Depends what you want for next year. We can't win anything with our current squad, but it depends what plans are to strengthen.

One big negative for me with Agar is subs. He keeps picking a bench that would have been OK 10 years ago but is just too lightweight. With Dwyer there he should have two genuine props at least.

Honestly I think the prop we need is probably in the NRL. That would mean losing Peteru, more than likely. I can’t make my mind up about him - he is a good player but he just doesn’t play his size.

Honestly we looked pretty sharp through periods of the game tonight.

If we’re keeping Lui, we need a direct 7 who can run.

Have to give credit to Saints. The club is full of confidence and that was an exceptional performance in the circumstances because we turned up in that first half.

We just need to get the relegation monkey off our back and then we can have a look at some options for 2020..

I also think people are forgetting what a good defensive side Saints are, don’t think we’ll come up against as well drilled side again this season which should give is hope. We did look sharp especially getting the ball out wide for fair bits of the game

Agreed as usual Brizzo. Even Peteru for me is something between a prop and a second row.

Cuthbo has been great against lesser teams for a few weeks, but he was rocks and diamonds tonight. Glad he got his offloads going but a cheap penalty and errors were very costly.

I dunno; I’d take an up-and-down year next year if it looks like we’re moving forwards. Would like to see Johnson, Holroyd, Trout. Walters, McLelland. Broadbent and Stephens given some first grade time.

Away for last 2 games and back to watch that. Frankly embarrassing. Error strewn garbage.
Emphatically showed up recruitment, fitness, conditioning, coaching and player application. In a salary cap sport, it should be close to impossible to have such a gap with 1 side leaving out most of their best players.

In presser Agar alluded to there being a couple of changes for next week.

Interesting he mentioned some players taking short cuts and leavng others to clean up he’s spot on, we didn’t defend like we have been

He can drop them all for next week for me

Which team was preparing for Wembley? Leeds were totally disinterested tonight. The gulf in class between the teams was gigantic. We are a bottom 4 side at best. We need to keep looking over our shoulder as we are not safe yet.

From seeing Tommy hobbling badly on crutches and in a boot still I cant see him playing again this season. He could put no weight on it at all tonight so must have had a recurrence unfortunately.

Saints far too good for us tonight. They are too good for everyone at the moment so that is no knock on Leeds. We went with them in the 1st half but they are a fast and dangerous team and simply beat us fair and square.

We battled and played some good stuff at times but they blew us away 2nd half. Were a better team than we was 6 to 8 week ago but were a long way behind them at the moment. They had some top class players out too.

Onto London now.

Saints are a class above everyone, they're 16 points clear, second place are nearer the bottom points wise, the gulf in class isn't just between us and Saints

You won't win many games if you complete at 55%, and don't deal with kicks properly.
Some of the first contact in defence was really poor as well. Yes, Saints were better, but technically we were shocking at times, and forced too many passes.

Tui for Lui think Salford got the best of the deal,Tui been a revelation at Salford 4 wins on the bounce.A team of players that no other S.L. club wanted favourites for the drop at the season started.No money,small crowd lowest budget in S.L. yet they keep winning,Lannon discarded by K.R another player giving 100%.Gleeson,Lui and Sau all leave in same month,Wigan sign Hastings no disruption Salford keep going.Hastings nobody would touch him with a barge pole,now favourite for man of steel.







5

Error

Agreed. Saints played well but we were the masters of our own downfall last night. Too many errors. Laziness. Lack of skill. A good wake up call that last night. A reminder that we have lots of work to do on and off the field.

2 steps forward and one step back ,I never had this game marked down as a win ,but I thought it would have been closer . Were are still entrenched in a relegation fight . Glad when it's over

Curhberson made errors at key times that meant we went from 10-6 to 24-10 with barely touching the ball.

Tactic of throwing the ball around was obviously a tactic to disrupt saints and keep them honest. It didn't work

To be fair, the knock on I think you're referring to was at the play the ball, not from an offload.

Luke Briscoe and Newman's inability to deal with 2 pretty innocuous kicks is what killed the game off.

He did. But at the same time, Briscoe was directly at fault for three tries, with pathetic efforts. If I never saw him again in a Leeds shirt it would still be too soon.

And when the coach talks about certain players short changing others. There was a lot of people leaving defence for others, and I include Merrin in that, who did it a few times, despite his overall efforts been massive. But how do you justify what Sutcliffe gave after his introduction? 2 tackles, 1 miss, 2 errors, and 1 carry for a massive 1 metres. Utterly pathetic that.

I'm not sure a guard of honour for winning the league leaders shield was a well placed gesture last night from leeds. Seemed a little sycophantic.

The former is that curhberson is an established first team player, probably one of three higher paid in the squad. Luke briscoe is a reserve team player doing a job. He's never going to be the finished article. It's not feasible to keep quality all the way through the squad

We know that, that is a given. But Saints had a near full team of fringe players last night, and were a quality above, so that is no excuse. There is no excuse for the cowardly defensive efforts of Briscoe last night. Cuthbertson may well have given away field position for two trys, and stupidly. But it was the efforts of others that resulted in the tries.

Well, I hope we don't see that panic off-load game again. A bit more control and respecting possession and the entire complexion of the game could have changed. We could have easily been 1-2 scores up at half-time. Losing Ava was a big blow, especially as he's generally a calmer head and solid defensively. I'd imagine we'll have him back for London though.

Terrible response from the players at the start of the second half, even though the first two Saints tries were fluky scrappy efforts (a better defensive attitude from us should have stopped both).

Not sure Agar has it sewn-up just yet, although interviews with him and Sinfield before the game seem to imply it's his to lose. It's probably unfair to single out individuals when the issue (IMO) was with the general tactics adopted by the coaching staff, but here goes anyway.

Cuthbertson started well but as has been pointed out, some of his errors killed us at times.

Walker too guilty of overplaying. Lui okay, some good kicks; Myler took his try well. Dwyer good for the most part.

I'd like to see Hurrell play with a bit more control next season, not sure if he has it in him - some lovely interplay with Handley, who is growing in stature every week. Not sure it is fair to blame Briscoe for all the tries from Naiqama - Hurrell has to take some responsibility there and be smarter with his defensive positioning.

Newman looks to have regained his confidence, some really strong carries and defence.

Wasn't blaming him for any of his try's, it was the other three he was pathetic in.

Thought we competed well in the first half and was unlucky not to be in front.
The no try by Handley was a typical Kendall error.
Saints forwards were different class running it in hard and tackling hard too.
Lomax ran the show and their centres were head and shoulders above ours.
Cuthbertson like many have said gave away tries but I think he was dead on his feet.
How many minutes did he play?
Myler, Walker, Briscoe all p$sh poor.
Sutcliffe why on earth we stick with him and the same goes for Ferres was he playing last night?
Well done Saints who were a pleasure to watch.