Re: All Stars Game : Sat Jun 26, 2021 6:52 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

St Helens put the pin in this game. No league fixture and no Covid issues and they refused to release players for the All Stars and conveniently had Walmsley and Lomax pull out from the England squad. This is a club who carried a logo on the All Stars shirt, as a tip of the hat to being one of Mose Masoe’s previous clubs. Imagine letting down a past player in his current condition, to that degree.

Not sure I can recall feeling as disgusted in a club as I do with Saints tonight.

NickyKiss wrote:

Knowles was great.

St Helens should hang their heads tonight though. How they can look Masoe in the eye is beyond me. Laughable that the All Stars shirt carried a tribute to Masoe’s time at St Helens.

Haha. Sheens said he asked Saints about two players and were told they had injuries. Do you know they didn’t? Do you even know who the two players were? He didn’t say he asked for any more players. Do you know for a fact we refused to release any fit and healthy players? Or are you making wild assumptions because it’s Saints?

Lomax and Walmsley were ruled out by the ENGLAND medical staff, not Saints. Wane said before the game that Lomax wanted to play but Wane had a duty of care and wanted to send the players back to their clubs in good health. I repeat, Wane and the England staff made the decision not to play him.

We still contributed 3 players to the squads which is more than most and also the same amount as Wigan. Yes we had a game called off but that doesn’t mean Sheens is suddenly going to want to pick 8 Saints players. He asked for 2.

But yeah, we should be ashamed

Perhaps do your research before you start slagging clubs off mate. You’re normally much much better than this.

Re: All Stars Game : Sat Jun 26, 2021 7:52 am  

The Yellow Giraffe wrote:

Haha. Sheens said he asked Saints about two players and were told they had injuries. Do you know they didn’t? Do you even know who the two players were? He didn’t say he asked for any more players. Do you know for a fact we refused to release any fit and healthy players? Or are you making wild assumptions because it’s Saints?

Lomax and Walmsley were ruled out by the ENGLAND medical staff, not Saints. Wane said before the game that Lomax wanted to play but Wane had a duty of care and wanted to send the players back to their clubs in good health. I repeat, Wane and the England staff made the decision not to play him.

We still contributed 3 players to the squads which is more than most and also the same amount as Wigan. Yes we had a game called off but that doesn’t mean Sheens is suddenly going to want to pick 8 Saints players. He asked for 2.

But yeah, we should be ashamed

Perhaps do your research before you start slagging clubs off mate. You’re normally much much better than this.

The proof will be in the pudding. Let’s see how many matches Walmesley and Lomax miss with these injuries before you try to defend the club. I’ll bet both play next week and definitely the week after. If they do it shows their absolute disregard for the development of the international game.

Re: All Stars Game : Sat Jun 26, 2021 8:11 am  

Bigredwarrior wrote:

The proof will be in the pudding. Let’s see how many matches Walmesley and Lomax miss with these injuries before you try to defend the club. I’ll bet both play next week and definitely the week after. If they do it shows their absolute disregard for the development of the international game.

Does it? Or would it show they had minor injuries that Wane didn’t want to take risks with? Injuries diagnosed by the ENGLAND staff and injuries which in Lomax’s case he still wanted to play the game with.

And if we were faking injuries for Lomax and Walmsley why would we allow Makinson, Knowles and Welsby be up for selection? Makes no sense.

Re: All Stars Game : Sat Jun 26, 2021 9:10 am  

I think the “Saints dragged players back” argument is a red herring here, pretty pointless debate IMO.

The real debate we should be having is that this concept, just like the Exiles, just like the War of the Roses; has something in it.

The build up was nothing shy of calamitous. SL clubs complaining about a game they knew was coming and still chose to put games on on that weekend of. Sheens scratching around for players due to injuries/CV19. But I think it was always going to be the case due to that and the pandemic still causing issues.

But that should not detract from what was an entertaining game. This should be built on and built up, keep it as one rest per season until it is big enough to make 2, then ultimately 3 games.

Bring in ‘exiled’ England players as well as players from other nations such as France/Wales/Ireland/Scotland who otherwise wouldn’t really have a chance of beating England. Copy the Barbarians concept from RU (they’ve stole enough from us). Players wear their club/countries socks that kind of thing.

Promote the game properly!! If you weren’t a RL fan you’d have no idea about it, same goes for the World Cup, Challenge Cup Final, Grand Final. All these huge games that should draw more viewers but we don’t do anything to draw people in. It’s ridiculous and exactly why we’re a small sport and growing smaller.

IMO there is no reason why our NRL contingent shouldn’t be released either for an international. That’s where the International board need to step up and grow a pair.

Re: All Stars Game : Sat Jun 26, 2021 11:17 am  

The Yellow Giraffe wrote:

Haha. Sheens said he asked Saints about two players and were told they had injuries. Do you know they didn’t? Do you even know who the two players were? He didn’t say he asked for any more players. Do you know for a fact we refused to release any fit and healthy players? Or are you making wild assumptions because it’s Saints?

Lomax and Walmsley were ruled out by the ENGLAND medical staff, not Saints. Wane said before the game that Lomax wanted to play but Wane had a duty of care and wanted to send the players back to their clubs in good health. I repeat, Wane and the England staff made the decision not to play him.

We still contributed 3 players to the squads which is more than most and also the same amount as Wigan. Yes we had a game called off but that doesn’t mean Sheens is suddenly going to want to pick 8 Saints players. He asked for 2.

But yeah, we should be ashamed

Perhaps do your research before you start slagging clubs off mate. You’re normally much much better than this.

Don’t need to do research, it was obvious.

Saints had no game and have loads of overseas players and none turned out for the All Stars. It doesn’t take a genius to work it out.

As you know I’m pretty sensible in what I post, I’m not one eyed and I have huge admiration for St Helens but I’ve not been as disappointed in them as I was this week.

Re: All Stars Game : Sat Jun 26, 2021 11:28 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

Don’t need to do research, it was obvious.

Saints had no game and have loads of overseas players and none turned out for the All Stars. It doesn’t take a genius to work it out.

As you know I’m pretty sensible in what I post, I’m not one eyed and I have huge admiration for St Helens but I’ve not been as disappointed in them as I was this week.

But Sheens picks the team. It’s not up to Saints to volunteer their players mate. He asked for 2 and was told they were carrying knocks. I have no clue who those 2 are but to come out with statements like we should hang our heads in shame and we can’t look Mose in the eye, without knowing any details, is a bit much mate.

Also the insinuation that we faked injuries to Lomax and Walmsley is equally ridiculous. Both of those players were diagnosed by England staff and reported to Saints. Lomax wanted to play and was overruled.

Re: All Stars Game : Sat Jun 26, 2021 11:39 am  

The Yellow Giraffe wrote:

But Sheens picks the team. It’s not up to Saints to volunteer their players mate. He asked for 2 and was told they were carrying knocks. I have no clue who those 2 are but to come out with statements like we should hang our heads in shame and we can’t look Mose in the eye, without knowing any details, is a bit much mate.

Also the insinuation that we faked injuries to Lomax and Walmsley is equally ridiculous. Both of those players were diagnosed by England staff and reported to Saints. Lomax wanted to play and was overruled.

I’ve not much of an issue with the England players but I will be interested to see how they pull up in time for the next Saints fixture.

Do you really believe the All Stars had to draft in English players and Championship players and didn’t think to ask Saints if they could have Grace, Naiqama, Coote, Paasi, Mautaitia or Thompson? Really? Maybe they asked for two, got turned down and realised it was a pointless exercise trying to get Saints to play ball. The difference was Saints to every single club in superleague is that you had no fixture to fulfil (as well as being Covid free). There should have been loads of lads in that All Stars team. It’s glaringly obvious Saints didn’t want to risk players ahead of important games, both from an injury perspective and also with the risk of Covid. Other clubs have players playing twice in 3 days, released players even though it meant they struggled to raise a team themselves and so on.

I don’t know how any Saints fan could try and offer a defence tbh. It isn’t an anti Saints rant. They’re the club that take the flak from me because of their totally unique circumstances compared to the other clubs this weekend. Add in the fact Masoe played for St Helens and I find it a really sad situation.