Quote: Gazwire "So Wire 71, you think we're going to have Toby King and Atkins in the pack for the saints game? - really ?? - give over. Those two have only been in the pack for rotation. We have blown hot and cold, but when we've been hot, we've nilled wigan in the CC and all but won the game with saints away. We are a long way from the finished article, but you know what
I hope you are right and I admire your optimism. The concern is posts like these (I call it blind faith) attract ridicule from our rivals as they believe we suffer from self delusion.
I understand your point about "deserving to win". Maybe that was a bit daft of me, as the winner by definition deserves the title.
I will point out that when Wigan beat us in '16 they were 1pt behind us in the Super 8s. This season we finished 15pts behind Saints and 9pts behind Wigan. We are not in the same ball park as those teams.
I reject the idea that we are "not far off". We are. We have fundamental weaknesses in the side which I hope will be addressed in the next recruitment cycles.
Can we beat Saints and Wigan occasionally - yes. Can we beat them in high stakes, pressure RL back to back. Well I don't think so.
This is not to say Price hasn't done well this season, as he surely has from a low base, but we will need to be a much better team than we are to win the big prize by beating top opposition when it counts.