We will never have a team that good ever again, nobody will, the 2007-2009 side that won 3 in a row is arguably the best side collectively in the history of the game. That side would have wiped the floor with this saints side.
That said we have another great side in the making and were not quite there yet

Concerning that pretty much our first choice pack got battered by Walmsley....again

Well... At least my "second" team are in the GF, too bad there'll be bugger all by way of support for them at OT. Let's hope for another Maloney masterclass. Cheer on the Catalans!

Totally agree.
That's the concern for me tonight.
Our first choice pack - that many on here say is the best in SL, got blown away by one man.
Plenty to sort out still before next year.

Painful as that performance was, it was necessary to give us an honest benchmark.

Roby was better than Leeming and Dwyer combined tonight, even at 85 years of age.

Lui tried but as expected we had nothing from half back really and the pack failed to lay a platform anyway.

Thought Holroyd did well when he came on, way too late.

Penalties early second half killed us - although T Briscoe’s was pedantic and L Briscoe had a sneaky hand in from Roby.

Im not overly concerned Walmsley is the best prop in the League and he eas playing on the front foot all game

Mik was clearly injured aswell, Tetevano needs a big year next year though

Granted Hurrell is leaving but leeds had 2 marquee players playing nowhere near that tag and rarely have since either arrived.

Yep - our first choice pack right now would be Mik, Leeming, Prior, Mellor, Martin. Tet with Smith, Holroyd on the bench.

We started with Dwyer at hooker, Donaldson in second row and Thompson (who was OK) first reserve.

Mik isn’t fit to my eye and Smith went off injured again.

So not quite our first choice pack still - but there is no doubt we need another Ava/King+ type big body in there. Next year add Bentley and maybe even Johnson, plus some more time on Mik, Tom and Cam (and Gannon / Walters) - we won’t be far off.

It's a shame the season ended that way, but perhaps some perspective? Saints are by far the best team in SL. They were up for it and played as well as they have all season. Yes, we were off, but credit to Saints for a defence that didn't allow us to gain any momentum and sapped our energy - and would have probably have worn down any other team. We have some young men who look like they could develop into great players and recruitment has been good for next year. There are some short memories on this board. Credit to Agar and Sinfield for tackling the rot and getting us to this point from the shambles after Furner's departure. There's been some excellent recruitment and with another quality signing or two, we could compete well next year.

Does his coaching extend beyond a very basic game plan?
Using the one that beat Wigan was never ever going to work tonight.
We were found wanting on a number of levels tonight and I wouldn't say agar was blameless.

Have to say we looked completed clueless tonight. You’re right a similar team and plan to Wigan just didn’t get off the ground tonight.

I ought to say well done saints as well, they were hot and would have beaten any of this year's sides tonight

Looked like a long season caught up with us tonight. Forwards were dominated all night. Thought walmsley should have been man of the match. The week off deffo helped saints. Their line speed was brilliant whereas ours was (again) non existent. Tetevano hasn't seemed to get going this year at all but hopefully he will next year. Need a prop who can regularly gain meters to give the new half backs a platform. Good experience gained though for the likes of Newman Smith holroyd etc. Loosing like this could be better long term than winning

Agree about the platform for the HB’s but we still have the same ‘problem’ we’ve had for a while and that is decent, accurate, crisp passing from the hooker. Dwyer for all he’s eye catching to the crowd with all his darts..a lot of the time he’s like a headless chicken and doesn’t give the pass to the HB when they want/need it and if he does pass it, you are never sure whether it will be behind them, over their head, looping down to their boot laces etc...yes the darts that work are great and you can’t fault his effort but jeez he messes up a lot of our attacking structure. He must be very frustrating for a HB to play with at times

Best team won on the night. Well played saints. Still hope Catalans beat them next week though.

Saints have a great balance of forwards and backs, who are equally strong, and makes them so dangerous. Their pressure in D was immense all game.

For us, I think Prior has been overplayed this season, and has lost form towards the end. Mik also isn’t fully fit, so I’m not worried about them. Zane needs to be there or thereabouts for man of steal next year to justify his signing. He was awful in first 20 mins.

We desperately need leeming back to hooker, with Dwyer only playing 20 mins max, as his passing is so poor.

Their three-quarters also showed why, in my view, a gun outside back is as big a priority for us for next season as much as a prop.

We’ve got a young side with loads of potential, and have overachieved this season. Shame to get hammered in the final game, but done well overall.

Also, how bad is Kendall. I think only Tom briscoes tackle as worth a sin bin.