I know we had injuries and put the effort in like we have over last month or so and can be proud of the effort but today our one on one defence was shocking at times!

Shenton, Ashe and sia missed simple one one tackles today which resulted in tries. Injuries are no excuse for poor tackles like that.

We are urgent for a halfback to return, even if it's just one as we can't function in attack with no halfbacks.

Is it really that bad for you guys at the minute?

Should we at Fev fancy our chances of an upset? Or just enjoy the day regardless of the result?

We will be up for the cup game but St the rate we are losing players it's going to be tough. If I was a fev players I'd fancy it to be honest.

Those commenting on the poor defence - you're looking at an exhausted side out there, of course they'll miss.

We're doing fantastically well, we'll lose a fair few more games over the next couple of months but if we secure top 4 and get our players back at the business end we'll be brilliantly placed for a real crack at the title.

I didn't have a huge amount of hope at the start of the season, with the Eastmond issue, playing at Widnes, question marks around Simmons etc. but as the season as progressed I truly believe we could be watching champions in the making.

And boy, will we have done it the hard way.

Come On You Saints!

I can understand the are some players that need rests which is showing more each week but I don't accept the Sia, Ashe and Shenton misses was due to being tired.

Sia got his postion all wrong which was exactly the same at hull, nothing to do with needing rest.

Ashe was all hands and grabbing and no shoulders, nothing to do with needing a rest.

Shenton was grabbing and was handed off, nothing to do with needing a rest.

They are simple one on one tackles which cost us tries.

How do you know?



But could have been down to being off the pace and out of position due to having a busted knee



How do you know?

Some harsh judgements being made today IMO - we've had 17 lads put their bruised and battered bodies on the line today and that's all we can ask.

Nah. That's no excuse. They were poor defensively from the outset. With the exception of Roby and Jammer. I think Royce had it right after the Sheffield game. He saw them give up defensively and was worried. It's a bad attitude and it's come back into the side. We went into halftime nilled again. Clearly there is an issue with this side about taking pride in their defence.

And besides, I know that when a Saints player speaks to the press about what they need to do, it's not going to happen! Wilkin spoke to the press last week about needing to take more pride in defence and what happens? We ship in over 40 points for the first time in how long? I can't remember.

Eh?

Where's the correlation between us being nilled and not taking pride in defence?

Do you not think we could have been fatigued / sore / injured from the outset?

We had 8 fit for non contact training earlier this week.

8.

The Sia one was a head on tackle, he got flat footed as he did at hull.

If Ashe and shenton are missing tackles due to being to tired and needing a rest then we have big problems!

There is none, if it was 0-0, but it never is. Too many times this season we have gone into halftime with nil but with the opposition at 12 or worse. That means we are defending more than we need to, quite often because we've dropped the ball or something. But to ship 40 plus points for the first time in five years is very poor.

And you can talk about tiredness, but not making effective tackles and then having to scramble defence is far more tiring to a player than making the initial tackle properly. We were flying all over the place and mostly missing.

There is no excuse for that lack of defensive effort. None.

I'll give you the Sia one, I don't think his defence is his strength (although when he hits them, they stay hit).

Ashe is injured, and Shenton may well be fatigued if not injured also.

The point is, rather than pick out individual mistakes, there has to be a recognition that we're sending out a team that's knocked about, full of kids and out of position players due to an injury situation the like of which I've not seen in 27 years of watching Saints.

It's harsh, IMO, to be overly critical on individual mistakes when the reality is with the luck and off field issues we've had thus far we are punching well and truly above our weight.

Do you not think there are extenuating circumstances surrounding us shipping 40 points? Or having to 'fly all over the place'?

Like a sellotaped together, mostly injured, rather inexperienced line up?

I don't believe there was lack of effort, just lack of fuel.

Sorry mate but anyway you try and dress it, shenton missed a poor one on one tackle against a old player deemed not good enough at saints. If Shenton is fatigued then he's got serious fitness problems for a centre at his age!

Nice 'Daily Mail' sensationalising with the 'old guy deemed not good enough stuff'!!

As I've said, it's harsh to be bashing individual mistakes when we're doing well to get 17 bodies out there in the vee, but whatever floats your boat.

I'm proud of 'em.

No. Royce identified the warning signs after the match last week but he can't force the players to defend on the day. All those players, no matter what age, were capable of defence. They all learn how to tackle. They missed tackles all over the shop and Wello's positioning was largely terrible.

The only player on that pitch I excuse is Nathan Ashe and that's only because he had to have his knee strapped up further during the match, suggesting he was in pain, which would have made tackling more difficult. The rest don't get a bye on this. They were poor.

However, I didn't expect us to do much in attack because there was no way Wilkin was going to perform well with a rookie halfback at his side as he isn't a halfback himself.