The access to seeing how other teams play has altered not only Rugby League. Gone are the days when you only saw an opposition player when you played against them.. it's true that when players are unconventional they make a difference, but they also get huge amounts of stick when they mess up... For this in our squad, i give you Gelling, who gets slated on this board, tho less so the last 12 months.

Cunningham obviously coached the defence to defend "the move" and did it well. We could still be playing now and wouldn't score using it. The grubber kick out wide seems to be the new plan B but was executed appallingly apart from the try.

Unfortunately we have nobody with a rugby brain to try something a little different and react in a game situation. Same happened last week when Leeds kept kicking to Hall's wing and Manfredi took every ball. Anyone with half a brain would react to that and target Manfredi with attacking kicks near their line as he had the beating of Hall. Of course, Wigan didn't.

We are incredibly poor at identifying weaknesses in the opposition defence and having a proactive or reactive plan to exploit it with something other than "the move".

Just had a look into the season so far, in my opinion we have put in the following:

4 good solid performances - Saints on Good Friday, Leeds at Newcastle (ok they were dire), Catalans away and Castleford Away.

11 average performances and 8 below average performances, yes injuries have affected us during the season.

** - 5 games where we scored in the final minutes/seconds to win the game (10 points).

We have yet to perform for a whole 80 minutes and blow a team away.


Rd 1 - Catalans (H), Won, 12-6, Average Performance.
Rd 2 – Huddersfield (A), Won, 18-13, Below Average Performance. **
Rd 3 – Salford (H), Won, 20-16, Below Average Performance. **
Rd 4 – Hull FC (A), Won 26-25, Average Performance. **
Rd 5 – Leeds (H), Won 28-6, Average Performance.
Rd 6 – Widnes (H), Lost 12-18, Below Average Performance.
Rd 7 – Saints (A), Won 24-12, Good Performance.
Rd 8 – Hull KR (H), Won 30-16, Average Performance.
Rd 9 – Wire (H), Lost 16-28, Average Performance.
Rd 10 – Wakefield (A), Lost 0-62, Below Average Performance.
Rd 11 – Castleford (H), Won 26-12, Average Performance.
Rd 12 – Huddersfield (H), Won 26-19, Average Performance.
Rd 13 – Warrington (A), Lost 10-40, Below Average Performance.
Rd 14 – Hull FC (H), Lost 16-30, Below Average Performance.
Rd 15 – Leeds (N), Won 40-08, Good Performance.
Rd 16 – Castleford (A), Won 33-26, Good Performance.
Rd 17 – Salford (A), Won 23-20, Average Performance.
Rd 18 – Hull KR (A), Won 20-18, Average Performance. **
Rd 19 – Widnes (A), Won 7-0, Average Performance.
Rd 20 – Catalans (A), 26-6, Good Performance.
Rd 21 – Wakefield (H), Won 22-18. Below Average Performance. **
Rd 22 – Leeds (A), Lost 16-18. Average Performance.
Rd 23 – Saints (H), Lost 4-23. Below Average Performance.


Just my thoughts, some of you may disagree with a few of ratings above and think I'm being too harsh. Whilst it's been pretty average so far this season, to remain in the top four with such a heavy injury list (never known anything like it) is admirable with some real backs to the wall stuff like Widnes away 7-0...etc.

Can we still get to the Grand Final? Of course we can, I actually think we stand a better chance of that than the Challenge Cup (I think we will struggle next week to be honest).

Regardless of how we finish up I do believe SW deserves next season, however we are desperately in need of some sort of additional coaching. We need to try something different instead of 'The move'. I look longingly at Leeds and their new signing James Segeyaro and think if only we had him instead of Matty Smith, we'd be unstoppable.

Sport at the top level is played by keeping a clear head in tough and key moments in a game.
Our guys are brain dead so it's no surprise we win nowt.
The back room staff want to keep their jobs so they pursue fitness beyond everything else and we have zero coaching.

When we were loosing 4-10 we had the chance to take two points to make it 6-10 and ball back but no we ran it and Saints scored to make it 4-16. We had several chances to take two but we never once took them, Saints took theirs, what numb rugby we played yesterday.

Saints were the better team and deserved their win. If you make twenty errors in a game then you're going to struggle to win against any team. Defensively Wigan were good, but turning over so much ball, particularly early in the tackle count was recipe for disaster.

The worrying thing is the timing of the attack, it shouldn't be so far off at this time of the year but it's going to have to be fixed, otherwise there'll be nothing to show for a seasons work. We seemed to be going too wide too soon and desperately needed someone to straighten us up.

We'll be playing Saints at Wigan again in the "Super 8's" lets hope for a more composed performance.

One thing I don't expect to see is four players having their worst game of the season in this game.

Haha has someone seriously claimed that Wigan are still the team to beat? Brilliant.

Regards

King James

Not one posting on the Saints board about the Wigan game all week until last night. North Stand a third full.

Funny how they all come out of the woodwork now though.

My muppet comment wasn't aimed at you as you are on here every week having a a good whinge. So at least you're consistent

We definitely aren't pretty to watch but we've made a few exciting signings, particularly Leuluai (as jonh pointed out) that could get us back on track.

Call me an optimist but I think this poor performance might just save our season. And yes I do still think we'll beat Hull in the semi.
I saw a team dying to win, almost lost their heads with too much passion and drive and not even 'smarts'.
We beat ourselves, sorry Saints, but we did. Tried to force passes and rush the play in wet weather conditions it was never going to work. With sprits high we didn't keep our heads and mentally cracked.

On top of all that Tomkins, who's not fit, had a bad game, he's our link out-wide bringing in the outside backs, he didn't manage it. Lockers, one of our main pivots and leader also couldn't link. I'm usually confident when these two play but it was not to be.

All in all what does the result mean? If we learn from it, nothing. Still in the hunt for the GF and CC.

Sadly many on here felt the same passion and cracked like the team posting how bad we are, we're not. We just let the event and conditions get the better of us.

Excellent post.

I hope you are right I really do but I remain to be convinced. I have not seen a great performance all season (a couple of decent games) and I am not sure the team has it in them anymore - I hope I am wrong.

I honestly think considering the injuries and disruption throughout the season to be where we are in the table is a testament to the coaching staff and how we manage our salary cap. Not having a 'top heavy' cap where a few names take a high percentage of the cap.

Even now we have a number of first teamers missing, this has been something we've come to terms with. It's not an excuse as I think, all considering we've been winning and are still in the hunt for the two main trophies.

I think, from what I can recall off the top of my head, the best rugby all season was first half v Cas in the CC. I expect a similar performance v Hull. We control the ruck, suffocate their attack and deliver 'the move' at pace.

I'm not a betting man, but I would bet we beat Hull.

We can definitely still win ALL 3 trophies because the rest of the SL mob are all very poor too

Do we have to bring an A game performance to actually win a trophy this season?

I want to see us winning finals in style and blowing sides away with our free flowing rugby
Sadly Wane's coaching ability only extends to making us competitive and difficult to beat on our day