As poor as Saints have been I'd have loved us to have signed Walmsley when he was available. Considering he was a Leeds fan growing up then hopefully he ends up at Headingley one day.

Queue him getting injured

Without Walmsley and Roby that Saints side looks like a bottom half SL team throughout.Yes, i like the look of a few of the young lads like Greenwood and Savellio but the rest are average for mine.The side has been regressing badly since 2011, the fluky 2014 GF win glossed over it a bit but if i was a saints fan right now i'd be seriously concerned.

In the forwards Greg Richards and Luke Thompson simply aren't top 4 material IMO as much as they play weekly for Saints.

And as good as Kyle Amor was in the first half of 2014 and all the commotion about us not keeping him....in the last year or so would you have him based on his showings?

yep, and Wilkin goes missing again in a big game.Walsh has looked shot since his bad injury and the three quarter, well would you have any near our team? i mean Jack Owens FFS!

Anyway, it's for the Saints fans to worry about, and to think some on here think we have serious issues!

Just to Add i would have Percivil who is obviously injured, he could become very good we will see.

I think Saints are better than that performance, as always v Aussie teams I think the biggest skill deficit is mental rather than physical.
I think British teams often panic when playing an Aussie team and the thought that they have to be amazing to beat them gets to us and we lose our composure. We end up trying to score on every set instead of playing the game and grinding them down.

It is mental, I was just about to reply to a comment from William about the refs. The refs are just like him and he in turn is just like so many supporters and too many players......in awe of the Aussies. From their first knock on and first try conceded the Saints heads dropped and almost admitted defeat straight away.

Enough of these guys (Ian Henderson and Sam Moa) have come over here and hardly blown people away yet if you put an NRL jersey on them people sh*t themselves.

Likewise if Leeds played an Aussie team featuring the likes of Galloway, Falloon and Cuthbertson people would sh*t themselves with worry....when they line up for us they won't be good enough to take on an NRL team.

Couldn't agree more.Like the statement someone made on the VT about if Cowboys are up for it on Sunday it will be 60 points.

Did I hear that Leeds are the highest priced odds for a home team in the history of the WCC?
5/1 odds apparently. I reckon 42-10 to NQC. I was going for 20 points gap before our injuries but think we will be a long way off. At least I get to see Thurston live.

Having seen the SL garbage on show this evening, I'm starting to understand how a team containing three geriatrics (two now finally retired, though arguably three) swept the entire board and won all three trophies on offer last season.

Wilkin should be ashamed,he just gave up didn't he

Are you still going on Sunday JUST TO WATCH ONE SINGLE PLAYER and then struggle to figure out why Englishmen look like rabbits in headlights against them???

You're the poster boy for the English mentality ting themselves in awe at the mere presence of an Aussie Rugby player......I bet your heart flutters at the sight of Thurston's girlish hair. (BTW I don't care if he is the best player in the world, his hair in the promo pics with Burrow is fu**ing awful unless you're Miss World 1962)

Twice the number of people registered as playing the game in Australia plus the surrounding islands and new Zealand on top of that, is it really a surprise to anyone that our success against them is limited, makes perfect sense to me. Enjoy our competition for what it is, there are still fantastic athletes and for entertainment beats union and football hands down, while in the meantime helping our sport to cast it's net further and on occasion get closer to the southern hemisphere.

Yep agree with all that.

I think there is a physical skill deficit too though. Though not as pronounced as some would proclaim, and I think that physical skill deficit is partly a symptom of the mental deficit. I think the NRL is generally more focussed and professional than all but 2 or 3 of the SL clubs. Then add in the big disparity in playing numbers and the generally poor state of the amateur game in this country and I think that pretty much covers why they beat us more often than not.

It's why I disagree with those who say we need to significantly raise the salary cap, as if that will somehow cure the problem. When the problems aren't related to how much players are paid. We need much more money going into clubs infrastructure including back room staff and senior management and we need much more money and focus on revolutionising the amateur game that is still stuck in the 80's.

Do that and I reckon we'll get much closer to beating the Aussies regularly.