Just had a browse of Red Vee and jeez, talk about OTT reactions. You’d think their season was over! Wellens getting pelters and just the odd one very correctly pointing out that their pack was decimated tonight and HKR are flying. There really are some special breeds on there. You would think 4 titles on the trot, a WCC win down under and a bad injury list might just cut their players and coach some slack but they’re having none of it (90% of them anyway).

Thursdays game:

Saints v Wire

Who do you go for?

Wire currently 21 points difference better off, a Saints win (and we have Wakey at home) could potentially send us top of the League.

A Wire win would put Saints down in 8th-9th (depending on how Leigh do on Sunday at Wakey), putting tremendous pressure on Wellens.

It's tough wanting Saints to win, but either result gives us something to smile about.

We can’t really lose, let’s just hope they bash each other up. If we have a shot to go top, then great but if not, it’ll mean another defeat for Saints and it’ll be another fixture tagged on to the catch up wins they’ll need as the season wears on.

Next week will be damage limitation. I fully understand most teams have injuries but we’ve simply got too many in the same area of the field

Walmsley
Matautia
Knowles
Batchelor
Sironen
Paasi
Norman

Last night Roby went off injured and Wingfield failed his HIA. So add those two to the above.

Lees was also sent to the sin bin for an alleged high shot so potentially add him to the above too.

We’ll be lucky to get within 20

It’ll be a long night you’d imagine if all those are missing. I’m not sure on Wires situation and if they get anybody back, such as Harrison or Bullock. If they do and they have some bench options in the forwards, it could get messy.

Now is the time for Saints fans to pay the team back for the last few years though. I’m staggered at some of the comments I’m reading in various places. Those players have pushed themselves to breaking point and given people memories that last forever and you’d think every single Saints fan would now rally behind them. It’s the least they deserve.

Im not, typical overreation

Fully agree mate. There are some whoppers on Red Vee however in amongst the hysteria there are some decent posters. The below sums up how I feel. I know the lad who posted this and he’s one of the better ones

********************************************************

I’ve never known a fan base as bi polar as Saints fans.

When we're winning, were the best team to exist and when were losing were hopeless, cries for sack the coach, sack the board and now we won't make the Play Offs.

Am I happy with the way we've been playing this season? No, absolutely not. We seem to be 10% down in every area that made us good last year. It's not one things, it's pretty much everything.

I believe there a few factors at play currently:

1). Our discipline - I think possibly the biggest controllable factor is costing us week after week. We were ahead against Leeds, Leigh and Hull KR and then stupid yellow / red cards put us on the back foot when in winning positions and we never recovered. Playing with 12 and 11 men for periods of games is causing fatigue and putting pressure on the rest of the team. We need to sort it out and fast.

2). Our attack just isn't firing. Dodd is having a bad season and Welsby isn't involved in games enough. It's a conundrum Wellens has to sort out. Does he drop Dodd to give him a kick up the backside or does he persist with him in the hope he finds his form after a bad injury? Welsby should be at 6 for me. The kicking game is part of this and whilst I think it is mainly tactical, the execution of the kicking is woeful. We are not testing opponents with it and the chase isn't good either. It needs to improve.

3). Our defence is OK on the whole but the intensity is missing and its why teams have found success on the edges against us. I think the injuries to key forwards and the subsequent rest they are getting at the moment should hopefully freshen them up when they come back. We've set the standard in this area but there has been a drop off this season since the WCC.

4). Injuries and suspensions. We started the season with alot of our backs injured. Hopoate, Percival, Makinson, Hurrell all missed the opening few games and now that has turned and we're missing players in the forwards. Our pack is completely decimated at the moment and whilst you can't use injuries as the only excuse it is a mitigating factor. I think once we get Joe Batchelor and Alex Walnsley back, things will start to improve. They are consistent performers and solidify everything for us in the middle.

5). Motivation - This squad has won the lot and some trophies several times over. I think there's been an emotional dip and there is still effects of mental fatigue after what we've achieved in recent years. Hopefully we can recover and come the important games the players can step up, but I do wonder if the motivation is there to go on and win another? I also do think the WCC has had a huge effect on this form. Not from a physical pount of view, which we will be over now, but mentally. We've essentially climbed everest, achieved it and now we're trying to find our way back to the top again. It's tough, especially when other teams are determined to knock us off our perch.

The squad will no doubt need freshening up next off season and the backline will need an injection of youth and pace.

But once we get players back on the park this season and there's a bit of jeopardy in our season, I sense some of the desperation will come back and we will start to win games.

We need to give Wellens and the players time to turn it around. If we're still struggling in a few months time after we've got players back and there are no signs of improvement then start to be concerned but I sense we will turn it around at some stage. Keep the faith, after winning 4 in a row and already with a trophy in the cabinet this year that's the least we can give them

Number 5 on that list is what alluded to a while back.

That Penrith win was your Everest. You have nothing left to achieve and that's hard to keep standards up as it is without the change in coach also to someone that doesn't seem as intense as Woolf. Very similar to us when Wane left in that regard.

I still wouldn't want to play your best side in a knockout game though.

The bipolar analogy of the Saints fanbase seems apt. You would have thought there would be some good will off the back of what has been achieved.

If Saints finish 6th with a fit squad they'll still be favourites.

Same as any other side TBF. We have some of the worst for it.

The other wigan site is just the same.

4 games ago our forwards were the worst in the league, Harry Smith was , we couldn't win any of or next 3 games from Leigh onwards, Peet has been found out, Rads out etc.

It's going to be impossible to play at 100% all the time and effectively this has been Saints game for the past 3 years. Get some players back, Batchelor especially, and Saints will be very hard to beat again and Dodds and Welsby will miraculously start to look good again.

I think this season will be a much more competitive affair though, Wire, Cats, Wigan, Saints all on their day with a reasonably fit squad will be hard to beat.

Getting a bit concerned over the absence of TheWarringtonWolve69, hope he's alright

Throw Huddersfield, Leeds, Hull KR and Salford in the mix as well. Personally feel 2023 thus far has been hugely positive for the game in this country with better attendances/atmospheres and more dangerous teams resulting in more appealing fixtures. Saints going through a slump has also helped to freshen things up a bit.

Payl Wellens said Roby wasn't injured and having seen the highlights Less tackle wasn't even a pen never mind a yellow

having watched the game on Good Friday, I am starting to think that time has caught up with Roby and he might have played one year too many. I hope I am wrong because I don't want to see a champion player go out on a low.