hope our pack turns up next week at wire because last night they was awful no go forward which result in gaskell and wilkin kicking out of our own twenty most of the game which meant wigan was always starting there set of six on the front foot if our pack plays like that next week we will get battered again felt sorry for our half backs last night playing behind a battered pack come on royce sort the pack out this week

but you have the best pack in super league?

As many other matches testify, we have a good enough pack. But if your pack doesn't put the effort in, it doesn't matter how good it is on paper, it'll be s h i t e on the night.

As soon as I saw the Saints sub bench last night I thought Wigan would win. The Saints bench was lightweight. Magennis and Dixon are at best average players and Eastmonds head is elsewhere (I still think he will be gone in July/August once the RU players start pre season) Perry was a big loss to Saints last night, not necessarily because he is a very good player but just his physical size.

Magennis is awful. I thought this for a while as well, this isn't a reaction based on last nights performance, although i thought he was the worst player on the pitch last night. He constantly get's knocked back in both attack and defence, and he makes plenty of mistakes too. Yesterday though, we looked very weak when he was on. Simmons took him off, and IIRC, he never returned.

It was still a better pack on paper than at the DW. whether Megennis will make it or not is kinda irrelevant. LMS, Graham, Puletua, Soliola, Roby, Wilkin. We should have had enough there, just like we did at the DW.

That maybe o.k. to start, but Wigan brought on Prescott, Coley, McIlorum and Tuson who all added far more than the Saints bench players did.

wasnt just the bench was it none of our forwards looked up for it they got bullied from start to finish

We did. It's just that only Wilkin and Roby wanted to play, and Roby was well marked. The rest of them were total c r a p.

Sorry I meant Ashurst. I don't think he or Dixon are anything above average.
On the Farrell / Tuson part, it's not true that Maguire prefers Tuson. Farrell has actually played more games than Tuson this season, but has been struggling a little of late with a thigh/calf injury.

I'm glad its not just me who thinks this. Apparently he has potential...this has yet to be shown. I honestly ATM cant see him having a future with Saints. Others argue he's hardworking but you still need skill to go with it.

He is just a poor mans Mike Bennett. Bennett wasn't brilliant but did a job, Magennis is a lot worse than he was, and he was barely Saints quality.

We need to sign at least 2 IMO but the question is who? There will be no Jammer so that leaves us potentially light and lack of back up.

Our problems in the back row are systemic. It is clear that our academy favours players with fitness and mobility over those with size and impact. Which is why just about all of the back rows coming out of the academy are much the same size and shape. On the one hand they are quick about the field and can operate right up to 80 minutes per game (allowing other players to be subbed to suit tactics). But they are weak against bigger players who can out-muscle them physically, meaning we make less yards per carry.

This is NOT to say bigger is necessarily better. We mustn't forget that bigger players tire quicker and they can be exposed by a good kick and chase (Millward proved this year after year against Bradford).

The truth is Simmons is right. We didn't execute the right tactics. Had we done so we would have exposed the deficiencies in their back row as opposed to the other way around.