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Same same old. Every time we play a Yorkshire team away we don’t show up. Pack getting dominated by nrl cast offs while we’ve got 300 k in the cap sitting there

That was awful, the players looked like strangers! We didn’t get any of the basics right. Field isn’t a playmaker, we have to stop letting him throw out long balls, it didn’t work once. Completely out played in every department. Could be a very long season.

Fair play to matty peet though didn’t dress it up just need to see a big improvement now

It’s game one, and as we all know it’s form in October that matters, but and this is the worrying thing, we look as fragile as we did last year, the pack was rolled over and the right edge is horrific.

There’s time to put it right, and hopefully a few reputations are bruised after that.

Missing Breirs already I think that was pure lam-ball today rrive up the middle for the most part see what happens just not good enough

Cheer up we've got a crocked Ryan Hampshire to come back in two or three months.

up the junction wrote: ↑Sat Feb 18, 2023 2:51 pm Right side defence with Kpp. Cust King and French absolutely shocking

Excellent summary I fear.

Had an awful game and did not give us anything in attack if he’s not good enough for Huddersfield and Warrington why are we playing him

That was rubbish from Wigan. Ill disciplined, standing off tackles and no line speed in defence which is nothing new.

When are the coaching staff going to recognise the lack of line speed is killing the defence? They didn't last season and on the evidence of that nothing has been done about it.

The gap how Wigan played in that game compared to how Saints played in the WCC is massive.

Disappointing start. I fully expected Rovers to beat us given we've struggled against them in recent times but also because I just didn't have high expectations from the team. Our line speed was awful and Rovers looked far more enthusiastic in every aspect of the game.

I get that we've strengthened massively at centre and that's great but we didn't fall short last year because we didn't have good centres, we fell short because we didn't have a good enough pack and the two overseas forwards we brought in offered far too little. We've got into this season stronger in the backs but weaker in the pack so performances like today's are only to be expected.

There were a few positives but not many. I thought Wardle was good. Smith had a good game too and we shouldn't be too critical of the missed kicks, the conditions were difficult. Cooper was probably our only forward who played anywhere close to acceptable.

The right edge was dreadful defensively. I like KPP but he's a young player so not the smartest defender in terms of reading a game and not the most all-action sort of defender which we previously had in Bateman. Cust and King were pretty poor. I get that Cust has swapped sides and King is new to the team so it might take some time for them to develop an understanding but their weakness today (and partly against Salford in the friendly) is a bit of a concern.

Noticeably there was nothing from our bench that would remotely worry any team. Byrne is half decent, Singleton average and Ellis did actually come onto the field, I know you might not believe me but trust me on that one. Those statements aren't knee jerk because that's what we already knew from last season. O'Neill offered little off the bench and I can't really understand the logic in having pre-season games, seeing how threatening Forber was and then picking a player who didn't really impress in that position for the opener instead.

There's a lot of improvement that we can get from that team, but there are more reasons to be concerned. Every year one team seems to threaten Saints but not usurp them. The next year that team then tends to struggle to stay at that same level. It's one game into the season but Matt Peet's post match comments are ones I completely agree with. This current team has a lot of work to do if we're going to try to challenge Saints.