I thought 1, 6 and 7 created enough opportunities to win the game. Lomax's first try was really well worked. Regan Grace's try came on the back of an eyes up play by Fages to spot a 3 v 2 on the short side. Fages and Coote combined well to set up the Naquima try on the right.
Thought they were unlucky a couple of times as well, there was some nice work from Lomax and Coote in the build up to the Grace no try where Austin did brilliantly to cover across. Fages, Lomax and Coote were all involved in the shift where Morgan Knowles nearly scored as well. Again that was great defence from Warrington.
Given they had Bentley and Knowles in the centres outside them, LMS running unfamiliar lines in the back row on the right and were playing against a pretty good defensive team, I thought they did okay.
Looking at Warrington's tries, bar the headed one they came from some good work from their outside backs. We had one centre on the field who was playing on the wing. I didn't think their halves were much more creative than ours and they had better options to work with than ours did.
Steve Prescott MBE (1973-2013)
V
I don’t necessarily buy into the idea that Woolf plays a more conservative game, but I agree with those who have said that we lack shape. It’s probably the most notable difference from Holbrook (and/or Long?) - we tended to have a lots of players in movement off the ball, even early in the set, but we’ve slipped into a habit of going up in ones.
Agreed but Walmsley only usually plays 40mins.
So following on from that there are three options;
We find another 3 forwards with the same impact as Walmsley .
Or
The coach changes the tactics
Or
The club changes the coach
To be fair Holroyd also relied a lot on Walmsley and Thomson, but last year (apart from Wembley) we didn't have a lot of opposition.
Warrington's pack is looking stronger and Wigan's young forwards will get better
Don't agree with the criticism of Fages and our attack. We have scored the most points for several seasons now. Even 18 points yesterday may have been enough to win.
The idea that our spine isn't good enough to win trophies is clearly untrue.
We lost yesterday because of a huge dip between 25 and 40 minutes, and a freak bounce of the ball. That dip was when Walmsley went off.
Usually, we can ride it out but not yesterday. Graham has been a great signing, but isn't quite as good as Thompson. Our shopping list for 2021 should be two props. Amor has done ok, but to keep him as a regular next year would be to stand still. He and Lees should compete for one spot, especially with Lees' drop in form this year. Not a criticism of Lees, he's had an awful injury and it's so hard to come back from, but a reality.
If we signed a 7 over two props, I'd be pretty unhappy. It should not be a priority.
Dodd will get his chance before long. It's up to him to try and force Fages out. The better of the two players will emerge as a long term 7.
We don't really have any young props ready to step up, so we must look externally and prioritise correctly if we want to stay at the top.
The problem is Percy being injured, when he is playing teams are wary of him which takes some pressure off Lomax. Without Percy playing they put all the emphasis on closing Lomax down, effectively shutting down our attack. As for Fages he is doing a good job at 7, his defence is solid, he takes on the line but he doesn't have a good kicking game, neither does Lomax which is a real problem especially in tight games when the defences are on top and you need something different to break them down, cue long and martyn.
Spot on in the analysis as usual, but I will focus on this line. We had chances, and we looked dangerous when we shifted it between hands and got it wide. My problem is that despite looking dangerous when we do it, we don’t do it nearly enough. Of course it becomes predictable if you do it constantly, and defences will work you out, but in the 4 or 5 times we did it in the second half we either scored or came close. We seem to do it more out of desperation than plan, and we leave points on the field IMO.
I think we have too many fans going into meltdown and not giving enough credit to how the players had to adapt to having a disruptive circumstance thrust upon them. Woolf called it right about that 30min to 40 min first half, Warrington got the advantage and the team responded in the second half.
That first try of ours was one of the best you will see for creative passing and support play, I don't think any other side in the comp could come up with a try like that.
Perhaps someone is up to date with the constant rule changes but after Harrison headed the ball forward for George Mann to score wasn't it outlawed and deemed a knock on? Has that been rescinded now so that propelling the ball forward except with the boot is no longer a knock on. Christ they even give knock ons now when the ball obviously went back.
On the Back foot looking for the front one.
About Lees, I am really not sure what he's good at, and not just since the injury. Is he big and aggressive? Yes. Does he keep running it in? Yes. Does he ever actually break the line? No, as in Not Ever. Does he ever make a telling offload? No. Does he give too many penalties away? Sometimes.
It strikes me that he's not really developed as hoped for. The saving grace is he has potentially many years ahead of him, but he's been around the first team long enough to make more of a contribution, by now, to our attacking play. Regarding his earlier injury lay-off being a reason for his very ordinary form, he's been back from that injury quite a while now. With salary cap to consider, Saints need a bit more than this from their replacement prop. If he can't find some form in the next couple of months, we might need to look around for someone to replace him in our 17.
Don't accept the comments about the pack. If we hadn't lost Knowles and Bentley from the middle to cover the centre spots we would probably have won. We lost power in the middle which gave wire the rest and they made the best of it.
Only lost by a couple of points with a dodgy try so no big issue but the lack of a quality 7 with a great kicking game is a real problem in the tight big games. We only had one real test last year at Wembley.
After Harrison/Mann try they made it a knock-on if its done deliberately but apparently not if its accidental.
It surprised me that it was allowed, I'm sure I've seen similar incidents before where if the ball has gone forward off the head, shoulder, or torso it has been treated as a forward pass but I can't quote the occasions.
I like Theo, for me he's the best all round SH in Superleague. The problem is that unless you find an Aussie with "indiscretions" that necessitate a relocation to the UK, better isn't available.
Fair point, but for me the way forward is to gradually give Dodd game time and hope that he fits the bill and both he and Theo fight for the role. I genuinely don't see a better SH, Hastings maybe but I'm not totally convinced by the love in for him and he certainly wouldn't be a quantum leap forward. My other concern is that expectations surrounding Dodd be tempered by reality.
1,6 and 7 will have a hand in almost every try. Nobody can dispute that. No matter how good or bad they are. However, it's the tries that we are not scoring because they don't have a hand in that is the problem.
The reliance on the team this year has been the pack and that has been born out in the fact that Walmsley and Thompson have scored 13 tries between them this season whilst Grace and Makinson have scored 10. Those sort of stats should never be happening.
We are, of course, a fantastic flat track bully side and will score for fun in games when the opposition give up a tad, but our problem even through the Holbrook era has been our inability to win big games that we should be winning on paper. One Grand Final win against Salford (in which we scored three tries) shows that we lack the ability to finish off the job, and I've always had the same fear, and that is that the half backs do not know how to open up tight defences.
We can all say we've created enough chances if we create five chances and the opposition has scored four tries, but we have to be realistic enough to know that all chances do not get converted. Great halves create enough chances for a reasonable percentage to be both scored and missed. Lomax and Fages simply don't have the skill set when camped on the line. They don't have enough tricks in their locker.
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Agree with all this except I don’t even classify him as big for a prop.Obviously had an horrific injury to overcome but even before this it was a bit of hype.Trying to hard to be the enforcer and not succeeding. He is certainly not a starting prop for next season as alluded.we need 2 new props.Credit Amor at moment not reached heights he was once capable of but he has dug in and is a decent player to have in a salary capped environment.
On the backs time to give Dodd a go.He has all the variety of play we need here.
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