Re: Grand Final : Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:24 pm  

Spot on morrissey, decent but not good enough I don't think the refereeing decisions decide that game our. Kicking game and decision making did though.

Re: Grand Final : Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:35 pm  

I though Hicks had a decent game and I assume he must have warned both teams about lying on before the ko as it was pretty clean from that point of view

Re: Grand Final : Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:44 pm  

Wigan were far slow to peel away from a tackle. That's fine by me if the refs tolerant

Re: Grand Final : Sun Oct 14, 2018 12:59 am  

Wigan are almost impossible to grind down. You have to give it to them. I think we got the majority of the calls except I think Tomkins should have gone for a sit down for that trip. It was deperate but at the end of the day it was a deliberate foul and stopped the potential of a breakaway try.

Difference was just one or two failures in defence on our part. Goodwin flying out the line for Manfredis first. We made it enough breaks but Wigan always got back to shut us down. We didn't do enough on their line. And importantly we didn't chase hard enough to get to kicks when we had done all season.

We went away from the laat tackle kick play when its worked all season too. Shallow in goal but we rarely challenge for the ball over it anyway. We were gassed by 55-60 minutes but kept managing to make breaks. It was a strange period.

At the end Wigan just managed the game perfectly. Played it down our end whenever they could and ground it out till they had that killer opportunity that they executed.

Proud of the team for turning it around so well this year. Two finals reached. Yeah two lost but I'd rather be there and lose than not be in the running. The ball will bounce for us one year and as long as we keep getting to finals that time will arrive sooner rather than later.

Ratchford well deserving of MOM in a losing team. Glad the voters could recognise that. Next year we do it all again. Just think what we could achieve in this league with a stable and skilled half back partnership.

Re: Grand Final : Sun Oct 14, 2018 1:41 am  

matt_wire wrote:

You know what? I’m not.

Unlike our dear sister-loving friends at redvee, I won’t let my snap, post-loss comments bemoan a wasted year but will say, given where we started in February, with a new coach off the back of the middle eights and two crappy half-backs, we’ve massively overachieved and are way ahead of schedule. That was a huge game tonight, very physical from the off. Ratch tried his damnedest to unlock it for us but was, once again, sadly let down by the 6 and 7 who really ought to be the generals.

Couple of dodgy calls, such as ball steals and good old ambiguous Tomkins fouls but aside from that we weren’t blown away. We matched their big men. We had at least three opportunities on their line but couldn’t get over. We had all the momentum at that point but didn’t scare Wigan. For a while it looked like it was all just operation ‘get it to Lineham’. Zero guile or skill in the final 20. THAT is what needs to change for 2019. For the love of God I wish Kevin Brown was leaving. Contributed nothing aside from that left side pass that went to ground.

Roll on next season.

With all due respect, and please i don't want to sound conceited but even when you had your 'big men' you still could't compete. Hill, Carvell, Morley, Wood.... How big do you want them? You are missing a fundamental point, a point in which Saints have always done too. Invest in youth and youth coaches/scouts and the rest comes over time. I always get the feeling with Warrington that 'It must be this season before our best players peak' seems to be the same every year. Signing quality players to play along side crap like Murdoch-Masila is all well and good but without a core you have nothing. Ignoring youth will always hold Warrington back. There are no excuses either. You are between Wigan and St. Helens, even if you don't get the best you still have a big pool to choose from in terms of who can be developed etc. SOOO, STOP blaming the ref's, STOP blaming the opposition , STOP making excuses. You want it??? Earn it

Re: Grand Final : Sun Oct 14, 2018 1:47 am  

Cherry_Warrior wrote:

With all due respect, and please i don't want to sound conceited but even when you had your 'big men' you still could't compete. Hill, Carvell, Morley, Wood.... How big do you want them? You are missing a fundamental point, a point in which Saints have always done too. Invest in youth and youth coaches/scouts and the rest comes over time. I always get the feeling with Warrington that 'It must be this season before our best players peak' seems to be the same every year. Signing quality players to play along side crap like Murdoch-Masila is all well and good but without a core you have nothing. Ignoring youth will always hold Warrington back. There are no excuses either. You are between Wigan and St. Helens, even if you don't get the best you still have a big pool to choose from in terms of who can be developed etc. SOOO, STOP blaming the ref's, STOP blaming the opposition , STOP making excuses. You want it??? Earn it

We've brought through many but they haven't been good enough. Too many to even begin to name unfortunately. Philbin is kicking on and maybe Livett will stick around but we have nobody else who has made a stake for their place and kept it. Currie is the only other one but he's going to be a walking biscuit if he keeps up with his legs ripping like they do.

Re: Grand Final : Sun Oct 14, 2018 1:56 am  

WireWireWire wrote:

We've brought through many but they haven't been good enough. Too many to even begin to name unfortunately. Philbin is kicking on and maybe Livett will stick around but we have nobody else who has made a stake for their place and kept it. Currie is the only other one but he's going to be a walking biscuit if he keeps up with his legs ripping like they do.

Appreciated, but.. Currie is a Wigan lad (i think). That is what i am talking about. I think him and Manfredi have had the same injury (i could be wrong) but Dom has proved it is possible with the right training it's possible to come back. Currie is one of the best second rower's in the world when fit. If he comes back the same though, that remains to be seen.

Re: Grand Final : Sun Oct 14, 2018 7:52 am  

I never expected the win. They are better than us and the big thing was they had a lot more creativity about them than we did.

Better season than last year, losing in finals isn’t what you want but it’s a damn site better than fighting off relegation!

Losing in finals is actually just becoming like losing normal games now. When we lost the semi to Leeds in 2011 I was absolutely gutted, that was our year that one! Losing the finals in 2012 and ‘13 were bad but since then the CC finals and GF defeats I don’t think we’ve been the best side in any of them and can see why we’ve lost and accept it fairly well.

We need to put more thought into the structure of our squad.

We overachieved in 2016 and 2018. No way were we a particularly top side in either year but we reached four finals and finished 1st and 4th in the league. What does that say about the rest of the league?

Re: Grand Final : Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:11 am  

I think we over achieved this year. No way with the way the half backs performed for most of the season should we have been in 2 finals. It seemed to me that Roberts suddenly decided he was a running half back last night so the ball died with him rather than getting out to the wing. We only have one truly creative player, recognised as mom last night but has been slagged off by supporters on this very forum. With at least one decent half next season we should create more problems for the top teams.
An 8.5 season for me.

Re: Grand Final : Mon Oct 15, 2018 7:38 am  

Starting the season with so many unknowns it is very pleasing for the club to have finished 4th and played in both finals. However, our total lack of creativity in the halves has cost the club, the players and us fans the glory we crave. I am sure at one point in the second half Jack Hughes and Ratch were our half backs.

Next season we go again, hopefully with two new halves who can control and create.