Not often you see a team scoring so many tries off the exact same play at that level of the game. We scored four or five tries there with Jonny Lomax turning up on the short-side to turn a 4 v 4 into a 5 v 4. Some horrendous defence it has to be said, under 7’s stuff, but I’m not sure you’ll find a more ruthless attacking performance than that. Found a weakness and just kept going at it.
Steve Prescott MBE (1973-2013)
V
One of the best players in the country I’d say and is getting closer to the top of that list as well I think. He’s just got great vision and plays what’s in front of him. For his second try he spots Masi Matongo defending out of position on the right edge and he just picks him out, throws a dummy and he’s in under the posts. Simple but he spots it and executes it perfectly.
I think switching him to that position is one of the reasons we’ve won as many games as we have over the last couple of years. He’s been outstanding for us in that role. Read that Justin Holbrook said after the game that it was one of the best performances he’s seen from a half-back and that probably sums it up.
Last edited by Tez the Saint; 22nd April 2019 at 22:49.
Steve Prescott MBE (1973-2013)
V
Lomax was absolutely quality, just like he has been for the last 18 months. He really took the game by the scruff of the neck after going 10-0 down and was involved in everything. I know he was only classed with something like 3 assists but I’d argue he played a pivotal role in pretty much every try.
I thought Ashworth and Lees really stepped up after Tommo went off, they were always on the front foot and did some really hard running as well as really aggressive defence.
Paulo also had his best game for us I thought, he obviously played more minutes than he has previously and his ball handling skills really came to show today. His set up for Coote was absolute class.
Shout out Batchelor who I thought played well for the first 40-60 minutes, some strong running and tackling before he tired. Swift took his tries really well and Kev has his best game for us, he seems to have settled in now and the firmer pitches and dry weather will let him showcase his skills more I think.
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Looking at Lomax now you forget what a hard road he traveled to get back to playing again. Not so long ago it looked a little like history repeating similar to Gary Wheeler but massive credit should go to Lomax for how he has applied himself and the club for supporting him.
A few weeks ago Phil Clarke said he spoke to some of our recent opposition players and asked who is the danger man from Saints, they all stated Lomax, this was when he had a mere MOS 1 point, Baz and Tez repeated it on Good Friday saying according to the other players in the comp Austin is getting the plaudits but Johnny is every bit as dangerous.
Dont think Holbrook would have taken that risk, if he was injured before the game he would have rested him and played Walmsley who looked in a very fit condition against the goons. I should imagine his selections will be assessed to have the Catalan game in mind also with the 3 games challenge in 9 days.
Lomax is close to the perfect Rugby League player.
Learned comment from The Don
We now have a right edge which Lomax is hitting on a frequent basis as the left , is it now he has the "freedom" to attack either way , whereas when a certain BB was here the left was certainly the preferred choice ?.
roy litherland it's happened i told you it would
J-Lo is one I'll happily admit has shut me up. Not many do. I was very critical of the decision to keep him at the club, but Barba's presence I think has taught him an awful lot. He's been utterly superb recently and looks the complete player. Should be an absolute auto-pick for England at 6.
Shaky. It was his debut and he had a couple of decent carries. But he looked lost defensively, but on debut I guess that's understandable, lots of looking either way to see where players were rather than just knowing. He was exposed a few times defensively. He'll never be a centre in SL, definitely a second rower.
Just to balance the commentary, I’d like to point out that my view of Batchelor’s performance is completely opposite to yours. I was impressed with his debut. In the wake of your comments, however, I had a look at his stats which show that he made 19 tackles and missed 1 while taking up the ball 13 times and gaining 107 metres. If that’s “shaky”, I suspect he’ll be a world beater when he gets used to the game at Super League level. In addition, it needs to be borne in mind that throughout the second half he was lining up defensively with Welsby and Grace, hardly a well established, fearsome couple and yet Hull didn’t manage to score against them save via a couple of forward passes which the ref/touch judge managed to spot.
Richardson has been working the right side with a passing game which KN has benefited from whilst Lomax has mostly been on a running game on the left side. It looks as though all the "middles" hard work is freeing up Lomax and Coote with more space, its also noted Morgan Knowles seems to be the architect of providing the space his variety of passing is causing the opposition lots of problems and thats before he defends like a sledgehammer.
I’m not denying what TT posted or the sense in your statement but Phil Clarke commented that Michael Shenton had said that Lomax was the best/most dangerous player in Super League when asked. The question had not been restricted to Saints but applied to the overall competition.