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Thread: 5 meaningless games?

  1. #1
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    Default 5 meaningless games?

    Well done Saints. League winners with almost a sixth of the season to go.

    Should we rest players and give fringe players a go? Should we experiment and be willing to lose the remaining fixtures? Should we try to keep up momentum? What does it say about the quality of the other 11 teams? Could we bring in two more teams from the championship without reduced quality to the super league over all? Have we just been lucky?

    If we lose the challenge cup and don’t win the the grand final is that another failure?

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    I'll answer your last question....yes!

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    Learning All The Songs SaintJon's Avatar
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    1. Only rest players who are injured or carrying niggles otherwise we keep going.
    2. The only experiment we should be doing is getting the best out of Fage, Lomax and Richardson incase Coote's knee injury is worse than what we are being told.
    3. Yes
    4. What does what say about the quality of the other teams? There's 2 points difference between 8th and 12th and 4 points difference between 2nd and 7th. If it was the NRL we'd be praising it's competitiveness.
    5. No, 12 is enough for now.
    6. We've been by far the best team for 2 years, just haven't produce the goods when it's mattered... Go down to Cowley and ask the players if we've been 'just lucky'.
    7. Yes

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    Keep our best team out there, rest when required and keep the form. If you look at our remaining fixtures;
    1. Wire away - don’t mind the team that played against wakey
    2. Leeds away - roll back the big guns in preparation for the final
    3. Wembley - obviously strongest side
    4. Cas home - all depends on Wembley fatigue/injuries but would still pick strongest side again
    5. Huddersfield home - strongest side
    6 hull away - strongest side
    7. Week off

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    Wire away - Don't play any of the starting 17
    Leeds away - Don't play any of the starting 17
    Same weekend - Play an in house game against Leigh to prepare for Wembley
    Wembley - Strongest side
    Cas home - Don't play anyone that played at Wembley
    Huddersfield home - Don't play anyone with a knock
    Hull away - Don't play anyone with a knock

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    Quote Originally Posted by Saddened! View Post
    Wire away - Don't play any of the starting 17
    Leeds away - Don't play any of the starting 17
    Same weekend - Play an in house game against Leigh to prepare for Wembley
    Wembley - Strongest side
    Cas home - Don't play anyone that played at Wembley
    Huddersfield home - Don't play anyone with a knock
    Hull away - Don't play anyone with a knock
    Spot on, it doesn't take a genius to work out what Warrington will try and do. Our second string will probably give Leeds a game anyway and it would be hilarious if we rolled them after the way they were bleating after we "gifted" London 2 points. We just need to get back on the horse after Wembley and get heads right for the play offs.

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    In The North Stand With All The Old Folk Blobbynator's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Saddened! View Post
    Wire away - Don't play any of the starting 17
    Leeds away - Don't play any of the starting 17
    Same weekend - Play an in house game against Leigh to prepare for Wembley
    Wembley - Strongest side
    Cas home - Don't play anyone that played at Wembley
    Huddersfield home - Don't play anyone with a knock
    Hull away - Don't play anyone with a knock
    Just don't agree with this approach at all.

    Completely get that players will need to be rested at some stage but most of them had a week off two weeks ago.

    Momentum is a big thing in sport and I don't think we're the kind of team that can just turn it on and off. Playing a competitive in house game against Leigh is pointless, you may aswell just play them against Warrington or Leeds, they'd both be competitive games for us and there is just as much a chance you'd get injuries in those games as you would against Leigh. Warrington won't want Thursday's game either and will be praying for no injuries just like us.

    If anyone has a knock or isn't fit, then don't play them but if they're fit and ready to go they will want to play. They're professional athletes who look after themselves and they will want the game time.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Saddened! View Post
    Wire away - Don't play any of the starting 17
    Leeds away - Don't play any of the starting 17
    Same weekend - Play an in house game against Leigh to prepare for Wembley
    Wembley - Strongest side
    Cas home - Don't play anyone that played at Wembley
    Huddersfield home - Don't play anyone with a knock
    Hull away - Don't play anyone with a knock
    What's the point in playing a meaningless practice game v Leigh which could see as many players injured as two games v Wanky and Leeds? I think we should be looking to rest about 25% in the next two weeks, then again for the last three games, so everyone has a week off but everyone stays match fit.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Blobbynator View Post
    Just don't agree with this approach at all.

    Completely get that players will need to be rested at some stage but most of them had a week off two weeks ago.

    Momentum is a big thing in sport and I don't think we're the kind of team that can just turn it on and off. Playing a competitive in house game against Leigh is pointless, you may aswell just play them against Warrington or Leeds, they'd both be competitive games for us and there is just as much a chance you'd get injuries in those games as you would against Leigh. Warrington won't want Thursday's game either and will be praying for no injuries just like us.

    If anyone has a knock or isn't fit, then don't play them but if they're fit and ready to go they will want to play. They're professional athletes who look after themselves and they will want the game time.
    I'm with you on this. I don't want us to be going into the cup final and the playoffs with our spine hardly having played a competitive match together for a couple of months. For me we play the strongest team, but just raise the threshold at which a player is declared fit to play. Anyone carrying the kind of knock that is problematic but that they would play with in a big game gets the week off, everyone else plays.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Blobbynator View Post
    Just don't agree with this approach at all.

    Completely get that players will need to be rested at some stage but most of them had a week off two weeks ago.

    Momentum is a big thing in sport and I don't think we're the kind of team that can just turn it on and off. Playing a competitive in house game against Leigh is pointless, you may aswell just play them against Warrington or Leeds, they'd both be competitive games for us and there is just as much a chance you'd get injuries in those games as you would against Leigh. Warrington won't want Thursday's game either and will be praying for no injuries just like us.

    If anyone has a knock or isn't fit, then don't play them but if they're fit and ready to go they will want to play. They're professional athletes who look after themselves and they will want the game time.
    Nailed one Warrington will be looking to injure players and it wouldn't surprise me if Leeds did with their perceived injustice at us playing a weakened team against London. At least if we played a friendly it can be more controlled.

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    We get yet another week off rest for the first weekend of the play offs as well.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Blobbynator View Post
    Just don't agree with this approach at all.

    Completely get that players will need to be rested at some stage but most of them had a week off two weeks ago.

    Momentum is a big thing in sport and I don't think we're the kind of team that can just turn it on and off. Playing a competitive in house game against Leigh is pointless, you may aswell just play them against Warrington or Leeds, they'd both be competitive games for us and there is just as much a chance you'd get injuries in those games as you would against Leigh. Warrington won't want Thursday's game either and will be praying for no injuries just like us.

    If anyone has a knock or isn't fit, then don't play them but if they're fit and ready to go they will want to play. They're professional athletes who look after themselves and they will want the game time.
    I just think Warrington are a liability we just don't need. They are reckless and have a few players who would think nothing of deliberately injuring a player. We lose one of the key players against them, we're making things very difficult.

    If we need to play the first team for momentum, do it against Leeds.

  13. #13
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    Warrington game ? the RFL ect will be watching like hawks for anything whatsoever that could be related to the SHAMBLES in France over the weekend , players with niggles absolutely not, coming back after injury same as , as for the rest get them on the pitch and do a job on the shower who made a mockery of our game .

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    Rest up this week v's Wire
    Ramp up and beat Leeds
    Snot Wire in Cup
    Cas at home depends on if we won the cup? won=rest up / lose cup = flog em 7 day training sessions.
    Hull = Full team play before week off for playoffs

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    It is a tough one as you need to balance match fitness/sharpness against avoiding unnecessary risk. I feel anyone saying rest everyone before Wembley is not being realistic in expecting players to peak for a final when they have not played a competitive game for 3/4 weeks.

    It will be interesting to see what we do for the Warrington and Leeds games coming up. I would like us to stick with the same backs as we will pick for Wembley and just rotate the forwards. I feel our attack is slightly off at the minute and we need the pivots to get some competitive game time together before the final. If we do pick up an injury, then I feel we have to trust in the squad to be able to cover for any eventuality.

    After Wembley, we should rest everyone for the first game against Castleford or even Huddersfield too and then try to build back up for the playoffs. Teams often fade away after a Wembley win so again managing the players is going to be crucial afterwards.

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    Always ask yourself in this scenario, what would Ian Millward do? The last 'winner' we had as a coach IMO.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Saddened! View Post
    Always ask yourself in this scenario, what would Ian Millward do? The last 'winner' we had as a coach IMO.
    I think you'll find that was Nathan Brown

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    Quote Originally Posted by Saddened! View Post
    Always ask yourself in this scenario, what would Ian Millward do? The last 'winner' we had as a coach IMO.
    Which also means you think Daniel Anderson was a loser.

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    In The South Stand Sean Day's Avatar
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    I’m far from convinced that in the cold light of day any professional player would go out to deliberately injure another. Their coach doesn’t strike me as the kind of person to instruct that and the players have professional respect for each other. There have been exceptions in the past but there’s not much of that kind of stuff around these days

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    I would only rest our pivotal players or bench them when we play Leeds or Castleford. We can actual influence how the top 5 will finish to a certain degree.

    For the Wire game I would still like the Saints players to do some damage to that Wire side so that they find themselves under pressure prior to the CC Final and Play Offs, they have the Wigoons the following week and it could be a few games too far by the time they are challenging for a Grand Final place.

    The question also, who would we fear the most in a Grand Final........Wire, Hull, Goons, Catalans.

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    In The North Stand With All The Old Folk Blobbynator's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Albion View Post
    After Wembley, we should rest everyone for the first game against Castleford or even Huddersfield too and then try to build back up for the playoffs. Teams often fade away after a Wembley win so again managing the players is going to be crucial afterwards.
    Not convinced we'll make wholesale changes in those either. We've got an unbeaten home record to maintain this season. We'll probably make little changes each week to make sure players get the balance of match sharpness and adequate rest.

    We'll also get a week off in the Play Offs now we're confirmed as top.
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    I'd rest someone theyre likely to target with a stray knee,, such as Lomax

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    Can't agree with all this resting of players. By all means if they are carrying a knock rest them , same if they are showing obvious signs of fatigue which the coach will no doubt be aware of. I don't believe you can just switch form on and off. We need to be competitive in all our games to keep our form. Injuries are part of the game we could just as easily pick up injuries in training.

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    At this stage of the season it should only be injuries that lead to a rest. Business end now so best foot forward and keep everyone sharp. Rests have been had.
    Learned comment from The Don

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sean Day View Post
    I’m far from convinced that in the cold light of day any professional player would go out to deliberately injure another. Their coach doesn’t strike me as the kind of person to instruct that and the players have professional respect for each other. There have been exceptions in the past but there’s not much of that kind of stuff around these days
    Wish I could agree Sean, but after the Cats Wire game, the evidence to the contrary is stark. Plenty of attempts to injure opponents unlawfully by their fellow professionals. A sickening debacle.

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