Derby Day!

[EagleEyePie]

To be honest I expected us to lose yesterday but I thought Saints would offer a little bit more than they did. We've not exactly been playing well since the WCC and that's probably to be expected. The WCC always throws a spanner in the works when it comes to pacing yourself through a season. I thought the biggest positive was that we defended really well despite not being on top form. I'd say my top 3 performers were O'Neill, Thompson and Farrell as they were key reasons why our defence was so strong.

Losing Byrne was obviously a big moment because it put more pressure on our middles who hadn't been performing (bar Thompson and Ellis). It was a disappointing day for Byrne, Dupree and Mago as neither of them really added anything.

It does make the omission of Hill more puzzling. Peet was willing to put him in against Penrith but not Saints but then doesn't even bring on Nsemba who he picked in his place? I could have told you before the game that he wouldn't bring on Nsemba. Saints have real strength in their back row so there was never going to be a moment when it made sense to remove either Farrell or Isa from our defensive line. We know Nsemba has weaker defence than those two so putting him in carries more risk and he'd only take that risk if we were comfortably ahead. So unless it was because Hill was carrying a knock that's a pretty obvious error of judgement right there.

I thought as soon as Byrne went off Saints immediately made more ground down the middle and that gave them the opportunities to snatch the win. Having said that, we completely lost any sort of ambition with the ball. We basically shut up shop and challenged Saints to throw whatever they could at us and that was a mistake. Did we really think that a 2 point lead was one we could defend? If we were 6 points up maybe I could understand it but with the new rules on head contact you're essentially just hoping accidents don't happen.

While our attack didn't really click I wouldn't be too concerned about that given the intensity of that game was like a final and finals generally don't have much attacking flair in them. We know that some of our top players haven't started the season in the form we know they are capable of (Field and French) but it's a long season and our team at the end of the year could look quite different to the one right now.

[Mike]

To be honest I expected us to lose yesterday but I thought Saints would offer a little bit more than they did. We've not exactly been playing well since the WCC and that's probably to be expected. The WCC always throws a spanner in the works when it comes to pacing yourself through a season. I thought the biggest positive was that we defended really well despite not being on top form. I'd say my top 3 performers were O'Neill, Thompson and Farrell as they were key reasons why our defence was so strong.

Losing Byrne was obviously a big moment because it put more pressure on our middles who hadn't been performing (bar Thompson and Ellis). It was a disappointing day for Byrne, Dupree and Mago as neither of them really added anything.

It does make the omission of Hill more puzzling. Peet was willing to put him in against Penrith but not Saints but then doesn't even bring on Nsemba who he picked in his place? I could have told you before the game that he wouldn't bring on Nsemba. Saints have real strength in their back row so there was never going to be a moment when it made sense to remove either Farrell or Isa from our defensive line. We know Nsemba has weaker defence than those two so putting him in carries more risk and he'd only take that risk if we were comfortably ahead. So unless it was because Hill was carrying a knock that's a pretty obvious error of judgement right there.

I thought as soon as Byrne went off Saints immediately made more ground down the middle and that gave them the opportunities to snatch the win. Having said that, we completely lost any sort of ambition with the ball. We basically shut up shop and challenged Saints to throw whatever they could at us and that was a mistake. Did we really think that a 2 point lead was one we could defend? If we were 6 points up maybe I could understand it but with the new rules on head contact you're essentially just hoping accidents don't happen.

While our attack didn't really click I wouldn't be too concerned about that given the intensity of that game was like a final and finals generally don't have much attacking flair in them. We know that some of our top players haven't started the season in the form we know they are capable of (Field and French) but it's a long season and our team at the end of the year could look quite different to the one right now.

Spot on. I agree with all of that

[Graham1]

Peet did exactly the same thing in last years semi when Shorrocks got sent off. He kept Hill on the bench and we’ve ended up with the same result. Hopefully, if it happens again he will use all his subs. But not to put Mago on in the second half was another poor decision as our pack was going to tire with all the defensive work they had done. At some point Nsemba has to start instead of Isa.

[The Pearl1]

Some massive overreactions here.

We’ve won 15 straight games, won 3 trophies and we lose a game, away, to another quality side, when we had 12 men for 25 mins, 2 tries to 1.

Attack isn’t sharp but we’ll improve.

“French and Keighran to swap” “Field is a luxary we can’t afford”

Just nonesense.

[Fujiman]

Well said . Complete over reaction.

[CherryB]

Since when has Good Friday not mattered? Ok it’s not a cup final, but it’s far more than just another league game. If we have extra gears to go up, we should have been using them on Friday. We need to celebrate when we play well but not be afraid to call out poor performances. Friday had too many poor performers, and we were a long way off the pace as a team, flattered by the score line.

[Charriots Offiah]

Since when has Good Friday not mattered? Ok it’s not a cup final, but it’s far more than just another league game. If we have extra gears to go up, we should have been using them on Friday. We need to celebrate when we play well but not be afraid to call out poor performances. Friday had too many poor performers, and we were a long way off the pace as a team, flattered by the score line.

I agree CB. Our performance wasn't good enough, Saints were the better side.

[Mike]

Since when has Good Friday not mattered? Ok it’s not a cup final, but it’s far more than just another league game. If we have extra gears to go up, we should have been using them on Friday. We need to celebrate when we play well but not be afraid to call out poor performances. Friday had too many poor performers, and we were a long way off the pace as a team, flattered by the score line.

It's true. But no need to win this derby. It doesn't affect our season so let keep it in perspective.

I didn't really think we'd win. We've been in poor attacking form and saints are solid. Good form doesn't magically appear it takes a number of weeks to build so the match the went the way I expected. However even having said that without the red card we have a good shot of winning despite not being in good form, so I'm optimistic for the rest of the year.

[Graham1]

It’s not just one game. Our forwards just out muscled London no decent attacking sets. Sheffield was a struggle. Salford we were poor and lucky to win. Came unstuck against Saints because our discipline was poor and our attacking options were non existent.

Sorry to upset anyone but Bevan is not a creative half back but a tremendous individual finisher. And we will come unstuck again in matches like the Saints unless something changes.

Bevan and Smith need to step up against Leigh otherwise we need to look at other options.

[Wintergreen]

Since when has Good Friday not mattered? Ok it’s not a cup final, but it’s far more than just another league game. If we have extra gears to go up, we should have been using them on Friday. We need to celebrate when we play well but not be afraid to call out poor performances. Friday had too many poor performers, and we were a long way off the pace as a team, flattered by the score line.

It's true. But no need to win this derby. It doesn't affect our season so let keep it in perspective.

I didn't really think we'd win. We've been in poor attacking form and saints are solid. Good form doesn't magically appear it takes a number of weeks to build so the match the went the way I expected. However even having said that without the red card we have a good shot of winning despite not being in good form, so I'm optimistic for the rest of the year.

This pretty much sums up my view.

If it's a choice between peaking in October and winning a Good Friday game, then there really is only one winner.

Of course it would be nice to do both, but maybe that's not an option? We don't know the ins/outs of the situation, and as I said before, Peet deserves the benefit of the doubt on account of his record in the big games.

Bevan's natural game is not as a creative half, but neither was Hanley's and he played well enough at 6.

Like it or not, Superleague boils down to a knockout competition starting in Aug/Sep. Until then it's all about preparation.