I agree no rugby league team should take to the field without a regular kicker. I am also concerned about the number of players we could have taking to the field at Wembley who will be short of match fitness, that is if Coote, Walmsley and Roby are all passed fit to play. You can also add Knowles to this list even if he plays on Thursday at Leeds. Anybody who plays and isn’t fit will get found out at Wembley.
With regard to Wembley I would agree with that. It's pretty much what we did last year and Fages coming off the bench often lifted the sttack.
With regard to the Leeds game I wouldn't risk Lomax. He is such an important part of our attack and one of the few players we haven't got adequate cover for.
Similarly Makinson hurt his hand against Warrington so maybe let him sit the Leeds game out.
It may not be much of an injury but it's his one handed grip that helps him score his diving tries.
Which is exactly why it would be a disaster playing Richardson who is also poor defensively.
Numerous times this year we've seen Peyroux shoot the line and miss the tackle or Naqaima miss completely only to be saved their blushes by great cover tackles from Fages.
Better to have a goal kicker out there who's a bit rusty in Coote and have a strong defensive backline than deliberately go into a final with a weak right side defense as we know Wire will certainly target it. Missing a few conversions is better than conceding a shed load of try's through missed tackles.
Expected a side like the two we’ve sent to London, so this is a shock. I have my reservations over Holbrook’s team selection around big games and this and the lack of Roby and Coote does leave me feeling a little uneasy for next week.
St Helens Rugby League Football Club
This is what they have been trying to do in his appearances this season and is quite often more involved in a 2 man tackle, Fages can tackle one on one with a fairly good success rate but even he has been caught out a few times out wide this season. Another thing is how our sliding defence has covered up weaknesses, Lees and Peyroux miss lost of tackles but we cover this quite well.
We have conceded just over 50 tries this season, I would estimate 50% of those are scored on the far edges and a fair percentage are from high or grubber kicks. I don't recall Richardson missing a tackle that has resulted in points conceded maybe on 1 or 2 occasions but he's nowhere near the weakness of Brough, Langi, Myler, Miller and Sneyd and you could say Austin as well.
It appears that both Brown and Smith will be on the market at the end of the season we just don't know which stalls they will be running.
Learned comment from The Don
At last night’s forum Richard Marshall explained that Saints’ defence was based on putting pressure on the opposition with each player understanding the roles of those around them. The fact that Lees, Naiqama and Peyroux miss so many tackles and yet the side concedes so few tries is presumably evidence that the system works. Even when the initial tackle is missed, the pressure often forces a mistake or the attack to stall while our players also work hard to cover each other to minimise the negative impact.
For this game, I would rest Lomax and leave Fages and Richardson to play and prove who wants the Wembley shirt. At this moment, I could not tell you who I would prefer to play at Wembley. If it was 2 months ago, I would have said Fages without a doubt, but I think Richardson has played his way back in and Fages has not been as effective as he was at the start of the year.
The question that needs to be asked is whether you go with a proven goal kicker or a proven defender for the final? I cannot see much between them with ball in hand.
Personally I prefer Richardson at scrum half think he has more about him in attack than Fages. Fages is obviously the better defender. I think you can cover Richardson’s weaker defence. Not much in them and Holbrook favoured Richardson last year and Fages this year. A new coach comes in next year and could favour Richardson again.
https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk...19-man-squads/
Good job we are not playing Warrington this week Steve Price is bringing back his BIG GUNS
Fages over Richardson all day long for me.
screaming in the family corner, scaring the kiddies