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Harlequins 22 Warrington 36
Wigan 34 Bradford 12
Catalans 12 Huddersfield 26
Crusaders 30 Hull KR 24
Hull FC 14 Leeds 18
St. Helens 40 Castleford 30
Salford 16 Wakefield 12

Play-Offs Week 1 Fixtures

QUALIFYING PLAY-OFF
Friday 10th September - 8pm (TV)
St. Helens v Warrington
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ELIMINATION PLAY-OFF
Saturday 11th September - 3.45pm (TV)
Huddersfield v Crusaders
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ELIMINATION PLAY-OFF
Saturday 11th September - 6pm (TV)
Hull FC v Hull KR
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QUALIFYING PLAY-OFF
Sunday 12th September - 6.45pm (TV)
Wigan v Leeds
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Despondent, Goat Herder, VBFG, Spooky Challenge Cup Final 2004

News Now

Day of the Match - H Hull F.C.

Whilst it is fair to say that, due to the density of the fog, we couldn’t actually see much of this opening game, what we did see has told us that this could be a very long and difficult year for the Saints faithful. Despite starting with only one first team player missing, Saints lacked any sort of forward firepower, had no pace and no creativity and I just can’t see it changing. By the end of this season, I have a gut feeling that we are going to be talking about the worst Saints side in the last quarter of a century. Yes, worse than the 1988-89 and 1993-94 outfits. The end of last season, coupled with this start and the lack of recruitment leaves me with no other way to look. We’ve had some great years of late and on plenty of occasions, our demise has been forecast and it’s ended up being proved wrong but not this time. This is it, I’m afraid.

While I’d stop short of saying that I was excited about the opening game, by the time we had watched the Merseyside derby in a packed Counting House and thrown in a couple of Erdingers at the rather splendid Running Horses, I was looking forward to the proceedings and seeking a bit of sporting revenge over the city of Hull following City’s dismal demise there during the afternoon (and, yes, my dad does want Mancini out!) However, upon looking out of the window, it wasn’t so much mist that had descended but thick fog and, if the game had been football, there is no doubt the game would have been postponed. In fact, the game was delayed for fifteen minutes as if it was somehow going to miraculously clear. It got worse. For anyone who did not see this and did go to a famous fog bound game at Fartown in the early 90s, this was much, much worse.

Of course, this was the swift return for Sean Long and even with his, shall we say, loud haircut, we couldn’t make him out. There was a strange atmosphere as the game kicked off as we all realised that we couldn’t see a single thing on the far side of the pitch and that was from the best spec in the ground. The massed throngs of Hull fans, on the Eddy, literally would not be able to see beyond the halfway line and, had the game not been on TV, and the opposing fans not have travelled from the opposite side of the country, I’m 95% sure that the game would not have been allowed to progress. If only!

The opening 25 minutes yielded few chances for either side although, that said, there we could well have come close to scoring on the far side on a couple of occasions but you couldn’t really tell. However, the Hull fans, lucky enough to have their side attacking the end of the ground where their fans were situated, were celebrating as Willie Manu powered over. They were in again to make it 12-0 just before the half time hooter and we feared the worst. There was a chance for Saints to get back in it right at the last after a kick to the corner was palmed back but Scott Moore put it to ground, the boos were ringing round and not even the most hardened anti-booers complained about it. Allegedly, Sia Soliola had disappeared as soon as he had arrived, with an ankle injury, although no-one on the Popular Side saw anything of him, Adie Gardner had knackered his ribs and James Graham went off with an injury later in the proceedings. The whole thing was turning into a nightmare.

The opening period of the second half was as embarrassing as it gets, a Hull side, that was just about the worst team in Super League over the last 22 games of 2009, added a penalty then, it just had to be didn’t it? Our old mate Longy plunged over for a try against the club where he made his name and never has the curse of the old boy been more predictable. Tom Briscoe then hared fifty metres for a sensational try and we were 26-0 down and the abuse for the players was audible. After a sin-binning for Jordan Tansey, things picked up a bit as Matt Gidley went over, which may or may not have been a good decision by the video referee (no-one could see) and Chris Flannery added a second. I was actually a bit miffed that we got it back to 12-26, as the last thing we need is the cracks being papered over and people burying their heads in the sand, as per tradition. However, Kirk Yeaman put the icing on the cake for the visitors and a sound home thrashing was complete.

There was plenty of glum faces on the bus back to Newton and predictions of doom and gloom akimbo. I know it’s only the first game of the season but with our best players of recent years, well past their prime and several others just seemingly not as good as we thought they were, it’s difficult to draw on many positives, especially from this game.

Ten years ago, the club sacked coach Ellery Hanley after just one league game. I’m sure the same won’t happen again but is there anybody who would complain if Potter was booted out of the club right here and right now? Well Mrs Potter might because she’d end up being stuck with the boring fooker for several hours extra a day, but apart from that? He can’t be blamed for the lack of funds, he can’t be blamed for the lack of pace in the game today and he can’t be blamed for the fact that the coaches and officials, in general, have turned this great game of ours into a pedestrian, tedious eighty minutes of one-paced rubbish but he can be blamed for the sheer lack of team spirit, the dour tactics and the inability to bring the best out of a team that has far better players than the last ten games suggest. His complete inability to motivate them is frightening and if we don’t have a change of direction shortly, the best we can hope from this season is to make the top eight. Believe me, this is no knee-jerk reaction. I’ve been thinking about it since the end of last season and this debacle only goes to reinforce the fears I had about this campaign. I’ve been watching Saints for 23 years and I can honestly say, I’ve never less looked forward to a season, for a variety of reasons. If we are going to send Knowsley Road out in a fitting manner, then some very tough decisions are going to have to be made.

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Next Match

Friday 10th September 2010, 8pm
at GPW Recruitment Stadium

Engage Super League
Qualifying Play-Off


Saints	v	Warrington

Referee: TBC

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SLXV Table

rank		points
1	Wigan	27.44+511
2	St. Helens	27.40+399
3	Warrington	27.40+397
4	Leeds	27.35+164
5	Huddersfield	27.33+319
6	Hull FC	27.32-15
7	Hull KR	27.29+21
8	Crusaders	27.24-185
9	Castleford	27.22-118
10	Bradford	27.19-200
11	Wakefield	27.18-202
12	Salford	27.16-409
13	Harlequins	27.14-344
14	Catalans	27.12-338

(updated 5/9/10)

Click here for full table....

2010 Stats

Player		App/Sub/Tries
1	Wellens	23/0/17
2	Gardner	21/1/16
3	Gidley	24/0/8
4	Soliola	2/1/0
5	Meli	22/0/24
6	Pryce	25/0/8
7	Eastmond	22/0/15
8	Fozzard	9/10/1
9	Cunningham	17/8/5
10	Graham	28/1/6
11	Puletua	20/8/12
12	Wilkin	17/0/6
13	Flannery	25/0/10
14	Roby	18/12/14
15	Hargreaves	18/12/0
16	Moore	20/9/7
17	Clough	21/7/3
18	Ashurst	6/18/5
19	Dean	10/1/4
20	Frodsham	0/0/0
21	Wheeler	12/1/4
22	Dixon	9/7/5
23	Fa'asavalu	0/13/4
24	Lomax	15/0/9
25	Emmitt	0/10/1
26	Armstrong	1/0/1
27	Ellis	0/0/0
28	Magennis	4/1/3
29	Yates	0/0/0
30	Foster	13/0/7
31	Bradbury	0/0/0
32	Gaskell	1/2/1
33	Johnson	0/2/0

(updated 4/9/10)

Saints Career Stats

Player		App/Sub/Tries
1	Wellens	350/25/172
2	Gardner	234/15/154
3	Gidley	120/0/48
4	Soliola	2/1/0
5	Meli	136/2/92
6	Pryce	150/2/71
7	Eastmond	40/16/33
8	Fozzard	114/31/10
9	Cunningham	465/28/173
10	Graham	116/74/45
11	Puletua	48/11/26
12	Wilkin	167/32/68
13	Flannery	86/3/27
14	Roby	72/128/58
15	Hargreaves	62/50/6
16	Moore	28/20/8
17	Clough	47/75/20
18	Ashurst	11/33/6
19	Dean	20/3/10
20	Frodsham	2/9/0
21	Wheeler	22/5/13
22	Dixon	15/11/6
23	Fa'asavalu	6/157/39
24	Lomax	21/2/11
25	Emmitt	1/15/1
26	Armstrong	6/0/4
27	Ellis	1/2/0
28	Magennis	4/1/3
29	Yates	0/0/0
30	Foster	13/0/7
31	Bradbury	0/0/0
32	Gaskell	1/2/1
33	Johnson	0/2/0

(updated 4/9/10)

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