GAME ON : St. Helens v Wigan Warriors - 15:15:00

GENERAL CHAT ABOUT THE GAME, BUILD UP, THE ACTION AS IT HAPPENS AND AFTERMATH BELOW.

That defensive effort at the end of the game, is why Wayne Bennett isn’t keen on picking Mark Percival for England.

He should pick Hicks

When are we going to realise where never going to out defend Australia, we have been going that for 25 years, let's out play out attack them.

Never mind the 2 points he gifted Saints with the 'ball steal', whoever passed the ball to Grace for his try was on a different coloured area of grass, yet it's not obvious that it's forward somehow.

Cracking game between the 2 best sides in the league

Regards

King James

Agreed. A strong Saints and a strong Wigan means a better Super League.

Agreed.
Percival might not have the best defence but he's the best attacking left centre we've got. We ain't gonna keep the Aussies scoreless so need to score as many points as we can and he, in my opinion, is one of our best chances at that.

You have to be able to defend to a high standard to be successful at international level.

I thought the first half was rubbish, to be honest. Too many errors and penalties, but the second half definitely made up for it.
I know he scored a good try, but I didn't think Barba was man of the match, I'd have given it to Liam Farrell

Thought Wigan got the rub of the brown, courtesy of Hicks.

I think we should just accept that James Roby is man of the match in every game he plays in. It'd save the other 33 players worrying about it, and it'd always be right.

Roby was enormous tonight, not just his usual tackle count and distribution, but when we were on the ropes, he was able to get us out of trouble. What a guy. Barba is, for me, now in Jamie Lyon and Mal Meninga territory, as someone I feel privileged to watch. But Roby is almost beyond all normal categories of player, and has been for over a decade. Unbelievable athlete.

Roby MOM by a long distance, an unbelievable player and for me he’s well surpassed Cunningham when you look at the way he’s had to carry so many bang average Saints sides in the past. Right now he’s leading the MOS race for me. I know we’re only a couple of months in but I really can’t see anyone who can challenge Roby and Barba for it, they’re the two best players in this league. Only injury can prevent one of the two winning it for me. Two genuine world class players. Farrell was good for Wigan and I thought Makinson was outstanding today as well, if only he had the service some other wingers get.

Sanita fans think the man if steel award should be a saints player every year. Fact is its a shadow if the award it used you be, the award was ment to be for the player who has gone above and beyond not just the biggest flash harry of the year. Eddie hemmings is already trying to hang the award around barba. He is an outstanding player, but we all know that, but there are players doing it tough doung the grind that get overlooked nowadays, past winners like andy platt original winner david ward and quite a few others would not get a look in nowadays.

The problem is one of our saints players seems to be handicapped in the M.O.S. by the high standards he plays year in year out and gets very much overlooked, that man is James Roby should have had the award on a few more occasions, we all know throughout rugby league he is no "flash Harry"

As for Barba he is having the same game influence of our previous world class import players like Mal Meninga and Jamie Lyon if he carries on his performance throughout the season. His stats for Try's, Try Assists, Tackle Busts, Clean Breaks is top drawer at the moment and we are still not on the hard fast track pitch conditions yet which will give him more advantage.

To be fair. The great man didn’t need to do much to score his try. Wasn’t even a good step. It was an utterly embarassing attempt of a tackle from Escare.

Regards

King James

Agree 100% about what ‘man of steel’ means. Fed up of the flash harry’s getting it. In our team last year the man who really could have been classed as a MOS was Grant Millington. Yes, Luke Gale pulled the strings, but a man of steel he ain’t! About time it went back to giving the award to those who make the likes of Gale look good by providing the platform for them with hard graft.

Couldn’t disagree with most of this anymore. I don’t think any Saints fan has said any of our players has deserved MOS for about the past 5 years so already you’re talking nonsense. As for the second part Luke Gale definitely wasn’t a flash harry last year, he was consistently very good. I do think that Hardaker should have won it by a mile though, Gales job was made a lot easier by the players around him but he was great up until the semi final. Also, I don’t know how you can label Barba a flash harry either, Eddie might have gone over the top yesterday but Barba is one of the best players to play in SL for a very long time. If he carries on the way he is he’ll likely end up with around 25 tries and assists, no one can argue that they’re MOS winning stats. Also, Roby is probably the player who grinds the most in the League, how you can imply otherwise is absurd, second most tackles already and the stats he produces at the age of 32 are incredible.

Ultimately, the MOS award goes to the player who has been the best and has stood out over the course of the season not the one who has been ‘doing it tough’ or been ‘doing the grind. You’re either deluded or biased if you don’t think Barba and Roby are the two best players in this league. Two players who could play for any NRL side and stand out. Seen as you disagree that they are the only two who have a realistic chance of winning it, list 3 players who have shown over the first couple of months that they could challenge those two.