After last year i am not going to doubt McDermott as a coach, only when we are in a dire situation will i question him. The only thing i question is his use of substitutes

...but that's my point exactly. Who else is to blame for the tactic of having Burrow start and have the player on the bench that wasn't considered good enough to come on and contribute as a potential game changer ?

Most (if not ALL?) on here have stated that Lunt should be the starting hooker with the exocet Burrow to come off the bench.

Not the first time there has been a hopeless useage of the interchanges; something that should be a useful assett towards the chance of winning a game

So which players do you think were [unot[/u committed to rising to the occassion ?

Just a few observations, in addition to the non-use of Lunt I'm left wondering why Griffin was not introduced in to the game until the 49th minute? That'd be unusual even for Kirke who usually gets on for the final ten of the first half.

St Helens made four substitutions using all seventeen players at their disposal during the opening forty minutes, Leeds made three while only utilising fifteen of theirs by comparison. St Helens used their remaining six after the break, Leeds finished the game with two still up their sleeve. St Helens had an outside back stretchered off but still managed their subs better than Leeds did, IMO.

Jones-Buchanan scored with his first touch after replacing Delaney in the second-half.

Mcdermott, and in all honesty I'm not sure why. I do not think he is the type of person to bow to player pressure. Although a lot of his subs seem to be robotic, he will go on at this time, regardless of how this particular match is going. That there could prove to be a bigger problem

I've agreed on another thread and for this reason I will disagree with MJM and lay most of the blame on McDermott's doorstep for this one.

BTW, his prop rotation was Bailey for Kylie then Kylie back on for Peacock before half time whilst Griffin kicked his heels. Obviously resting Griffin's tired legs and using Kylie's youthful energy.

The players were up for it, were in it up to a certain point and faded badly. The use (or lack thereof) of his substitutions may well have been a major cause of this IMO.

I only managed to listen to the game on the Radio on Monday as I was at work, however, the commentators indicated that Griffin had been in constant discussions with the physio during the first half, which suggested to them he seemed to have an injury, and would explain him not being used in the 1st half. Quite when this injury happened I'm not sure as if he did have a problem in the warm up could we not have changed him for the 18th man (whoever that was) ?

Judging by the game time he had it seemed it would have been a case of Griffin saying I'll give it a go, and after 10 minutes realising whatever the problem was just wasn't going away so being taken off never to be used again.

The Lunt situation was bizarre to say the least.

I agree that McDermott has the blame for this one, i can't fault the effort of the starting forwards + Bailey but they had nothing left to give in the last 20 mins.
But to even it up i thought the players were to blame for the Hull defeat, poor discipline and poor tackling got us that lost.
Both McDermott and the players need to work on the 5 mins after we score a try, too often we score just like we did Monday and against Hull and within a few minutes we've conceded a try and/or momentum, usually quite cheaply.

You can't fault the effort some of the pack put into the game, but you can certainly be disappointed with the poor return of that effort. And to be honest, I'm beginning to wonder if a team that is barely hanging on to a playoff position (yes, I do know that it's only May, thank you!), can afford the luxury of TMFMISL.

I genuinely only noticed him twice in the entire game. Once when he was face down on the ground and doing some crazy flailing his arms about routine, and in the last minute when he managed to put a hit in on someone. Up until then he was totally anonymous.

Little Rob seemed to be simply going through the motions, rather than actively looking for gaps....Hardaker, for me needs to be switched to a wing position soonest,..... and despite Webby's excellent go forward play, letting a high bomb bounce would earn you a bollocking at under 8 level.

I'm a long long ways from being BMD's biggest fan, and his baffling team selections do him no favours, but on Monday night, I think it was the players who must be held accountable, both for attitude and ability.

All is not doom and gloom though, we were simply beaten on the night by a Saints team who played some cracking rugby.

Life goes on.

You Must have been one of the fans doing the Wigan walk then or you'd have noticed him picking up the home man of the match award.

Obviously, who ever awarded that has a fine sense of humour.....