Grand Final 21-man squad

[wall_of_voodoo]

With Lockers gone next season, I don't know who'll miss him most Josie: you or Meds

I’ll definitely miss seeing him play

He will have to find another good player to pull to pieces every week!

There is no one, IL will have to sign Makinson for me

Never thought I would see the day that you would rather sign Makinson over Ah Van

[morley pie eater]

I’ll definitely miss seeing him play

He will have to find another good player to pull to pieces every week!

There is no one, IL will have to sign Makinson for me

Never thought I would see the day that you would rather sign Makinson over Ah Van

[nathan_rugby]

George Burgess should be know here near this team.

I think Greenwood in for Flower.
Powell in for Smith

I think this is what he will go for. Biggest decision probably isn't Greenwood vs Burgess, its probably whether to go with 4 forwards on the bench or not.

I think we need 4 forwards on the bench personally.

[Wintergreen]

We will definitely go with 4 forwards.

We need to dominate in the pack and in particular Walmsley. If we can nullify him, we will win the game.

[Firestarter]

I think we should forget about walmsley and concentrate on what we are gonna do to them....... if they got legs they can be tackled...... a few of there forwards cant be 100% so smash them and take there hearts....... its amazing how 50/50 injuries flare up when things not going there way....... cmon wigan fans, they are more scared of us than we are of them

[nathan_rugby]

I think we should forget about walmsley and concentrate on what we are gonna do to them....... if they got legs they can be tackled...... a few of there forwards cant be 100% so smash them and take there hearts....... its amazing how 50/50 injuries flare up when things not going there way....... cmon wigan fans, they are more scared of us than we are of them

Walmsley is their best attacking threat in the forwards. In order to nulify him we need fast line speed and to tackle in numbers. The risk is we are too compact in the middle and they utilise him as decoy or throwing the ball behind to halves to shift it out wide.

It isn't as easy as "if they have legs they can be tackled." Tackling by the legs isn't the best way to defend because it more often than not leads to the attacking player landing on his front, getting a quick play of the ball. This will run the risk of offsides, as well as half breaks from the likes of Roby, Makinson, Grace when scotting from hooker. This reason is why you often see the first two players tackling the upper half of the body, slowing the play down and you either wrestle them to the floor or have the 3rd man in. This slows the play and allows the defence to reset.

Walmsley did go down a number of times last week and it looked like issues with his knee. It will be interesting to see how it holds up. With Graham and LMS having knocks to the head, you would assume they are 100% fit if they have passed their HIA and are in the squad.

For me the key to winning will be:
- Stopping Walmsley, Roby, Makinson, Grace making meters
- Winning the forward battle in attack
- Good kicking game on the back of sets

I think its as simple as that as we know we have the halves/backs to create and score tries.

[Jonathon Kerr (JK)]

If we continue with the inside pass at the ruck, we can target Walmsley defensively, he never plays as well when he is asked to do both parts of the game.


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[Wintergreen]

I think we should forget about walmsley and concentrate on what we are gonna do to them....... if they got legs they can be tackled...... a few of there forwards cant be 100% so smash them and take there hearts....... its amazing how 50/50 injuries flare up when things not going there way....... cmon wigan fans, they are more scared of us than we are of them

I don't think the two are mutually exclusive.

Target Walmsley, make him work hard in defence and get them going backwards.

Normally I would agree with you in terms of concentrating on our game, but in all honesty Saints are a 1 man team. Stop Walmsley and you stop their go forward/offload game that Roby and Grace thrive on.

[Firestarter]

I think we should forget about walmsley and concentrate on what we are gonna do to them....... if they got legs they can be tackled...... a few of there forwards cant be 100% so smash them and take there hearts....... its amazing how 50/50 injuries flare up when things not going there way....... cmon wigan fans, they are more scared of us than we are of them

Walmsley is their best attacking threat in the forwards. In order to nulify him we need fast line speed and to tackle in numbers. The risk is we are too compact in the middle and they utilise him as decoy or throwing the ball behind to halves to shift it out wide.

It isn't as easy as "if they have legs they can be tackled." Tackling by the legs isn't the best way to defend because it more often than not leads to the attacking player landing on his front, getting a quick play of the ball. This will run the risk of offsides, as well as half breaks from the likes of Roby, Makinson, Grace when scotting from hooker. This reason is why you often see the first two players tackling the upper half of the body, slowing the play down and you either wrestle them to the floor or have the 3rd man in. This slows the play and allows the defence to reset.

Walmsley did go down a number of times last week and it looked like issues with his knee. It will be interesting to see how it holds up. With Graham and LMS having knocks to the head, you would assume they are 100% fit if they have passed their HIA and are in the squad.

For me the key to winning will be:
- Stopping Walmsley, Roby, Makinson, Grace making meters
- Winning the forward battle in attack
- Good kicking game on the back of sets

I think its as simple as that as we know we have the halves/backs to create and score tries.

i get what you mean nathan and i fully understand how it works...... i dont have time for the big long texts much...... however, he can be hit hard and nullified...... yes linespeed is vital as well......ive seen walmsley not wanting to know a few games when hes being smashed early....... leigh did it to him the last time they played saints at home.......... do you think in all honesty he gave his all last week, while he was limping around?

[Southern Softy]

Saints medical staff seem to have a unique approach to HIAs. Apart from Graham, everyone seems, during a match, to be absolutely fine to continue even if their legs can barely hold them up.