ESL Superthread

[Patorick]

Good game (or so it seemed in my half-asleep daze).

 

[JasonE]

Good game (or so it seemed in my half-asleep daze).

Not really mate, Warrington were as bad as any team i have ever witnessed. I felt sorry for their fans because it was a great and noisy crowd but they had little to cheer about. They showed no respect for the ball and Saints made them pay early.
Saints started off exceptionally well but once they established a big lead they themselves dropped off.

Only Ryan Atkins, Chris Hill and Chris Riley performed ok the rest were abysmal. Jonny Lomax and James Roby were fantastic for Saints.

 

[Patorick]

Maybe so.

Just happy to see it back on tv.

 

[Didgi]

Observations so far this season.. none are terribly ground breaking but some general comments.

- Huddersfield are proper contenders and maybe choosing them as my team over some of the more fancied was a good call
- Wire need to realise they're not quite the lean mean point scoring machine they were at times last year, set the platform first.
- Atkins is all class (nothing new but wanted to say it again).
- Watching last week's highlights, Rangi Chase's passing game is absolutely superb and in top form and from what I've heard it was on song again last night.
- LMS and Patrick are underrated as young forwards.
- Bring back Gaskell. He's in my fantasy team and, assuming he's been going well in the U20s, deserves another chance after his early season performances. Hohaia didn't terribly impress me but filled his role well, some good defence in particular.

 

[JasonE]

Is this the most congested Super League ladder we have seen, keep in mind a couple of teams have a game in hand


Huddersfield 9 7 0 2 273 156 14
Hull 8 6 1 1 224 134 13
Warrington 9 6 1 2 255 176 13
Wigan 9 6 0 3 310 167 12
Catalan Dragons 8 6 0 2 266 168 12
Leeds 8 5 0 3 220 168 10
St Helens 9 4 1 4 248 177 9
Salford 9 4 0 5 218 268 8
Bradford 9 4 0 5 178 235 8
Hull K R 9 3 1 5 226 234 7
London Broncos 9 2 0 7 214 276 4
Wakefield 8 2 0 6 146 208 4
Castleford 9 2 0 7 156 296 4
Widnes 9 2 0 7 145 416 4

 

[Didgi]

Decided not to get up for the London game, anyone able to tell me how Dan Sarginson played?

 

[CC_Roosters]

Would be massive for the game if Huddersfield where to go all the way.

Leeds seem to struggle against the top sides now, which is a total turn around from a few years ago. Looks like its going to be a very close season.

And OMG catalans utterly destroyed wakefield, must be close to the record

 

[Evil Homer]

Decided not to get up for the London game, anyone able to tell me how Dan Sarginson played?

He scored probably the try of the match and generally looked dangerous every time he had the ball.

 

[Johnny_L_O]

Yeah, 4 teams have a game in hand. The winner of Catalan/Hull is as good as top of the league and if Leeds beat Wakey we are tied 3rd or 4th.

We missed McGuire though on Friday in what was a very tight game in general. Hudds were just more clinical and deserved the win. Bradford friday though and we should have McGuire, Burrow, Bailey and Webb back so they will add some for us.

 

[Johnny_L_O]

Would be massive for the game if Huddersfield where to go all the way.

Leeds seem to struggle against the top sides now, which is a total turn around from a few years ago. Looks like its going to be a very close season.

And OMG catalans utterly destroyed wakefield, must be close to the record

Yeah, we have lost to 3 of the top teams this year but we have beaten Warrington remember

Once we get a few attacking options back we will be fine.


Oh, and Stevie Ward was most peoples MoM for us on Friday. The guy is all class and was asking questions everytime he had ball in hand. He made a few mistakes early on but it was his full debut. Once he got in to the game he stepped up and was one of the best players on the pitch for both teams. Id like to see him at 6 this year with McGuire staying at 7 when he comes back and Sinfield back to 13.

 

[WireMan]

Well Warrington played as badly as we have all season. The defence is good but we are not respecting the ball.

St Helens were the first team we have played who have had the skills to damage us like they did. Whether they can keep this up for the year we will see.

Our only ok performance was at Giants who are looking good again. At some point Brown leaving will disrupt the season though.

If we can start to complete more than 2 sets of 6 in the half, we will go ok at the end of the season.


Catalans destroyed Widnes. Its not a record score though, there have been bigger wins.
Hopefully they will concede even more points next week!

 

[JasonE]

Dan Sarginson is quickly becoming one of those few players where every time he gets the ball something exciting could happen.
Looked really sharp yesterday.

 

[Johnny_L_O]

Dan Sarginson is quickly becoming one of those few players where every time he gets the ball something exciting could happen.
Looked really sharp yesterday.

Im really excited about all these outside backs coming through here in the UK. We have kids now, who 5-10 (and the rest) years ago would have walked into the test team, but who are well down the order. Its all a step in the right direction anyway.

 

[JasonE]

Oh, and Stevie Ward was most peoples MoM for us on Friday. The guy is all class and was asking questions everytime he had ball in hand. He made a few mistakes early on but it was his full debut. Once he got in to the game he stepped up and was one of the best players on the pitch for both teams. Id like to see him at 6 this year with McGuire staying at 7 when he comes back and Sinfield back to 13.

i think he is a lock forward but at Super League level i can understand it if he plays in the halves because at the moment he probably isn't big enough to play in the back row.
Very skilful and a superb prospect.

 

[JasonE]

Brian McD apparently said after the game that Stevie Ward is like a young Brad Fittler.

Josh Jones 18
Stevie Ward 18
John Bateman 18
Matt Russell 18
Dan Sarginson 18
Liam Salter 18
Daz Clark 19
Damian Cardace 18

All played SL on the weekend.

 

[Perth Tiger]

Is that Damian Cardace an Englisman or French? he was the one that scored four tries for the Dragons wasn't he?

 

[Didgi]

Yeah that's him, he's a Frenchie.

 

[Perth Tiger]

That is good to here. Hopefully he can kick on

 

[Johnny_L_O]

i think he is a lock forward but at Super League level i can understand it if he plays in the halves because at the moment he probably isn't big enough to play in the back row.
Very skilful and a superb prospect.

His long term position is probably lock but he's been playing FE for the 20s and the difference between him and Sinfield is probably 3 or 4 seconds over 100 metres :lol:

But yeah, at 18 he's not ready for the pack yet but he has height. I'm looking forward to watching his development over the years.

 

[Didgi]

Hopefully he will stick around in top grade for a while, particularly with the CC coming up. Don't want to burn him out though, will be interesting how Leeds handle it because I think most would agree he deserves more than to just be a fill in for injuries.