeks will tell us how good players like Mago, Byrne, Walters and Hill really are. Byrne needs to do a job on Walmsley, Mago needs to be effective for longer minutes, Walters needs show that he really has great potential and Hill needs to lift his tempo. I’m hoping Forber plays as this will keep our ptb quicker and hopefully get us on the front foot more often than not.
I’m not a fan of “magic” weekend but I’m now looking forward to see how we react to current loss of form and enforced changes.

Re: Saints (Magic Weekend) : Mon Aug 12, 2024 6:12 pm  

Itchy Arsenal wrote:

If Mago was capable of doing more than 15 minutes I just don’t see how Peet wouldn’t have got more minutes out of him.
The next few weeks will tell us how good players like Mago, Byrne, Walters and Hill really are. Byrne needs to do a job on Walmsley, Mago needs to be effective for longer minutes, Walters needs show that he really has great potential and Hill needs to lift his tempo. I’m hoping Forber plays as this will keep our ptb quicker and hopefully get us on the front foot more often than not.
I’m not a fan of “magic” weekend but I’m now looking forward to see how we react to current loss of form and enforced changes.

Forber is a must for me, his delivery from the ptb can be the difference in winning and losing.

Re: Saints (Magic Weekend) : Mon Aug 12, 2024 10:29 pm  

Forber also provides the option to move Leeming into the halves if needed.

Re: Saints (Magic Weekend) : Mon Aug 12, 2024 10:31 pm  

Itchy Arsenal wrote:

The next few weeks will tell us how good players like Mago, Byrne, Walters and Hill really are. Byrne needs to do a job on Walmsley, Mago needs to be effective for longer minutes, Walters needs show that he really has great potential and Hill needs to lift his tempo. I’m hoping Forber plays as this will keep our ptb quicker and hopefully get us on the front foot more often than not.
I’m not a fan of “magic” weekend but I’m now looking forward to see how we react to current loss of form and enforced changes.

As I keep saying Itchy, he has. Several times last season and he went fine. That's why I don't understand the reluctance this season. He doesn't look any less fit.

*I'll try to find the relevant threads from last year if I get chance.

Re: Saints (Magic Weekend) : Tue Aug 13, 2024 11:18 am  

Phuzzy wrote:

As I keep saying Itchy, he has. Several times last season and he went fine. That's why I don't understand the reluctance this season. He doesn't look any less fit.

*I'll try to find the relevant threads from last year if I get chance.

I believe you Phuzzy but Peet must have his reasons for not increasing his minutes and the same can be said for Byrne, Walters and Hill. My initial thoughts were that he doesn’t trust them but maybe they maybe carrying injuries which means that they aren’t able to train properly? I’m not sure what it is but I’m pretty sure that it isn’t that Peet doesn’t want to rotate his squad.

Re: Saints (Magic Weekend) : Tue Aug 13, 2024 11:22 am  

Itchy Arsenal wrote:

I believe you Phuzzy but Peet must have his reasons for not increasing his minutes and the same can be said for Byrne, Walters and Hill. My initial thoughts were that he doesn’t trust them but maybe they maybe carrying injuries which means that they aren’t able to train properly? I’m not sure what it is but I’m pretty sure that it isn’t that Peet doesn’t want to rotate his squad.

Actually Byrne is the better example. He was always regarded as a long minutes prop but now plays the same 15 minute cameos that Mago plays. It's quite strange. My own take on it is he just likes Thompson, Harvard and Ellis better but running them into the ground is short sighted to say the least.

Re: Saints (Magic Weekend) : Tue Aug 13, 2024 1:12 pm  

Phuzzy wrote:

Actually Byrne is the better example. He was always regarded as a long minutes prop but now plays the same 15 minute cameos that Mago plays. It's quite strange. My own take on it is he just likes Thompson, Harvard and Ellis better but running them into the ground is short sighted to say the least.

I’d be a little disappointed if Peet’s lack of rotation is because he just wants to play his best 3 props at the maximum for every game. What would be the point in having so many props in the squad if he didn’t think at the beginning of the season that he would need to rely on a good depth of available props?
I haven’t got a clue what it is but Peet has more than enough credit in the bank to make mistakes and I for one can accept the mistakes as long as we learn from them. There is a bit of pressure now on Peet and I’m confident he will learn and pull through our current malaise. I can’t wait to see the 21 for Saturday particularly who is going to play 6.
I’ve always given Byrne maximum support even when he’s not always deserving. I really thought that he was going to kick on but he’s regressed this season and I suspect that he along with Walters is struggling with the tackle technique now required. I hope he’s selected for Saturday and Waney is in his ear on the need to stifle Walmsley when he comes on.