I think sometimes you ve just got to look at our squad and ask is it really good enough. I think we have a lot of overrated players on our books and the dynamics of the squad are unbalanced.

We need more players with game smarts as we have a lot who's game IQ leaves a lot to be desired.
We also need more size , speed and mobility in the pack as Fash, Bowden just don't get us out our half at all.

We're a work in progress and Hodgsons hands have been tied due to covid, il look forward when he can bring some players in. Squad needs work.

The manner was disapointing, hopefully see a reaction in the cup, chance to put it right

Hull made a similar amount of errors last week v Leeds. The difference is that Saints are a far better team than Leeds and punished Hull without mercy.
And if you make a similar number of mistakes next week, expect more of the same.

He would be stupid not too. He’s not a top tier player.hull is his level

Nah it is our tried and tested method, lose against the team we play the week before the cup match

We had two good performances at the start then its all gone back to the usual. 3 wins from the last 5 in the League, penalties galore every game, defensive line speed has been poor for many games but for me im seeing a steady decline in everything with our performances

Weve been the opposite of Hudds who started poorly but are now improving and building under Watson

I've said the same thing all the way through

Weve lost Kelly ratu and Ellis and replaced with just Reynolds

How is that stronger!?

I'm not sure why people were so optimistic

For me Reynolds is nowhere near Kelly was for us upto now

I agree with this to an extent.

We brought in one player, what was people seriously expecting ?

The squad is improving compared to the last two seasons but they was no way we were going to consistently be at the top. They is plenty of scope for improvements with plenty out of contract but I'm optimistic under BH still, he has managed to do what Radford didn't do in defence and it does take time for that mentality to stick in the squad.
I'd be happy if we broke the 4, that is a step in the right direction but to say things haven't changed is just being dramatic.

As for Reynolds I think we look good when we get decent field position and we could rarely say that with Kelly. He brings more players into the game but because he isn't doing the killer ball people are being oblivious to that fact. We've defended for 3 games practically so hard to judge the halves

I recently watched the CC final and Kelly was amazing
Almost unplayable
Reynolds isn’t that

I agree Carlos had a poor game tonight but Fonua was worse.His tries seem to have painted over his poor defence on the night.

But it's pathetic defending from Fonua, who tries to intercept but does nothing but leave the space for Welsby to score. He's been awful defensively tonight.
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Our first job needs to be to start completing some sets. We just aren't going to be in games when we are making so many basic errors. Respect possession, get to the kick, stay in the arm wrestle. I know its not exciting, but we need to get that right first. We also need to stop leaving hands in the ruck so much. Our wrestle was great early season, but slowly we have started to resort to illegal play to try to win the rucks and we need to tidy that up.

Defensively it was a bad night and I'm prepared to just write it off as such. When you've got usually reliable players like Tuimavave making poor defensive reads you know it's one of those nights.

We can point to our lack of creativity, but we aren't giving ourselves a chance. Keep the ball, play in better field position, then we give ourselves the opportunity to create. We can't do it from inside our own half which is where we've spent the last game and a half.

As I was saying in January..

I think you were condemned for being negative, weren't you?

Certainly people said the squad isn't weaker and the prop situation was fine. I think my assessment was reasonably accurate. Defence is better against the teams below us which is helping but against the top sides our pack is not dominant. I'm fine with that actually - we don't have the personnel and as a mid table side/club we are entitled to nothing, but can hope BH will bring in what's needed. He doesn't seem daft.

The key thing for me right now is errors and discipline. Impossible to compete with the top sides when you're constantly giving away territory and ball.

I think you are being unfair on Brown, he wasnt great, but only came on in the 2nd half when the game was on, doing about 20 minutes, I'd bet that when the stats come out they are better than Bowdens despite Bowden playing longer minutes

Brown had 6 carries for 32 metres. Bowden had 5 for 19. Brown had 2 tackle busts to nil. Bowden misses a tackle which Brown didn't. Both had an error and a penalty. None of our forwards were great, but I agree that Brown didn't stand out as being particularly poor.

Bowden made 19 yards

Brown got just over 30 from a similar number of carries. So maybe you're right!

When Brown is on though, Ive noticed him give away a few daft pens.

I'm sure he'll come good in the long run though. If we can get another prop in this year, I'd be sending him out on loan to a champ team. Regular rugby and longer minutes will do him the world of good.

On his day he was, then you would get 3 weeks of knock ons and laziness. Kelly at that point though had played in SL for 3 seasons, watch him in the CC final for Rovers.

Thought Fash and Ma'u were our better forwards last night.

Just wondering about individual performances.

Bowdens metres made simply wasn't good enough 5 carries for 19 metres is terrible. Average of under 4 metres a carry, is he even running onto the ball?

Does anyone have Fash's metres made? Yes the lad tackles all day but we need metres made from our props, I'm not clapping my hands for him just because he can tackle.

Coupled with some weak metres made performances , the errors savaged us, who in the teams making all our errors or penaltys against?

Interesting Hodgson said we didn't muscle up or want to compete physically, I saw Satae and Sao ripping in as well as Mau at times, so who isn't competing physically?

If we want to reach the top, it's this accountability that needs to happen and improve upon, be that players leaving the club , with better replacements coming in so be it.

Fash had 7 carries for 55 yards, so not exactly scattering defenders all over the place, but decent enough yards per carry.

I though Lane had his worst game for a long time last night, and Cator was ineffective too.

For me Ma'u, Satae and Griffin were the only ones who really matched Saints physically. Sao, Tuimavave and Fonua did just about ok. The rest were bullied.

What are people's opinions regarding areas in the team we can improve on?
Which positions need the most attention?

The glaringly obvious thing I'm seeing apart from silly errors and not completing sets (field position ends up none existent) is our go forward or lack of it.

Would love a Kaisano or Pauli Pauli type off the bench to scatter defenders.
I think we improve with Taylor's aggression and intensity, but crying out for one more as Bowden/Fash don't do it for me.
Would like to see a presence brought in with leadership qualities ala Ellis.
Let Mau go get a second row in with pace
Let Faraimo go sign a winger with speed and strength with good defence.

The hull from the first two games needs to come back, where we looked after the ball, completed our sets, the line speed was brilliant, and the kick chases where intense.

Dare I say it's all dropped off abit with Taylor's absence.

We can’t rely on how we’ve been defending to win us games.
We can’t show indiscipline and poor ball control knowing we can defend sets, so it doesn’t matter how and where we turn the ball over.
We played the same way last week, but Leeds weren’t good enough to capitalise on it.
We have to start completing sets and building pressure, otherwise all the defensive work will come to nothing.

From the kick off we didn’t look right, first play we made an error. Later Sneyd breaks through, gives Mau a pass, that Curry or Farrell would of been under the sticks, Mau instead of running, stupidly gives it back to Sneyd I think.

To be honest Saints appear to have had their best game of the season, and sometimes you have to hold your hands up, and credit the opposition, they were outstanding at times

We fell miserably short against the benchmark team, but we will bounce back after getting our backsides kicked.

As many have said, we are a prop short without the loss of Tag, and Massi, we’ve gone with a skinny squad, understandably I suppose, after nearly two years of financial hardships.

I think if we are being realistic this is probably a transitional year. Hodgson is still learning about the squad and indeed about being a coach. We have made improvements in some areas without a doubt. I just want to see us keep making those little improvements. If we make the playoffs then you never know but realistically next year and the year after are what we are aiming for, when Hodgson has brought in the players he wants and moulded the side to his vision. This squad isn't far away, but there are definitely a few pieces of the jigsaw that we still need to find.

The cup should be the main focus now imo because we just need 2 big performances and it's ours, and then it would be a decent season whatever happens in the league.

Sounds like Savelio has a decent chance to be fit for next week