Except those three kicks that went for Saints repeat sets, except for every tackle failure that lead to a Saints try.



Being able to catch a ball and make a tackle mean you can cut in the unde-13s. More is required to be a SL player. If he's not trusted to play FB for the 19s then god knows why we're picking him over Handley.

Don't know what has happened to him this year. Seems to get a lot of leeway from supporters due to past exploits. Having being so consistent over last three years, has been a big dissapointment this. He plays like he believes in his hype. Thought he played well last week, especially defensively where I have questioned him this year, but tonight was back to square one.

Who knows - could be carrying an injury, his drop in form is alarming all the same

Did you watch the game?

If we had jjb I'd rest Ablett next week .



With Delaney clearly struggling we don't have that luxury.might be worth starting ward and achurch in the SR with cuthbertson back at lf and burrow at hooker with R Ward on the bench with ablett

Ablett has been very disappointing, overall. He's had a half a dozen decent games, but this has been his worst season in terms of not meeting expectations. It's frustrating because, he had a full pre season, and I thought not getting picked for England would really fire him up to prove a point this season.

I actually don't think it's a case of him believing his own hype, I think he actually looks a little short of confidence, especially with his handling. He was probably guilty of trying to force the pass a little too much early in the season which resulted in errors, and he seems to have gone into his shell a little bit and kept hold of the ball more than he perhaps has done previously.

Thought Ablett was ok and Golding improved as the game went on. Biggest concern for me is missing Aiton. Sinfield is probably the best option for DH but we look very one dimensional in attack with only Mcguire to play off. Second best tonight, Saints won the ruck and their kicking game was exceptional.

Not too concerned yet but we need an improvement next week.

Funny innit....how opinions can differ sometimes? I really don't get the criticism of Ablett. He always looks like he is going to do something in attack and IMO he knows when to not panic and hold onto the ball or take the tackle - epitomised by Briscoe's first try at Wembley. Delaney (and Ward) is far more guilty of holding onto the ball or running into the man rather than the space - not a criticism of them either as both make up for it in other areas.

Best team won, our ruck speed for the the first time this year was slow. On the other hand the saints ruck was quick. We all know that suits Roby perfectly. Thought Ward and garbutt along with peacock tried To have a go.

Coupled with the fact Walsh had his best game of the season just about finished us.

Any more injuries to the squad might make going to old trafford a bridge too far.

At the moment I still think us and Wigan are the best two teams in the competion. For me Huddersfield could upset the apple cart. I would sooner play saints or Wigan at home than Huddersfield.

I can't say I've noticed Golding much before tonight, but on tonight's showing he's not a bad player. Pretty agile and came up with a few tough catches. If the attacking team is on your line and get the kick right, as a fullback there will be times where even if you do all you can, you're still going to concede a drop out. Fullback is probably the toughest position to play if you aren't used to the standard, because you are constantly isolated, which means every mistake is glaringly obvious. The fact that none come to mind (bar the kick off, where the blame was shared between 3 of them) is proof enough that for his age he's not too bad a player.



Another thing is, we had Walsh, Burns, Roby and Wilkin all kicking tonight. For territorial kicks, a fullback will (ideally) set up on the kicker's outside foot, because kickers are always going to try and avoid kicking across their body. The option of 4 kickers means your back 3 can't really do this which puts a lot more pressure on them. Especially with Wilkin on the blind side on the left, there were times where Briscoe would have to stay in the defensive line as a result and it was Golding and Hall covering the width of the pitch. That is a difficult task for any fullback, nevermind a 19 year old who's got very little first grade experience

Ward will develop his decision making as he gets older, he's a very skillful player. Delaney has terrible hands. He's proof that the NRL isn't the pinnacle of skill it's made out to be if he could ever play almost 100 NRL games in the centres. He's defiantly not fit at the moment.

Further injuries, errors and Wembley hangovers to several players plus a rejuvenated Saints conspired to our defeat yet we were still in the game with 10 minutes to go.



Because of the many errors and penalties we had to do more tackling than we should have and Mags, Cuthbo, Singleton all looked a bit under par. JP despite a Saints elbow in the gullet was able to resume and was strong in the closing stages. Ward once again put in a big effort.



But IMO big hearted young Golding deserves big applause for a classy all round display at full back which included some crucial tackles, fine backing up, a bit of Watkins like footwork and a lot of mopping up around our try line and he almost scored a try too. A star of the future.



I would prefer to see a half back introduced after the first 30 to give the side more balance but I can understand holding Lilley back for this one. Maybe next week he will get more minutes as it sounds like the latest injuries may take a week longer to clear up.