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Thread: Your Take KRISTIAN WOOLF lastr 5 games.

  1. #26
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    Unfair to judge a guy on five matches.

    Teething problems at the start. Went like a steam train after lockdown. Part of me wonders whether he is canny enough to have timed the ending just right. Went off the boil towards end of league to come storming back in playoffs. Very long season, wouldn't surprise me if it was a trick up his sleeve.

    In summary, excellent.

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    I don’t think we’d have won that game 12-18 months ago. Wigan are very, very good defensively and our big game performances in recent years suggest that we’d have spent 20 minutes trying to break them down, we’d have panicked and forced offloads, we’d have played too laterally and Wigan would scored on the back of our errors.

    If someone had told me at the start of the season that we’d be without Thompson and Percival for the majority of the year but we’d still win a Grand Final, I’m not sure I’d have believed it. Even earlier this week if someone had told me that James Graham would only do one stint for us at the start of the game but we’d win, I’m not sure that I’d have believed that either.

    I thought we showed a resilience and a toughness last night that we’ve been missing for a good few years. We didn’t panic at any stage, we kept putting them under pressure and we trusted that we’d get a chance and we did. Defensively we were very, very good and IMO it was brilliant to watch. Next year we’ve got another prop to help Walmsley out, Mata’utia has great footwork and leg speed and having Percival back and Joel Thompson on that left edge will help our attack out I’m sure.

    Been a hell of a year for Woolf coaching wise, beating Australia and Great Britain with Tonga and then winning a Grand Final with Saints is a pretty fair effort.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tez the Saint View Post
    I don’t think we’d have won that game 12-18 months ago. Wigan are very, very good defensively and our big game performances in recent years suggest that we’d have spent 20 minutes trying to break them down, we’d have panicked and forced offloads, we’d have played too laterally and Wigan would scored on the back of our errors.

    If someone had told me at the start of the season that we’d be without Thompson and Percival for the majority of the year but we’d still win a Grand Final, I’m not sure I’d have believed it. Even earlier this week if someone had told me that James Graham would only do one stint for us at the start of the game but we’d win, I’m not sure that I’d have believed that either.

    I thought we showed a resilience and a toughness last night that we’ve been missing for a good few years. We didn’t panic at any stage, we kept putting them under pressure and we trusted that we’d get a chance and we did. Defensively we were very, very good and IMO it was brilliant to watch. Next year we’ve got another prop to help Walmsley out, Mata’utia has great footwork and leg speed and having Percival back and Joel Thompson on that left edge will help our attack out I’m sure.

    Been a hell of a year for Woolf coaching wise, beating Australia and Great Britain with Tonga and then winning a Grand Final with Saints is a pretty fair effort.
    Agree with that, the first quarter of the season Woolf lost all his strike with Percival, Roby, Tai and Coote injured or not fit coming back from recovery, yet that World Club Challenge game was a great effort and Woolf got the players to compete.

    Last night we were playing the Goons who were the best defensive side in Superleague since they got knocked out of the CC by Leeds. We learn't a lot from the derby loss and dominated for most part of the game territorial wise, we were never going to score lots of tries, every man and his dog knew what type of game was going to develop.

    The only gripe I had with Woolf was that team selection for the Salford game, but even then we dominated a couple of more senior players would have got us a win. But did Woolf respond better to the Salford loss or the Wigoon loss, it was the latter.

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    Fair play to Woolf though. Clearly learnt the lessons from the Wigan win. Everything they did well first time, we closed down this time. We battered the forwards and kept the backs quiet all game. French never got a look in.

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    Our kicking game is very poor, with Fages being the worst of all so i don’t know why he gets a lot of the ball on the last to kick.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cyprus View Post
    He has done a great job, we are back to back Champions. This may sound a bit sour, but! I think we now have to understand Lomax and Fages is a partnership that needs breaking now. I would start next season with Dodd and Lomax.
    Sour? Sounds abit mad 2 years together 2 grand final wins. It wasn’t so long ago on this forum people spoke of a lack of mental toughness to win a comp and now we have 2. Lewis Dodd has a big future providing he gets his fair share of luck (no setbacks etc.) but to suggest starting him next year off the back of 1 full first team game at half back and changing a partnership that has done what it has in the last 2 years (best attack status as well as 2 GF’s). He doesn’t need that pressure particularly with a fan base as fickle and pessimistic as ours. When he gets his chance I have no doubt he will grasp it.

    Any other team or fan base in super league would swap for the position we have found ourselves in at the conclusion of the last 2 seasons.

    Enjoy the moment!

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    I can see Woolf doing a bit more rotation and bringing in the young ones when the opportunity arises, don't forget he use to be in charge of Junior Development early in his coaching career. He really needs to give Dodd a 2 to 3 game run, if Lomax or Fages pick up any niggly injuries then throw in Dodd or Welsby but not at the same time.

    Last season under Holbrook I got the feeling he didn't want to upset Fages moving him out of position, for me Woolf will have a tougher stance and we might see a change next season. Fans might think we will lose the defence that Fages brings but I seem to remember Dodd made 39 tackles last time out.

    Our pack looks very strong for next season and I would imagine Dodd would revel working behind those set of forwards.
    Last edited by STIDDY; 30th November 2020 at 16:13.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Benyon View Post
    Sour? Sounds abit mad 2 years together 2 grand final wins. It wasn’t so long ago on this forum people spoke of a lack of mental toughness to win a comp and now we have 2. Lewis Dodd has a big future providing he gets his fair share of luck (no setbacks etc.) but to suggest starting him next year off the back of 1 full first team game at half back and changing a partnership that has done what it has in the last 2 years (best attack status as well as 2 GF’s). He doesn’t need that pressure particularly with a fan base as fickle and pessimistic as ours. When he gets his chance I have no doubt he will grasp it.

    Any other team or fan base in super league would swap for the position we have found ourselves in at the conclusion of the last 2 seasons.

    Enjoy the moment!
    Its not mad; its sense and part of looking to the future. Fages in limited, a good squad man yes, but not a game breaker. Its a bit facile talking about 2 GF wins in isolation without acknowledging how dominant that pack has been for the past few seasons nor mentioning the big games Saints have blew like the Challenge Cup final. They used to say Andy Gregory could play in a dinner jacket behind the Wigan pack and he was a totally different gravy to Fages. As I said previously, he is nothing more than a 7/10 when the chips are down. He isn't a bad player, but he isn't the future either.

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    Quote Originally Posted by eddiewaringsflatcap View Post
    Its not mad; its sense and part of looking to the future. Fages in limited, a good squad man yes, but not a game breaker. Its a bit facile talking about 2 GF wins in isolation without acknowledging how dominant that pack has been for the past few seasons nor mentioning the big games Saints have blew like the Challenge Cup final. They used to say Andy Gregory could play in a dinner jacket behind the Wigan pack and he was a totally different gravy to Fages. As I said previously, he is nothing more than a 7/10 when the chips are down. He isn't a bad player, but he isn't the future either.
    I like Fages as a player, I just think he’s too similar in style to Lomax and Lomax is better. Definitely like to see Dodd get a few starts at 7 behind a 1st choice pack, give him some responsibility and see how he handles it.
    Forwards win games. The backs decide by how much.

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    I don't know what KW's full remit was/is, but I would expect it to include some sort of development plan for our future stars. We've already seen some of this. Perhaps a little too much against Salford?
    I expect to see a lot more of the likes of Dodd and Simms next season, and a little more of the younger forwards too.
    What we should all remember though, is that they are still developing, and we as fans, shouldn't place too much expectations on them too soon. Nurture is the way IMO.
    Perhaps the question should really be about KW and the next five games?

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    Quote Originally Posted by St Willy View Post
    Fair play to Woolf though. Clearly learnt the lessons from the Wigan win. Everything they did well first time, we closed down this time. We battered the forwards and kept the backs quiet all game. French never got a look in.

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    And that is the best accolade I could give at this moment.

    I don't like the playing style and find 'arm wrestle grinds' boring (I make exceptions when they win us finals ) but to take a team that was pounded into submission by thugby tactics just 4 weeks and 2 games previously, then not only motivate the team to monster that same opposition pack in the final but develop tactics to almost completely nullify their attacking options, was very astute.

    I'm intrigued to see the new pack in action next season, and hope that Dodd gets more playing time.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Suttoner View Post
    I think Hardaker was suffering big match nerves, which came through in his kicking. Being denied a try by extremely determined defence probably rattled his confidence as well. That’s why I think we made our own luck.

    100% agree about attack. Such dominant field position should have led to a wider margin, not a last ditch win. However, I remain elated.
    ‘ defence wins games, attack determines by how much’ a quote that sums up KW philosophy . Absolute defence and hope we crash over the line . Risky in my view but it’s won us another title .

    Like this year ,we will come unstuck although are likely to win a third on the trot . The nature of SL !

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    Great video clip on the Saints Website, "A Night we will never Forget" towards the end of the clip Walmsley pours a bucket of water over Woolf in the dressing room, when it happens the players go absolutely mental.

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    I said after losing out on the LLS I would only assess Woolf on the last two games; and if I do that its hard to say a bad word against him! I think some of the criticism around the style of play is harsh, as its clear he is happy to play some expansive rugby, but only when the team has earnt the right - which, in some cases, doesn't happen until the 80th minute. I think its interesting how open Woolf has been to switch our attacking structures between split halves (like the final) and 1st/2nd receiver (semi final) - we look much more threatening with the latter. When we play with split halves, I think we really struggle creatively, and Fages in particular gets exposed for lacking creativity. Theres no denying our defence has come on though, we really have added a tenacious element to our game. I ultimately dont think we would have won the Grand Final game last year.

    For me Woolf starts on a clean slate next year, which given the start he had (Castleford being the last game before lockdown is unfortunate as it sticks in the head) the Challenge Cup game, and losing out on the LLS in the way we did, is actually mighty impressive. We obviously need to look at how to improve the attack still but I am confident we have the team in place to do that. I think its clear once we have gotten the first tries out the way we can be very clinical, but we are just missing the magic to unlock an opposition defence for the first time.

    There are some big questions next year in terms of recruitment and retention. This year is encouraging (and a bit of a free pass with the environment were in RE Covid) but how we balance the kids coming through and those already established is always the crux of success. Fages vs Dodd is one in particular I want to see Woolf get right, especially with Fages OOC at the end of it. We do seem to have lots of competition, especially in the pack, which can only be a good thing. I think all 3 signings are upgrades on their predecessors though (with the exception of I am sure grahams influence on the club off the pitch cant be understated) which means theres no reason we cant be looking to go for 3 in 3. Hope we sign Bentley up long term though.

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    Quote Originally Posted by magic superbeetle View Post
    I said after losing out on the LLS I would only assess Woolf on the last two games; and if I do that its hard to say a bad word against him! I think some of the criticism around the style of play is harsh, as its clear he is happy to play some expansive rugby, but only when the team has earnt the right - which, in some cases, doesn't happen until the 80th minute. I think its interesting how open Woolf has been to switch our attacking structures between split halves (like the final) and 1st/2nd receiver (semi final) - we look much more threatening with the latter. When we play with split halves, I think we really struggle creatively, and Fages in particular gets exposed for lacking creativity. Theres no denying our defence has come on though, we really have added a tenacious element to our game. I ultimately dont think we would have won the Grand Final game last year.

    For me Woolf starts on a clean slate next year, which given the start he had (Castleford being the last game before lockdown is unfortunate as it sticks in the head) the Challenge Cup game, and losing out on the LLS in the way we did, is actually mighty impressive. We obviously need to look at how to improve the attack still but I am confident we have the team in place to do that. I think its clear once we have gotten the first tries out the way we can be very clinical, but we are just missing the magic to unlock an opposition defence for the first time.

    There are some big questions next year in terms of recruitment and retention. This year is encouraging (and a bit of a free pass with the environment were in RE Covid) but how we balance the kids coming through and those already established is always the crux of success. Fages vs Dodd is one in particular I want to see Woolf get right, especially with Fages OOC at the end of it. We do seem to have lots of competition, especially in the pack, which can only be a good thing. I think all 3 signings are upgrades on their predecessors though (with the exception of I am sure grahams influence on the club off the pitch cant be understated) which means theres no reason we cant be looking to go for 3 in 3. Hope we sign Bentley up long term though.
    A really good post.
    I have been critical of the way he has the HB's running back into the middle to drop the ball off to a forward, But I am hoping the new signings will help punch holes in the defensive line and allow us to play a bit more open. Also that he will feed Dodd in, to give us further options. I don't think anyone can say he doesn't deserve next year, but I am hoping that the 3/4s see a bit more ball and that Coote joins up more often.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dark Side Of The Moon View Post
    ‘ defence wins games, attack determines by how much’ a quote that sums up KW philosophy . Absolute defence and hope we crash over the line . Risky in my view but it’s won us another title .

    Like this year ,we will come unstuck although are likely to win a third on the trot . The nature of SL !
    Last season we averaged 32 pts per game in attack and averaged 14 pts a game in defence.

    This season we averaged 27 pts per game in attack and averaged 11 pts a game in defence.

    So that KW philosophy is make us tougher in defence at the expense of attack, do the hard work first and attack when we have earned the right to do so. You could say it's took him one season to make us difficult to beat in the big game, we need to see if that mind set repeats itself next season and we will have a stronger team next year. The next objective is to beat the Wire in a cup game.

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    Quote Originally Posted by STIDDY View Post
    Last season we averaged 32 pts per game in attack and averaged 14 pts a game in defence.

    This season we averaged 27 pts per game in attack and averaged 11 pts a game in defence.

    So that KW philosophy is make us tougher in defence at the expense of attack, do the hard work first and attack when we have earned the right to do so. You could say it's took him one season to make us difficult to beat in the big game, we need to see if that mind set repeats itself next season and we will have a stronger team next year. The next objective is to beat the Wire in a cup game.
    Stats can’t always be trusted and this is proof. How many tries have our three quarters averaged this year compared to last season? How much good ball has Makinson seen? Grace has scored a few but from memory they were mostly one man efforts. Cootes done ok but thats because he sniffs around the middle of the pitch. Our attack is not as good as last year.
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    Quote Originally Posted by STIDDY View Post
    Last season we averaged 32 pts per game in attack and averaged 14 pts a game in defence.

    This season we averaged 27 pts per game in attack and averaged 11 pts a game in defence.

    So that KW philosophy is make us tougher in defence at the expense of attack, do the hard work first and attack when we have earned the right to do so. You could say it's took him one season to make us difficult to beat in the big game, we need to see if that mind set repeats itself next season and we will have a stronger team next year. The next objective is to beat the Wire in a cup game.
    Do you really reckon 14 points a game needed improving on? If you inherit a side that ships an average of 14 a game you’re on to a winner IMO. Taking away a slice of what made us a good team to watch last season so you can improve the defence marginally isn’t IMO justified. He didn’t take over Hull KR, he took over a champion side that already had a good defence, and he’s merely made it a bit better at the cost of blunting our attack. Our failure to win big games over the last few years has not been our defence, and as I said on another thread his tactics on Friday didn’t actually win us that game either. It merely kept us in a game that developed into a slugfest after we were unable to get on top when we dominated early on.

    A priority on attack would have seen us a try or two up in the first twenty on Friday and we’d have then had the upper hand as Wigan would have had to take chances. Instead we were one dimensional near their line and then had to resort to the slog for an hour, and save Hardaker missing two kicks it would have lost us the game. We earned the right to attack their line in the opening twenty, and we did nothing with the ball on numerous occasions. You have to give the coach credit for toughening us up slightly, but you have to give him stick for going into Friday thinking the only way we could beat Wigan was on a proverbial points decision after a 15 round fight. More ambition when we were on top early on and that 15 rounder doesn’t need to happen, we’d have knocked them out handily.

    We’re all arguing as if that was our only way to beat the mighty Wigan when we dominated them early on and should have put them away. The reason we are so proud of our team for battling all night was because we had to, because we had nothing in our locker to score some tries when camped on their line early on. Some of us are focusing on the bits from 20-80 mins as if the first 20 mins didn’t happen. We could have blown that game wide open early on but we had no ambition or instructions on how to do it.

    Our acceptance of all this is worrying really because once you start saying that it’s fine to kill yourself for an hour because you can’t score a try you’re admitting something very negative about the way the team is coached. We half killed ourself in a game we could have won in the first twenty, and we then half killed ourself in a game where nine times out of ten we’d have still lost barring two missed kicks and a miracle try by us.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gray77 View Post
    A priority on attack would have seen us a try or two up in the first twenty on Friday and we’d have then had the upper hand as Wigan would have had to take chances.
    No it wouldn’t, it would have seen us have a repeat of last years cup final.

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    Some harsh comments. Can't believe us winning the Grand Final could be seen as "masking problems". The guy can't win. He was winning nothing weeks ago now he has it's luck etc. but when we lost to Wire to a bloody header that was rubbish from Woolf.....

    Watching the game back there's at least three times when if Lomax or Fages pick the right pass we score and that's in a final against a team with a fantastic defence. Sadly he can't choose which options the players take. So I'm not even sure our shape in attack was even that horrific. Attack is obviously an area of improvement for next year but interesting to see we average a try less a game.


    For me it's a job very well done. Took over a club who had just won the competition (which brings issues with motivation etc), hadn't gone back to back in 20 years with much more "exciting" teams and the players had lost a coach they all loved. To get everyone on board, learn lessons during the season and deal with the utter chaos 2020 has been along the way is some effort IMO. Ending with a moment we will remember forever and another SL trophy.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gray77 View Post
    Do you really reckon 14 points a game needed improving on? If you inherit a side that ships an average of 14 a game you’re on to a winner IMO. Taking away a slice of what made us a good team to watch last season so you can improve the defence marginally isn’t IMO justified. He didn’t take over Hull KR, he took over a champion side that already had a good defence, and he’s merely made it a bit better at the cost of blunting our attack. Our failure to win big games over the last few years has not been our defence, and as I said on another thread his tactics on Friday didn’t actually win us that game either. It merely kept us in a game that developed into a slugfest after we were unable to get on top when we dominated early on.

    A priority on attack would have seen us a try or two up in the first twenty on Friday and we’d have then had the upper hand as Wigan would have had to take chances. Instead we were one dimensional near their line and then had to resort to the slog for an hour, and save Hardaker missing two kicks it would have lost us the game. We earned the right to attack their line in the opening twenty, and we did nothing with the ball on numerous occasions. You have to give the coach credit for toughening us up slightly, but you have to give him stick for going into Friday thinking the only way we could beat Wigan was on a proverbial points decision after a 15 round fight. More ambition when we were on top early on and that 15 rounder doesn’t need to happen, we’d have knocked them out handily.

    We’re all arguing as if that was our only way to beat the mighty Wigan when we dominated them early on and should have put them away. The reason we are so proud of our team for battling all night was because we had to, because we had nothing in our locker to score some tries when camped on their line early on. Some of us are focusing on the bits from 20-80 mins as if the first 20 mins didn’t happen. We could have blown that game wide open early on but we had no ambition or instructions on how to do it.

    Our acceptance of all this is worrying really because once you start saying that it’s fine to kill yourself for an hour because you can’t score a try you’re admitting something very negative about the way the team is coached. We half killed ourself in a game we could have won in the first twenty, and we then half killed ourself in a game where nine times out of ten we’d have still lost barring two missed kicks and a miracle try by us.
    We are not as bad as people make out, I'll throw some more stats out:--

    48-2.......40-8........48-6.......42-0..........54-6........10-0.......48-0........34-6..........32-0........48-8..........These are games were both attack and defence have been good and that is half the season.

    It was the first quarter of the season we struggled to adjust without Roby, Coote, Percival, Tai, Thompson (Oz) so I would expect our attack would be blunted and the results reflected that in losses against Wire, Giants and Cas.

    I myself like an expansive attacking style of game but I can understand the other side of the coin about establishing a platform first and then putting on scores after, that platform could be in the first 10 mins or the last 10 mins dependant on the quality of opposition.. How many times have we tried an expansive game last season and ended up with poor ball retentions and errors, against a tough team in a close type of game ........we failed.

    Above Fishy3005 above mentioned our wingers, Grace has had 6 centre partners this season and Makinson had been sat in the stand for 5 weeks and in my opinion Naiqama has been below par this season with or without a decent service. Woolf for me has struggled with the way Fages has played this season a large chunk of the season he has done a drop of pass on the right edge and his short kicking game has not been effective.

    Every team will play to their strengths that has been basically one man Walmsley this season, but with a spiced up pack, Percival return and pressure for the half back roles, we should see this as a positive.........as for what attacking style for some fans they obviously await with baited breath. For me I want the triple GF and a 1-0 or a 40-39 score line will do.
    Last edited by STIDDY; 1st December 2020 at 10:18.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JamesSL View Post
    Some harsh comments. Can't believe us winning the Grand Final could be seen as "masking problems". The guy can't win. He was winning nothing weeks ago now he has it's luck etc. but when we lost to Wire to a bloody header that was rubbish from Woolf.....

    Watching the game back there's at least three times when if Lomax or Fages pick the right pass we score and that's in a final against a team with a fantastic defence. Sadly he can't choose which options the players take. So I'm not even sure our shape in attack was even that horrific. Attack is obviously an area of improvement for next year but interesting to see we average a try less a game.


    For me it's a job very well done. Took over a club who had just won the competition (which brings issues with motivation etc), hadn't gone back to back in 20 years with much more "exciting" teams and the players had lost a coach they all loved. To get everyone on board, learn lessons during the season and deal with the utter chaos 2020 has been along the way is some effort IMO. Ending with a moment we will remember forever and another SL trophy.
    Part of the problem is that some fans just don't like Woolf and some fans don't like Welsby and hence become over critical. Seem to remember some fans moaning about Welsby's performance when he was replacing by position some of our world class players, we had comments like Woolf's teachers pet, average player, championship player, needs to go out on loan..............and it won't surprise me some of those fans have now jumped onto the "Mak to Jack" bandwagon.

    I myself support the saints win or lose, accept the ups and downs, support the shirt, we can all have various levels of opinion...............but just accept its not always a one way street. COYS (back to back champs)
    Last edited by STIDDY; 1st December 2020 at 10:14.

  23. #48
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    I think we're fine, we just need to replace the departing players, which we've already done for the most part

    Fages and Lomax are good enough for SL but they need to work on their kicking out of hand during the offseason. Against Wigan we should have been turning their lumpy three quarters around constantly and getting repeat sets. We did it once in the second half but should have done it more. Instead we constantly put it in the air in front of them where they had physical advantage and I'm not sure they lost possession once in all those kicks

    Possibly we were worried about French scooping one up off the ground and making a full length break, possibly the strategy was to keep it in play as much as possible (grubbers often go out) as we banked on being fitter than them. Both valid reasons but I'd like to see better kicking strategy next year with the same personnel

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    Quote Originally Posted by St Willy View Post
    Fair play to Woolf though. Clearly learnt the lessons from the Wigan win. Everything they did well first time, we closed down this time. We battered the forwards and kept the backs quiet all game. French never got a look in.

    Sent from my SM-A705FN using Tapatalk
    Unbelievably St Willy a poster on a different thread doesn't think we battered them! Obviously didn't see the lack of yardage they made, the fact we had the lions share of possession and territory or the state of the Pies faces at the end!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Webbo Again View Post
    And that is the best accolade I could give at this moment.

    I don't like the playing style and find 'arm wrestle grinds' boring (I make exceptions when they win us finals ) but to take a team that was pounded into submission by thugby tactics just 4 weeks and 2 games previously, then not only motivate the team to monster that same opposition pack in the final but develop tactics to almost completely nullify their attacking options, was very astute.

    I'm intrigued to see the new pack in action next season, and hope that Dodd gets more playing time.
    Well said!

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