No heart : Mon Mar 27, 2017 8:37 am  

For me it's plain and simple. there's no heart in the team. no determination to dust ourselves off and take the fight to the opposition when the chips are down. Wigan are a prime example of what every teams mentality should be. it doesn't matter how many points they go behind, every player 1-17 is prepared to run the ball in hard and tackle hard. They have complete faith and trust in each other.

We don't have that. For 30 minutes we defended reasonably well (Saints were very poor attacking compared to their potential). Matty Russell has another howler and half the team seemed to put their heads down with an expression that seemed to say "FFS, here we go again."

The only players who look interested when they've played are: Westerman, Clark, Hill, Lineham, Ratch, Gidley and Sims. You can rip into Gidley and Sims all you want, but they put their bodies on the line, come up with big tackles and though Sims may make poor yards, he also takes in the hard balls that most of the team shirk away from. he has passion and shows it along with the players above.

I'd much rather see my team get beat with every player visibly putting 100% effort in than watching half of them strolling round. Which is what we're seeing now.

There's a slack handful of players working their changes off out there and the rest of them are wondering round looking to get away from doing work, rather than looking to do work. and that is where our problem lies. No desire to muck in and work hard for one another.

Our pack is far too nice also. There's no one in there who wants to rough it up in the tackle. put a big shoulder in. For the size of our pack we should be bullying teams all round the field, putting huge shots on, chopping teams backs in half. but we don't, we just grab hold of them and lay them down gently. How many times for players offload in the tackle against us? they wouldn't be trying if if they were getting hammered from a big shoulder.

Rant over.... I just want to see a bit of fire in the team

Re: No heart : Mon Mar 27, 2017 4:51 pm  

Agreed. Rather than doing the hard work that wins you games, we are negatively playing for cheap penalties to get up-field. Child was well onto that on Friday and it just made us look ridiculous.

Re: No heart : Mon Mar 27, 2017 5:23 pm  

I honestly think if we put in another spineless display this weekend the fans will turn on the team big time.. Not that I'm expecting a big crowd this Saturday..

Re: No heart : Mon Mar 27, 2017 6:06 pm  

Joe westerman is baffling me at the moment. I know he is involved in a lot of tackles but he starts off each game taking 3 or 4 carries in at the start of a game then he turns into a 4th pivot for the remaining 70 minutes.
I know a lot of people wanted the old school ball playing loose forward but I don't think that is what we need right now. If George King came back from injury and I had my way Cooper would start at 13 rotating with King with westerman in the second row. I am not a big fan of O'laughlin (because he wears cherry and white) but he knows when to run it in like a prop and when to spread the ball. I find myself shout to just run at the defence instead of the out the back ball.
We are not a brave team. A world class fullback would have buried Adam swift before he got chance to ground that ball from Wilkins kick.
I like Clarke and dwyer and I know they are different to Monaghan but the hooker is the most important player on the field IMO. We have lost the art of bringing a forward onto the ball. I can't remember the last time I saw the hooker just take a couple of steps (to draw the markers) before a short pass to a prop. Our hooker either pass straight from the floor or run it on their own. Once you know that we are easy to defend against especially when there is little support when they do scoot. It's easy, if Clarke picks the ball up he is running, if he has passed it he is no longer a threat. Monaghan was brave, he used to take the ball to the defensive line before releasing (Westwood, grix, Anderson, Waterhouse - I could keep going) through a hole with a 1yard pass usually getting clattered a split second afterwards. He knew how to bring forwards onto a ball but he knew he was going to get hit shortly afterwards.

I read an interview a number of years ago with an ex saints player (can't remember which player) that played underneath Ellery Hanley. I remember them saying that the team talks before a game were like a spiritual session and afterwards the players felt like they could run through brick walls. Our players need that at the moment. They are not bad players just not motivated and mentally tough enough. They are tough fellas dont get me wrong (anyone that plays the game is tough) but mentally tough is different.