My overview:
My unwritten law for St Helens is if they hold a full two score lead, you won't win the game. That was the case at half time. We never recovered. Why? Poor one on one defense, simple. Saints all credit to them, the scoreboard doesn't lie, they were the best team on the night. They passed along the Leeds defensive line as much as they could, to get them one on one. So far this season Leeds have loved going in with two's and threes, drivng players back, getting them on their back and that results in a slow PTB with our defensive line easily back. This wasn't the case last night, and Saints strung some neat attacking play together and defended well at crucial times. Brain fart penaltlies didn't help Leeds, but we were outplayed on that day. But Saints haven't got revenge for the last two Grand Finals, they will only get retribution at Old Trafford not in an early doors Two Pointer. Leeds on the other hand can look forward a fortnight to the CC to rectify last years semi collapse.
Individually:
Brent Webb - still getting back into the grove. He looked shattered at the end.
Lee Smith - nice runs from centre, will do well there. But failed to get any quality ball to Donald down the right.
Scott Donald - Excellent in defense. Had another interesting dual with a youngster (Wheeler).
Keith Senior - up and down. Strong running but sloppy at times.
Rob Burrow - unlucky knock again. Poor one on one tackle in the second half which lead to a try.
Kevin Sinfield - tried his best. Quality offload form a 4 man tackle, which lead to our first score. His goalkicking was perfect. And he knew the points difference value of that last conversion, if he missed it Saints would have gone top. I know it doesn't mean a great deal (over a full season) but we're top and his commitment to the cause shows how much he wants to stay there.
Jamie Jones-Buchanan - Stupid. His holding down penalty, then his chelping penalty, conceeded field position which gave Saints the 'roll on' to score two late trys in the first half. He tackled well, but attacking wise offered nothing. Was well contained. With Ali out, we needed him at his strongest, sharpest best. He wasn't.
Matt Diskin - lost the hooking battle with the 'Welsh' tramp.
Kylie Leuluai - Superb first stint. Quiet there after.
Jamie Peacock - Not at the races. Daft penalty.
Luke Burgess - Great second half, inspired by Bailey. Ran with purpose. Good to see his 2009 season has finally started.
And finally:
Ryan Bailey - How good is this guy? He rattles cages like no other in Super League. His huge, legal, shoulder charge laid the ineffective Maurie out. The fan fare afterwards was pathetic. He went in with the shoulder, and the Saints players who cried at that - get a grip. After the hit, Bailey stood straight up and stood his ground. Notice how no Saints player went toe-to-toe with him, just pudding Graham frothing at the mouth, 10m away. And when Graham did put him down, he was third man in when Bailey was static, yeah you showed him.
And people say Bailey just does third man in. He was also unlucky when he drove himself into the un-tackled Saints player. I think the penalty was for him being too rough. Bless. He went down with his shoulder and massive body weight. I just get the feeling if it was JP that shoulder charged Maurie, for the same result, nothing would have been said. Bailey's hated by opposition players and fans. And I adore his gritty style, and I have a striong feeling that he loves it too. His huge hit dragged us back in the game, Saints were rattled and we edged our way back into it, thanks to Ryan Bailey. More of the same please Ryan.
