Just on Mago. I timed him on and off last night and he did 32 minutes. That's fine in a 5 prop rotation. In fact it's fine in a 4 prop rotation when you have big minutes in the other 3 as we do. Itch makes great play of him doing short minutes in his first stint but what do you want him to do? Play on through half time? The coach chose to put him on when he did as our props were doing very well at that point. Correct decision. I don't like subbing on the 20 minute mark regardless of how the team is playing. In fact I've never got what benefits that supposedly brings.

When he was on he was a handful. Difficult to put down, busy in defence and always a threat of an offload. He sucked in 3 or more defenders on every carry.

I too would like to see his fitness increase as I thought he looked a bit gassed at the end of his second stint. Mind you, he always looks gassed. Doesn't stop him taking the next drive in or making the tackle as discussed elsewhere so maybe it's no biggie.

Would I like to see him on the field for longer minutes? Depends. If that were longer minutes but with less effect then no. If it were longer minutes with the same effect then yes. That's one for the coaching staff to figure out.

Of course we can! We probably should have beaten them in 2020 and we were nowhere near as good then as we are now.

If you're asking would last night's performance have beaten them. Depends on which Saints performance you're comparing it to. It was better than both of Saints last 2 performances so yes on those, no against Saints best.

You can't judge in round 7 how teams will be going come the Grand Final. We might be flying with an unstoppable combination of French and Field ripping teams apart. We might be awful with 9 players on the treatment table. The Grand Final isn't won in March.

All I know is last night's performance was good enough to win and showed desire, application and pride in the shirt. That'll do for round 7.

Just an edit on the above Itchy. What current Saints high standards are these that you speak of? The loss to Toulouse or the below par performance against Championship also rans Whitehaven?

Your final sentence sums up my point. After Harvard for me he is our best prop. If he did more minutes as effectively as his cameos then we could have a really special player. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not criticising him I’m questioning the coaching and fitness teams. I criticised his first 8 minutes because I thought his input was generally poor. I will watch it again and if I’m wrong I will hold my hands up.

I expect every player to improve a part of their game every year. That’s why they are paid professionals with a huge coaching and fitness support. All I’m saying about Mago is let’s get more productive minutes out of him.

I’m surprised at the 32 minutes but if that’s what you say then obviously I accept that. What were the minutes for the other props? If you could point me to the link it would be greatly appreciated.

I agree with you 100% on not substituting by the clock. I commented last night that Singleton and Byrne did longer starting minutes than usual and i understood and agreed why we did it.
Re playing through half time I’ve suggested to the lads I go with that I don’t see why Mago can’t do 20 minutes either side of half time on a regular basis. He’d do 40 minutes or so on a regular basis which should not be beyond any fully fit player.

The one that won 3 consecutive Grand Finals and in the first 5 league games of this season conceded less than 6 points a game.

I thought Mago was effective in his stints but he looks like he is running more lateral now at the line rather than direct, for me hee needs to take the ball direct off the ruck and not from a tip on from another forward, he has no real go forward when doing that as it is harder to time a barnstorming run.
I thought Singleton really stepped up last night and showed how good he can be, he just needs to be consistent
Havard was excellent and with more time and experience he could go really far
Field was typical Field, our saviour on many occasions, my only concern is his defence when teams run shift plays, he rarely seems to get himself into a position to make a last ditch tackle to save a try, that may be just his timing is off or maybe he is hesitating too much waiting for the inside ball, but I can't recall the last time I saw him in the frame for a try saving tackle
Also on Field, we can't forget the work done before he makes the elusive break to open a game up, they always look like real solo efforts but the build up to his run is also really important and without some good carries the gaps may not open up

I've had my say on the 3peat many times so I won't go over it again here. Fair play to them for doing what they needed to do to win them though.

As for this season our record, at least for a few more hours, stands better than theirs. We were also better in the cup last week. We also have the top metre maker, top try scorer and top tackler at the time of writing and are currently top of the league. I think our standards are just fine too.

I don’t see Mago as a starter and unless we’re desperate for props I think he ought to remain on the bench. That’s not a bad thing, as many have pointed out and I fully agree with, he changed the game dynamics when he comes on. Unless we’re looking at playing a really expansive game from the off, he should stay on the bench with Ellis/Singo/Havard/Byrne as our starting props.

I’m comfortable also with his minutes, it’s quality, not quantity we should be after. If he comes on and tears it down for 10 mins causing chaos in the opposition defensive line; great. I’d rather that than he come on for 50-60mins and be a mere passenger.

Oh definitely I agree that in the main he should be somebody we use in spells from the bench, I just wouldn’t mind having a look at him in a long starting spell just to see if he’s got it in him. There’s always room for improvement and there are a few things I’d us to play around with when we can, just to rule things in and out and look at different ways of playing because at some point we may need to do it.

Your an optimist Phuzzy i'll give you that. Have you already forgotten what happened just over 2 weeks ago when you played one of the best 2 teams in the Comp??

No. Have you forgotten what happened over in Toulouse when you played one of the bottom 2?

Touché
Your enthusiasm could start to rub off on me

Yes because that's a one off. You being nilled isn't.

When you say one off, do you mean played one lost one against the bottom club in Superleague? I agree.

It is this year so far