Think it’s st Mary’s, Chalon way

I’ve been forced to go, just hope it’s not a cricket score.

Thought saints were very good until last 6 minutes on Saturday

Cheers

To be fair weve not had a cricket score put on us this season, of course it could happen on Friday now ive said that

Sounds like Walters, O'Connor and Johnson will all be playing from Agars presser.

Can’t see us getting anything from this one. We’re just missing a lot of big guys.,hope I’m wrong though of course

Herein lies one of the problems for the sport - a high profile TV game and one of the sides fields a weakened team which has a good chance of conceding a cricket score. We wonder why Sky are losing interest in the sport

To be honest I think Agar is picking the best side he can in the circumstances; we have so many players with serious injuries, what do you expect him to do?

Picking fresh and enthusiastic 20 year olds might be a perfect strategy against a side who was taken into extra time last week and beaten by a drop goal, against a big side. The club will want to beat saints but Agar will be making calls between a senior player carrying a knock, and a younger player fresh as a daisy and keen to rip in. He also has to manage the side so we're looking something like for a potential do-or-die game against HKR next out.

Look, we are highly unlikely to win the title this year anyway, we will look far better with the new signings in place and a proper pre-season under our belts trust me.

One of the sides has got eight first choice players out injured (by my count). What do you expect? The young lads will have a dig, get some great experience, and if we're lucky, surpass the standards of some they are replacing. It's always been this way as long as I can remember it. Covid, and the sports lack of financial muscle in terms of putting bubbles in place, has exacerbated it over the last two years. Next season normality should return and the sport will desperately need some of the stay at home fans to get out of their arm chairs and through the gates. Supporters have got a massive role to play in helping the game recover. Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now.

Agree with you mate but gate receipts aren't the only thing - supporters across the game have a problem with their doom and gloom attitude, I don't know why. I've never been happy about people booing the side after they've paid their entrance fee either, I don't think that's supporting.

We do need to get crowd numbers up for sure but it's a much wider picture of negativity and bellyaching across the sport.

Supporting the game is not just about chucking a few quid at the club and demanding to be entertained by wins.

I'll get of mine now!

I wonder whether he'll start Johnson or bring him in from the bench. I'm convinced Dwyer is best used as a later-game weapon, his passing screws our momentum early doors.

Possibly but im not sure having Walmsley charging at you is the best way to start enjoying Super League again.

I watch a fair bit of Saints as based over in Liverpool.

For me the key isn’t Walsmsley, don’t get me wrong he is a quality big man but normally he takes the third or fourth drive for them. The key for me is the first and second play the ball after the kick. If you can control the speed of Tommy M, grace, Coote, Percival, naiqama then when Walmsley is taking it up he isn’t going against a defence running backwards and you can rush up and meet him.

I think our issue is going to be the lack of a kicking game, I doubt we will fine grass many times. Coote will take it on the full the majority of the time, make yards. Tommy M next up with the defence not set, then grace and suddenly Walmsley is knocking us over like bowling pins around the 40-30 yard area and then then have an attacking platform to play wide.

Despite the lack of a kicker i will say kick chase is about effort for me. If we chase hard and control those early plays we can at least try and stay in the grind for longer

Agree 100% all about momentum and confidence If Stains put out a weakened side and they beat Leeds it sets a bad tone. It’s also a great opportunity for Leeds to build team spirit

Subtlety put.

Good post. It's going to be a tough game this but I have faith in our young players - we might not have enough quality to beat Saints but we can certainly make it awkward for them and give them a game.

What we can't afford to do it gift them field position, and we are going to have to find a way to make some progress against their D. I don't think Holroyd is fully fit and without Tet and Mik... this is where the distribution from DH becomes important because I'm not sure I'd be wanting to go down their middle all game. Once we've moved them around a bit Dwyer is not the player the opposition want to see come on.

Saints are missing a few too - both first choice halves Lomax/Fages, Bentley, Paasi and LMS.