Watkins used to be very rapid but for some time has looked to have lost some speed off the mark and pace over a distance. A couple of season ago he would not have been caught as he was tonight IMO. He doesn't look sharp or fully fit to me.

World's Biggest Winger out for 6 weeks.

Allegedly.

According to acolyte Peter Smith of the YEP.

He looked like a centre looking for his winger or inside man instead of pinning his ears back as a winger (as he was playing in the 2nd half)

What injury did you sustain that forced your year long absence in 2015?

Much work to be done.

Nice to see JJB play a full game. Falloon looks a compromise, has some skills around the ruck with the ball but a gaping gash in the middle defensively at times.
Still, he didn't get a lot of help from the chuckle brothers, Galloway and Cuthbertson.

Watkins was awful. I don't think he's lost any pace, he just didn't realise anyone was chasing him. Big mistake, always gas it, never assume your clear. Still, he was better on the wing than at centre in the first half.

I guess we're seeing what "off the cuff" looks like with players totally unaware of what each other are doing.
All Indians and no Chiefs.

Still, we were a level or three better than Saints. What a shower of $h1te.

Think it was something to do with his eyes, after trying to count empty Club Wembley seats. Must've been bad as he kept mistaking fans for empty seats.

Or... broke his jaw spitting his dummy out (again) when when he quit the forums (again), vowing never to return (again) leaving us to enjoy our "dying game".

Or (least likely) he he got a girlfriend last summer and she dumped him just after Xmas when she realised what we've all known for years

I though we looked much better with Faloon playing and doing well. Hardaker apart from the dropped bomb had a good game making plenty of breaks.

Watkins had a stinker, Hall was poor again.

Ablett was awesome on his return.

Big Keithy and Cuthbo did well.

Anybody know why Garbutt and Singo didn't play?

The less involvement Hardaker has in our attacking line the better for me - still a major weak area of his (his only weak area fwiw)

I think it's time to admit defeat in trying to push him into an extra pivot role and concentrate on trying to make into a support playing full back, similar to Wellens, getting on the shoulder of any half breaks. We'll need this even more so when McGuire retires.

McGuire has a calf tear so it could be a few more weeks. Singleton and Garbutt were dropped because their poor performance last week i.e. missed tackles primarily.

Interesting game last night - defence in the first half was attrocious from both sides, it should have been better given Thaler allowed both sides to be offside for much of the game.

On the positive - Galloway had his best game so far, Handley was really good and showed his versatility when moved to the opposite wing. JJB put in a huge stint as did Falloon who will improve once he gets used to the structure.

Very good turn out from the Saints fans which was impressive - Roby showed his class best player on the field by a distance

I kept commenting how less effective Roby is these days, didn't think he was that great at all. All their danger was McCarthy Scarsbrook, and Walsh because we wouldn't tackle him. But then again Roby was still a big presence in defence.

Our missed tackles though from certain individuals was pathetic. Your fullback you could normally excuse with breaks, but he normally pulls them off. Five missed tackles from Zak is poor. Walters and Sutcliffe also with five missed tackles each, and Walters wasn't exactly on for that long. Ablett with six missed tackles, which I am sure all or the majority at least we're in the first half. They are appalling stats for a champion chasing team. Our metres per carry is hardly anything to write home about, but as Thaler forgot about the offside rule, probably explainable.

Terrible stats yet they still won at a canter against one of the best sides in the competition - perhaps now some on here will accept the standard of the SL is distinctly average at best.

Watkins has been caught in those type of breakaway situations before so no real change there. He was happy just to hold off the cover defence, not realising he was being caught from behind.

Terry O'Connor certainly had the hots for Watkins last night repeatedly calling him World Class when the only thing he was world class at was in coughing up possession.

Handley had a good game overall but I thought he also should have gassed it for his opening effort. Allowing Walsh to get there even with the angle was a poor effort for a SL winger.

Handley went better last night and managed to cut out the errors but had an opportunity for a score that he failed to take. He did not do enough for the MOM award which IMO should have gone to JJB who in only his 2nd game back after serious injury played the full 80 and led the forwards with tremendous enthusiasm and non stop effort. His 41 tackles (top) and 16 carries (2nd top) and important try made him our top man on the night. This performance was quite remarkable considering many believed him past it and that he should have retired.