I'm not sure, I'd like to start with Welsby in the halves and maybe Lomax at full back, we need to see where Welsby is at in his preferred position. If not working then perhaps swap them over but he worries me under the high ball. I definitely wouldn't start him at full back.
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What's worrying is they were excellent first half stretching things wide across the pitch. Immediately after half time all that stopped like a light being switched off. We started ploughing our furrow down the middle. Obvious question is what happened at half time. I have my own view and I don't think I'll be too far away.
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We could put Rizzelli or Costello on the wing with Naiqama and have Makinson at Full Back. Welsby's weakest position is full back so I would imagine he will be half back with Dodd. If we don't play Roby and use Smith we should have Fages on the bench to cover for 6, 7 and 9.
The pack is a tough one quite a few will have to double up but I expect Walmsley to miss the Salford game for one reason or the other, LMS picked up a knock so he might be rested as well.
A pretty professional display overall. The 1st half in particular I thought we were dominant, Leeds struggled to get near the half way line and were kicking from the 30m line alot of the time. We scored some nice tries and I thought Simm had a great game. He looks like a very good prospect for us.
2nd half we just appeared to take our foot off the gas for the 1st 20 mins. Once they scored, it woke us up a little bit and bringing Smith on added a bit of life at the ruck and started to open up again.
You can only play what's in front of you and we got the job done. I'm sure we'll see a few rotated for the next game. I'd rest Coote, Lomax and Roby for definite and give Welsby, Dodd and Smith a go in their place. Maybe the likes of Costello, Batchelor, Paolo (is he fit?), Peyroux and a few other young lads will get a go on Monday too.
Originally Posted by Despondent Dave
With Wigan going into next Fridays Derby game on the back of two games in three weeks they will be fresh. I would expect at least 5 or 6 rested on Monday against Salford in preparation for the Wigan game, win that one & we will have to lose our 3 remaining games to not get the LLS and I can't see that happening so all out in the Derby game for me.
Well, some mixed opinions on here this evening ranging from the shite to the sublime, just had a look at the table, best defence, best attack and top of the league, I’m not sure what we are doing wrong.
Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional
I thought we played some good stuff again, building on a better performance last week. We moved the ball really well at times, we scored some nice tries and our shape in attack was good. Theo Fages' try where Lomax showed the ball to a couple of runners, put Lees into a gap who offloaded to Fages backing up was really, really good rugby. Naquima's try was well worked and well finished off as well.
Poor period early in the second half, off memory Grace, Amor and Bentley all made errors and we gifted Leeds field position in our half. Good response though and we finished the game quite strongly.
Good to see Simm finish his tries off well, thought he combined well with Jonny Lomax down that left side.
Things to work on and bigger challenges to come but all in all a good night for us IMO.
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Thought it was a good performance bar 15 minutes or so where we dropped the ball 3 times in a row. We played at a quick pace and scored some good tries with the ball being moved around a bit more. Facing a team of youngsters doesnÂ’t automatically mean you should get 50 or 60 points. They are going to defend and run for their lives, and that takes patience to overcome. I reckon we could name a similar team and not be embarrassed by anyone
One great thing at the moment is the young lads look 100% first team future players. Simm, Welsby, Dodd, Smith on the back of Bentley nailing a spot down...itÂ’s been a good year in that respect alone and with Knowles an international class loose forward we may have the spine of our team for the next decade
Wigan were fresh as daisies due to their recent schedule and have a week until their next game. We have a short turnaround and clocked off at 22-0 knowing we have a game in 3 days and another 4 days later.
We'll be fine, we know the Wigan game will be the toughest and I'm sure we'll be targeting that one hugely next week.
Originally Posted by Despondent Dave
Beat Wigan at our home ground and we will near enough have got one hand on the LLS but we have to beat Salford before that. I mentioned midweek as long as we don't get high intensity games against Leeds and Salford we should be OK for the Goon game, last night as you mentioned we did clock off in that 3rd quarter but got back on the horse on the 65th minute mark.
Our pivots seemed to have an easy time on the efforts of our centres and wingers. in the forwards we must give a special mention to Matty Lees made 128 metres and around 28 tackles with no missed tackles that will give him a lot of confidence.
Yes.
A stark contrast. First half a really good mix of control and expansion.
Second half Simm didn't get a pass, Saints went into their shell for the first20.
No cause for being downbeat. Saints in a really strong position.
However a couple of observations/questions (minor ones). A lot more positives
than negatives overall.
-Kicking Need some variety in the kicking game. Bomb.Bomb Bomb
Even a bomb from left to right or right to left would be variety.
- Batchelor - Brought on, not given much/any ball then gets the shepherds crook.
Game comfortably won , no need to bring Knowles back.
Give him a go and see what he can do.
Not sure what he is being asked to do , Relief Prop, LForward.
-Bentley - A machine ,going really well. Starting to develop the
Peyroux obsession with coming/stepping inside and ignoring his centre/winger.
Just needs to work on his left to right service.
I think he is in the mix for player of the season so far.
we seem to have periods when we switch off for say 20 minutes. Do that against a better team and the game could be lost. Kicking game again poor( thought Leeds were far better in this compartment)
Steady performance nothing more nothing less .
I thought Simm is looking good, appears quite strong for a light weight centre . Both left and right looking quite balanced after all the disruption which is good.
Clearly Woolf is not using Coote as a strike player which undeniably, he is missing a trick . Last yr coote would have been in most people’s top 3 for MOM every game , this year his role is somewhat subdued in his attacking role.
I feel we are significantly less affective than we were last year . Anyone lifting there game in the top 4 could beat us . The league is overall v poor
I thought our kicking game was quite effective for most of the game, even if it was samey. Leeds had to keep coming out of their 20 and barring a dodgy spell where our discipline and handling let us down it strangled the life out of them.
I was pleased for Lees last night. I’ve questioned the impact he’s had and as a result his place in the team but nobody can ever question his effort. Hopefully this does give him confidence and with a decent pre-season behind him we see him really start to have an impact week in week out. I was especially pleased with his offload to Fages as that’s a side of his game we’ve not really seen before.
Forwards win games. The backs decide by how much.
Same here the high kick works quite well it gives us a couple of seconds for our players to chase the kick and as you say puts a stranglehold on the opposition for 2 or 3 tackles. Most other teams don't do it with the same effect and the lesser ones are kicking to touch a lot more basically for a brief rest on the reset. I thought the Leeds full back Walker had an excellent game for them defusing those kicks but the space to make metres was very limited. Fages kicking game was not as good as last week and Coote seemed to be a bit more rushed at times.
Surprised me a bit when Carney and Robinson both said they had no idea why the crusher tackle has come into the game over the last few years. I would have thought it was obvious. The tactic taking the ball forward used to be to try and break the line, land face down and dominate the ruck by finding your feet as fast as possible. Now, a lot of the time players are turning in the tackle and backing in, therefore, presenting the situation that causes the crusher tackle. I understand the need to protect players, but sin-bins left right and centre doesn't seem to be stopping it. The player backing in surely has some responsibility for his own protection/health. In Alex's case the player clearly put his head under Alex's arm, not a lot Alex can do about that. As they go down, yes there is pressure on the neck. Hard to stop that as you have no control over yourself as you go down. As soon as they reach the ground Alex clearly makes an attempt to relieve the pressure, doing just about all he could in the situation.
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