It’s not just the HB or indeed French is the problem it’s the lack of creativity and power in the pack.
KPP and Mago can offload but for whatever reason they appear to have discarded this from the forwards. Smithies did a lovely offload in the CC final but I don’t think that he has repeated since.
We have no forwards who can punch holes in defences or have the ability to score form relatively close range. We have a pack of defenders who offer very little to our attack and the one forward who can run through gaps is starting to show that time may be catching up with him.

It is fixable but some of the signings so far don’t even start to fix the issues. Not sure where we are going to get a HB from unless we pay a transfer fee for say Croft. If we did that I assume that either French or Field would have to depart?
With good players in the squad such as Smith, Smithies, Field, O’Neil, Havard and French we have the seeds to develop a really good team. The next few signings will determine if we go from a competitive hard working team to the team to beat if other teams want to win trophies. I suspect with the cap and juggling quota spots it could be 2025 before we have the right balance within the squad.

That's the big one for me. Do we learn from the mistakes of Sunday or just rinse and repeat.

I agree with the vast majority of that. We are still light years ahead of where we were under Lam.
I still think we are going to struggle this year for silverware but Saints appear to have some serious injuries and that may limit their ability to land the GF this year.

Our inability to just build pressure and stay patient in the opposition 20 is a real killer for us. The amount of wild cut out passes we're throwing needs to stop, especially in conditions like those on Sunday. The game in the wet should be really simple. Complete high and try and play the game at their end and make them defend their line. If you get to the end of a set in the opposition 10, then try and force a repeat set and repeat, until they switch off. Harry Smith needs to improve in that regard but I give him leeway given his age/experience and the weight on his shoulders, minus a natural halfback partner. He's a fine kicker from hand all over the field, bar in that last 10-20 metres.

There is frustration there this year, I can't lie and the main reason is that the title is up for grabs. It's wide open and I still don't rule us out because even Saints have problems and I don't think any side is anything like being unbeatable. We're going to need to work the 6 position out and we're going to need to get Havard and Ellis on the field together, without any injuries to other big players in the pack like Faz and Smithies but if we can do that, nobody scares the life out of me. I think our big aim now has to be to finish 3rd at worst and avoid a trip over to France in the play offs (presuming they finish top). I wouldn't rule beating anybody out in a Grand Final but a trip to France is a different kettle of fish.

Saturday is huge IMO for the chances of a top 2 finish and for confidence. We can't let them come here and want it more than us. They have eyes on a cup final, they have no hooker and we need to beat them to the punch early in the game.

Could Kyle Flanagan be an option at 6? Like Sutton, he's apparently on the outer at the dogs. Probably not as experienced as we'd like, but he's got potential still.

Funnily enough, when you compare his NRL experience and career to that of Croft, there's plenty of similarities - both have played around the same number of games. Both highly rated youngsters who faltered after big moves (Croft at Brisbane and KF at the Roosters). KF is the same age as Croft was when he moved to Salford etc.

One of the main reasons for the thread is that we have rinsed and repeated with several of the failings on Sunday.

Have we learned from previous reckless challenges resulting in red cards? Have we learned from naming substitutes and then not using them? Have we learned from the lack of intellect that Peet himself stated we displayed in the Wakefield game? How about the last two Golden Points we've been involved in (one we lost and the other we gave Hull KR the first opportunity for a drop goal due to a lack of composure). We also haven't learned how to integrate Bevan effectively as a 6 over the last few weeks. There are other examples but the theme is the same - there have been opportunities to learn lessons in previous games but the learning hasn't happened.

I found myself comparing Peet's post match comments to Shaun Wane's comments after the World Cup semi final. Both highlighted the effort and commitment were good but Wane focused far more on the execution and decision making which is something I'd prefer to hear as a fan.

And that standard of the competition has greatly suffered because of it.

If Saints, Wigan and Leeds win everything, that's boring, and if everyone can beat everyone else, it just shows how the standard has dropped! If there's a downside to be found....

Agree with Nicky's comments.

We are not far off but come up short when our best two props are not playing and we lack some game management at 6.

I also feel Peet is missing some obvious areas of improvement and more worryingly doesn't seem to be learning from previous mistakes.

Not trusting a young prop who has already shown he can handle SL when we are under the pump is criminal.

We are also not making the most of the skills we have in some of the most exciting players in the league. Saying you want French to get his hands on the ball more is admirable, but if you then remove him from the areas of the pitch where he can make the most of his skills it is counterproductive.

He's also done some great things for the team and shown he can make decisions such as give Brad time over Powell, although interesting to see how that would have gone without his injury.

One question that hasn't been asked much is whether Powell would have provided that experienced head in recent game.......

I’m getting a little bit tired of “I’m proud of the effort”

You’re playing for Wigan in a cup semi final, effort should be a given.

To be fair (assuming the club reported it correctly), Powell was dropped before the decision was made for him to have the surgery. It was just decided after that it would be the best time for him to have it anyway while he was dropped.

Agree with the rest, not playing Hill at all when we were down to 12 men was criminal.

I am now an advocate of moving French back to the wing. I shared his 2022 tries video on here a couple of weeks ago and he was red hot, scoring some unreal tries from the wing and a ridiculous number to say he missed the first chunk of the season. It would be a shame for Miski and losing his carries would be hard to take, but i think it is a choice that needs to be made for the betterment of the team.

I would be giving Cust one last go at it, it was only a couple of weeks ago Peet was saying that he still had a chance to earn his 1 year option for next year, give him a chance to show how much he want it and make sure he knows that it is now or never. Failing that, i don't think Hampshire let anybody down when he had a run of a few games earlier on in the season and could be an option also.