Defensively, yes. Definitely.

And has been mentioned there lies your problems.

Very true mate but your team ain't played a good defensive team in it's last 2 games either!

You will have to play better than a 5min burst like you did against the French.

IMO it's going to be very tight game which will go either way.

I bet Leeds fans deep down are thinking we are due to come good in attack.


Anyhow may best team on the day win.

If we play like we did against the Dragons i will be very pleased, they were probably the most physical team we have played this year bar none. For me we have not had a physical examination against any other team this year like we did on friday. They did us a massive favour in the battle hardening process.

Well, if you're talking only about Wellens, his lack of pace has become a negative in recent seasons (although Anderson managed to protect him better than Potter I believe) but when he started out, pace was not the big thing in fullbacks as it is now (although it was obviously a bonus, as pace always is).

Our lack of pace on the whole as a team, bar Pryce and Eastmond, is of course a problem for us but a positive bonus for every other team!

If you play how you did against catalan and we play how we did against Wigan then you lose.

Would love to hear you reasoning behind that.

I don't think saints will go to sleep in the way the French did for mins.

I was just repling to a post in which he said he'd be happy if Leeds play how they did against Catalan.

IMO if you play like that you will lose.

I don't think Leeds will play that bad as you seem to turn it on in finals.

He was immense and had he had a (few) yard(s) more pace he would be up there with the best fullbacks we've ever produced IMO. Unfortunately his complete lack of pace has cost him, and it's testament to his ability that someone that slow has so many international caps.

I think we'll see a very different Sts in the GF to the one that's turned up the last few weeks, and a side that will play for the full 80 minutes. If Leeds are at all complacent we'll lose, no question. Even if we play our best we may still lose. The fact is that Sts at their best are as good as Leeds at their best. All this pre-match 'we'll win by X' could end up looking very silly.

One thing to bear in mind is that Sts have gone into the last 2 GFs in far better form than Leeds, and yet have lost. I suspect Potter - for all the doubts some have about him - is sensible enough to have looked at gearing up for the final and not worrying too much about how they play in the few weks before so long as they keep winning.

There's been very little to choose between the sides the last 3 years.

There's loads of reasons for Saints to want this one and there's loads of reasons for us.

Frankly, I have no idea which way it will go but am looking forward eagerly to watching it all unfold.

People call give all the awards they like to s[ihi[/it teams and s[ihi[/it players, can talk all the way about other teams catching us up but Leeds vs Saints remains the benchmarks and whichever way the game goes if all SL contests were played with the same intensity of Leeds vs Saints matches the league would be in a very healthy state right now.

It's going to be incredibly tough.

Saints have got a big performance in them.

If we aren't at our best for the 80 we'll lose.

It was not they didn't do in those 5 or so minutes it's what they did around them. They were brutal in their defence and as hard going forward for a lot of the game. Yet we still managed to come through. In the 5 or so minutes as you call it we managed to put enough points on them to put us clear. Then we stood toe to toe with them. Like i said going into the final battle hardened should serve us well and the Catalans made sure of that.