Looks like Mr Woolf needs to pack his bags if he thinks that display tonight is expectable. Eamon needs to think hard about bringing the fans back and Mr Woolf's tactics are boring us all to death. Come back Justin we love ya.
Looks like Mr Woolf needs to pack his bags if he thinks that display tonight is expectable. Eamon needs to think hard about bringing the fans back and Mr Woolf's tactics are boring us all to death. Come back Justin we love ya.
IMO Woolf style is what our chairman looks for. Look at his appointments, Potter, Symonds, Brown and Cunningham all had a stupefying dull style of rugby, the only common link is who appointed them.
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Can't remember the last scoreless second half. Credit to Warrington's defence which we were unable to crack. Hate losing but fair play to them.
whoever succeeds Woolf will have the same task as JH after Cunningham's spell in charge ie winning over disenchanted fans due to the style of play we are suffering
I don't think we are suffering as SL champs and off to a CC final we are heavy favourites in!
It's a far cry from Cunningham results and success wise. Whoever comes in will have a tough job IMO, they'll have to change the style of play (so agree on that) but will also have to win 2 major trophies in 2 years to match him if we win the cup.
Not sure when the last time a Saints coach did that was. 06?
I agree, he's not stupid but he does seem very stubborn. What I will say is that Tonga don't play the same way we do and he obviously did a good job with them so you can only really judge a coach on what he's done previously, I believe he also had a good record with youth development, again another tick in the box but for whatever reason, he now seems well out of his depth and is doing himself no favours in getting an NRL job if that's his ambition, he doesn't get the club, doesn't seem to trust his players and he's taking us backwards. The players don't look happy, the fans aren't happy and we don't fit as the players are getting flogged weekly.
OK I'm not saying he needs to be sacked this minute but i would not give him another contract. Rather watch the Saints Ladies more enjoyable.
Good point.
The club had to depart from this model with Holbrook because the relationship with the town and the fans had soured so badly.
Was that a realisation of an error or just financial - who knows?
The Woolf appointment is effectively a return to type.
The other big question surrounds the rest of the coaching staff ( the boot room).
Is this style 100% the head coach ? I'm not so sure.
McManus said the following upon the announcement of Woolf;
We consider that Kristian is ideally qualified and placed to build upon the current success of the team and the club.
“He has the experience and expertise to bring the best out of our existing squad and to improve it further.
“We are very confident that the Saints will seriously compete for honours under his tenure and that we will continue to play attractive and exciting rugby league.”
We have, thus far, competed for honours. We weren’t far off beating Sydney Roosters in the WCC last year, we finished 2nd in the regular season and won the Grand Final and so far this year, we’ve been at the top of the table and we’re in a Challenge Cup Final.
We don’t play attacking rugby league. We did do for a few weeks when the season resumed in the summer last year and then retracted back to the brand of rugby pre-Covid that we’ve watched all of this year, too. I’m not excited watching us, either. I know what’s coming whether we play Leigh or Warrington, though it’s still enough to be beating 90% of Super League, we’ve won two of five games since Woolf arrived against Wigan and Warrington, which are ultimately the games we need to win because they’re both likely to be around the play-offs and finals.
Has Woolf got the best out of the side? Defensively, I think we’re probably as good as I’ve seen us, though attacking set-up seems to have regressed massively, through a mixture of tactics and age of two of our spine in Coote and Roby, who are struggling this year.
Overall, has he done his job? In some ways, yes, others, less so. I expect the club to offer the one year extension and it’ll be up to Woolf and his family to decide whether to say.
St Helens Rugby League Football Club
I agree with Angry Dave, when you look to appoint a coach you look at his current playing style/success. Woolf was ticking all the boxes with Tonga. The one thing you didn't get to see was his ability to sign the right type of player. For me the overseas signings have not set the world alight apart from the odd flash, and I mean all 3 of them. I also don't think they fit the Saints style of play. That's a lot of baggage to carry.
Loyal and true, not a glory hunter.
I agree, but Rush is the one who has the biggest decisions re the signings, the coach may have some input but its really down to him to make the signings work, I dont think the best coach in the world can make Thompson run any quicker I reckon all the years in the Australia game are showing he is a spent force, like Perry was , or Paasi despite all his crowd pleasing hustle and bustle actually break through a tackle more than once every couple of games, as far as Matatuia, he has journeyman written all over him
Yes, but if we send a lone ball carrier into a set defence, they are an easy target. Too often there are no supporting forwards to draw the defence apart a little, or to maybe pick up an offload. We consistently fail to send forwards in twos & threes at defences, it's easy pickings for any well drilled team, it happened again last night.
I don't think Woolf neglects attack, but he has set our attack up in a certain, limited way that focuses on winning the ruck, getting a decently quick PTB, getting on a roll through the middle, then exploiting the space that this brings.
We've see flashes of us playing very attractive rugby - and all have been in games where the opposition hasn't been allowed to slow the PTB and/or be persistently offside (eg, by charging early out of the line to disrupt us by targeting the 1st receiver just as he gets the ball). We had that spell straight after lockdown last year with the new rules, which caused the opposition to clear the PTB quickly (then teams sussed it and it became as slow as ever); then the other week when there seemed to be renewed focus on not letting teams slow the PTB (which went right out the window last night)
The point many have made is that, when the ref does allow slowing the PTB/offside, we totally lack a 'plan B'.
If we don't win the CCF, the calls for Woolf to go will become massive.
Spot on. We saw the same with how Cunningham used Mose - may as well announced with a fanfare of trumpets that Mose was going to take the next carry, so the defence should organise a welcoming committee to smash him.
Our failure to put doubts in the minds of defenders is a huge flaw for us, and it knackers players up getting smashed so much.