Saints were made to look poor by a very committed, well drilled and physical Huddersfield side. Their work around the ruck was exceptional and they continually turned Saints over when coming out of their back end so they could get no momentum.



If you seriously think Long would have that much difference then imo you're in for a big disappointment next season.

dont agree.saints didnt get beat in the forewards,it was the lack of guile and experience,especially near the line.saints will miss long next year,we will benefit.

Mate they got battered in the forwards. Graham was the only one competing he was virtually carrying the Saints pack. Pryce wouldn't have been so ineffective if Saints pack had been competetive.



I guess some people only see what they want to see, so lets agree to disagree

Well what a suprise.



Committed and physical Huddersfield might have been but perhaps you might remind us how many errors they made in their own half. How many sets, including repeat sets, did Saints fail to convert when within striking distance of Hudd's line?



Of course a top class experienced scrum half wouldn't have made a difference. Well not one that was moving to Hull anyway.

Long only plays well when his forwards dominate. Even Dobson played him off the park earlier in the year...why???.....



I'll let you decide

I presume it's because Dobson plays for the world famous Hull Kingston Rovers and Sean Long has signed for Hull FC.

i knew it wouldnt be long before dobson came into it.i bet price,wilkin,cunningham and the rest wished long had been playing.at 18 10.saints where crying out for longs experience to see them home.they panicked with ball in hand the near the line.theres no substiute for class and big match experience.eastmond is going to be a top player,but is still lacking in experience.and it showed today.

More to do with an FC prop crossing over to the dark side

He should never play rugby again after looking like that! He has no class and a cocky attitude . Hate the guy

But Saints had plenty of attacking chances! They did not have the nouse to break them down. An awful attacking game and no direction meant Saints had no chance.

No change there then. Rugby League's No.1 fashion victim!!!

Thought Puletua had a good game for saints so not sure about Graham being the only one "carrying" the pack imho of course.

Cunningham and Roby were poor

he looked like a rasta man today

You clearly don't know me if thats what you think.



The point is it doesn't matter how good your SH is if your forwards don't dominate.

See above numpty

Actually they don't need to dominate, they just need not to be dominated.



If the forwards are evenly matched then the halves make the difference IMO.

Maybe.



But my point stands that Long wouldn't have made that much difference yesterday. He would have also been a spot in defence.

I don't disagree. He might have made the result a little tighter as I thought that Eastmond made a few wrong decisions due to inexperience, but I doubt he'd have turned defeat into victory.

Sorry i thought you were jumping on the 'GG is Dobbin' Bandwagon

Nah - just indulging my love of pedantry.

The thing is if long had played and not made a difference potter would have been slated for rushing him back, it was a no win situation. Hudds were the better side and fully deserved it.



Just as an aside, does anyone else think that besides looking a complete state and as if he'd just been found sleeping in hammonds doorway his choice of bandana was totally inappropriate for a sportsman to wear and shows a lack of proffessionalism.

Considering the amount of possession Saints had near the Hudds line, IMO i think he would have made a difference, his kicking game for a start, i also think Pryce is not the same player without Long!!! glad Hudds won though!!

Saying 1 person wouldn't change a game is stupid, he could of thrown 5 try scoring passes, ran the length of the pitch 5 times, or be steamrolled over for 5 trys to Hudds, you'll never know and there's no real point in even bringing it up.

I take your point about the forwards but Saints kicking games yesterday was poor and Long could have made a difference there. Also there were lots of periods where Saints had the ball and could not score, Long could have also made a difference there too. We will never know now.