I agree. They're a match for any pack in the league but my no means superior.

Hang on a second. Our pack hardly struggled either to make yards or stop yards beyond the first twenty last night. Walmsley, Vea and Savelio were as good as any forward on the pitch.

Even in the previous two defeats we had more than enough firepower in midfield to contain Leeds' pack. The missing link in both games was a defensive strategy which put bodies between Leeds' ball carriers and their close support, an intelligent kicking game and bringing the weight of our younger forwards to bear on some of their older guys.

If we don't already know by now that Leeds clearly feel that they NEED to score early and are prepared to take risks doing so then we really aren't very smart.

No team can maintain such a pace beyond twenty minutes. We're not facing some kind of supernatural force. Hit the Leeds ball carriers. Hit them hard with three men who are all looking to jar the ball loose. Be alert for spilled ball and be the first to sweep it up. Going forward, play the game at OUR pace - not theirs. Ping the ball over the tram lines. Keep turning them round. For heaven's sake - I shouldn't need to explain basic strategy. Especially given that we've used similar tactics in the past.

You're right, I'm sure the saints players and coaching staff don't realise. Just a shame the game isn't played out on paper/Internet message board.

Momentum is a killer, once it's lost its very difficult to get back and even if you do playing to your potential after energy sapping phases is tough going. Knowing what a team want to do to you is one thing, preventing it is another. Sound like cunningham with no credit to the quality of the opposition

The standard of the opposition is of no concern to me. The team exists to perform one task - which is to beat whatever is put in front of it. If Leeds can devise a strategy which exploits Saints' weaknesses whilst playing to their strengths there is no reason Saints can't do similarly.

Admittedly we aren't playing with anything like a full compliment. But they had sufficient reserves to do the job yesterday.

And clearly SOMEONE at the club DOESN'T realise the patently obvious. Even if our big forward pack wasn't bothered by Leeds' keeping the ball in play as much as possible in the first twenty minutes it still makes absolutely no sense targeting the safest pair of hands under the high ball in SL with bombs from the first minute to the last.

If ANYONE can explain why this was a sound strategy I'd love to know.

Clear from your posts you've not the first clue about the game from a playing or coaching perspective as it's played out in reality. I guess you're one of these people who continually berates the team from the terraces 'shouting advice'. If you want to know why things don't always go well, ask your self if you're the best at your job every day.

I take it you can't explain the reason for Saints' inexplicable kicking strategy yesterday, either.

All the form in the world means nothing unless you win the big banana. And there's a long, long way to go yet.

Perhaps my "belief" is based on the fact that St. Helens - not Leeds - are the reigning Super League Champions. In case you have forgotten, this club played far WORSE last season and yet still triumphed. I think it tells us something rather important about what this group of players is capable of when push comes to shove.



It's also the essence of coaching. We are not in control of the opposition so there's no point thinking about it. Like many Leeds fans you still haven't grasped a rather obvious point: three victories and all the form in the competition so far has secured you precisely ZERO trophies. Nor will such count for a single point in the Grand Final.

If you get there.

Because you didn't last season.

Perhaps you should be thinking a little more about winning the title before you carry it off?

Sadly for you, part of the unadulterated JOY of actually winning the Grand Final is you can justifiably refer to yourselves as THE CHAMPION TEAM until someone takes the trophy away from you.

Read it and weep, suckers.