imported_SaintFirman
Juniors
- Messages
- 20
G'day
Before I start I'll just let you all know a little about myself as I am new, I've been a lifelong St. George and St. George Illawarra supporter, you could I'm a long time listener first time poster to this board and have found alot of people here seem to have an in depth knowledge of football and a love for the club, I too like to think of myself as one of these people.
Now onto the real stuff, I continually find myself asking the same question all the time, what is wrong with the saints? We have classy backs in the likes of Barrett(mastermind), Timmins(solid in defence), Gasnier(great in attack), Cooper(very under rated), Roberts(coming along steadily), Hornby(Stable anywhere). Also throughout the year we saw great talent in the likes of Laloata, Kativerata, Clarke, Bower,Kent(departing), Simmondsand Gorrell. So to say are backs are lacking would be unjust.
So I then asked myself, what about the forward pack? Again, there are great players in the likes of Ryles(Origin Rep), Bailey(Origin Rep), Riddell(Close to Aus. Rep), Thompson(massive workload), Kite(Dynamic Youngster) aswell as Smith who I thought had an outstanding year and was close to being our player of the year, but alas we let him go.
There seems to be nothing wrong there either, so what could it be? We've all read the posts about needing a stable halfback, with the likes of Firman, Byrne, Kerr and Head in the running, will this solve our problems? Well it would account for alot, a good supporting halfback for Barrett that can take the pressure off him and create a platform for Barrett's running game which we saw throughout the last few games, and which I wish we saw more of throughout the year, would be a big benefit for the club.
Also, another thing I have noticed is that when Riddell is on, the forwards are almost always fired up, and seem to slightly dose off when the likes of Millard come on, I'm not saying Millard isn't good, because he's also had a great season, but maybe he lacks that tiny bit of buzz that Riddell has, so another thing which would benefit the team would be if Riddell could pace himself and manage to stay on for alot longer, maybe 60-80 minutes a game, unlike what we saw this year where he comes on either in the first or last 20mins of each half.
On top of that, is Amos our best fullback prospect? I think he would be better suited out on the wing, where he can use his speed, I would not mind seeing Reece Simmonds come in as a permanent fullback or even Hornby. Another thing would be direction, at times Saints lack direction on the field, other times they seem as if they are really premiership chances, I think this may be caused be leadership, we need a captain that will tell players what to do and when, and forget about hurting others feelings, for example if the team is slacking off Barrett should give them a spray just like the ones Freddy Fittler gives to the Roosters when they are slacking off.
Or maybe it was just the coach? Andrew Farrar could have been lacking that tiny extra bit of spark that the Saints needed, I can't really comment on this because I haven't been to any Saints training sessions, if anyone can comment on that it would be great.
In the end I think it comes down toa couple of factors, and thoseare being able to apply pressure and withstand it, for example against the Scum in the last match, I think the pressure just got to us, because towards the end of each half we slacked off a little bit, got into strife and coughed up the points, and when we were down their end, we didn't always apply pressure and get the points, some of that on the line defence was horrible and I can only put that one down under pressure because I know our boys could have done alot better.
Anyways, let me know what you guys think, I'm interested to see other peoples perspectives.
Go the Saints!
Before I start I'll just let you all know a little about myself as I am new, I've been a lifelong St. George and St. George Illawarra supporter, you could I'm a long time listener first time poster to this board and have found alot of people here seem to have an in depth knowledge of football and a love for the club, I too like to think of myself as one of these people.
Now onto the real stuff, I continually find myself asking the same question all the time, what is wrong with the saints? We have classy backs in the likes of Barrett(mastermind), Timmins(solid in defence), Gasnier(great in attack), Cooper(very under rated), Roberts(coming along steadily), Hornby(Stable anywhere). Also throughout the year we saw great talent in the likes of Laloata, Kativerata, Clarke, Bower,Kent(departing), Simmondsand Gorrell. So to say are backs are lacking would be unjust.
So I then asked myself, what about the forward pack? Again, there are great players in the likes of Ryles(Origin Rep), Bailey(Origin Rep), Riddell(Close to Aus. Rep), Thompson(massive workload), Kite(Dynamic Youngster) aswell as Smith who I thought had an outstanding year and was close to being our player of the year, but alas we let him go.
There seems to be nothing wrong there either, so what could it be? We've all read the posts about needing a stable halfback, with the likes of Firman, Byrne, Kerr and Head in the running, will this solve our problems? Well it would account for alot, a good supporting halfback for Barrett that can take the pressure off him and create a platform for Barrett's running game which we saw throughout the last few games, and which I wish we saw more of throughout the year, would be a big benefit for the club.
Also, another thing I have noticed is that when Riddell is on, the forwards are almost always fired up, and seem to slightly dose off when the likes of Millard come on, I'm not saying Millard isn't good, because he's also had a great season, but maybe he lacks that tiny bit of buzz that Riddell has, so another thing which would benefit the team would be if Riddell could pace himself and manage to stay on for alot longer, maybe 60-80 minutes a game, unlike what we saw this year where he comes on either in the first or last 20mins of each half.
On top of that, is Amos our best fullback prospect? I think he would be better suited out on the wing, where he can use his speed, I would not mind seeing Reece Simmonds come in as a permanent fullback or even Hornby. Another thing would be direction, at times Saints lack direction on the field, other times they seem as if they are really premiership chances, I think this may be caused be leadership, we need a captain that will tell players what to do and when, and forget about hurting others feelings, for example if the team is slacking off Barrett should give them a spray just like the ones Freddy Fittler gives to the Roosters when they are slacking off.
Or maybe it was just the coach? Andrew Farrar could have been lacking that tiny extra bit of spark that the Saints needed, I can't really comment on this because I haven't been to any Saints training sessions, if anyone can comment on that it would be great.
In the end I think it comes down toa couple of factors, and thoseare being able to apply pressure and withstand it, for example against the Scum in the last match, I think the pressure just got to us, because towards the end of each half we slacked off a little bit, got into strife and coughed up the points, and when we were down their end, we didn't always apply pressure and get the points, some of that on the line defence was horrible and I can only put that one down under pressure because I know our boys could have done alot better.
Anyways, let me know what you guys think, I'm interested to see other peoples perspectives.
Go the Saints!