When Wilkin and Vea are back in the 17, Flash won,t get a game.

It would be nice to have an old-school loose forward. I know Sav is making a stab at the role. But he's too young to have picked up the skills which a wily old 28-year old veteran at loose possesses.

When you say the forwards cut down the space are you referring back to the start of the season when we were playing well and winning? If you are, we were still missing a lot of tackles down that left side. The combinations in defence down that side really need work on so that they can improve.

The biggest issue in defence isn't Walsh, it's Turner. He can't read play/make decisions well at all. He ends up either planting his feet and getting beaten on the outside, or shooting in. Then half the time Walsh ends up having to defend a player he shouldn't, meaning either a passive tackle with a quick PTB, or a line break because there's a weak cover tackle which is broken, or a 3 on 2.

I'm referring to what our forwards WERE doing in defence at the start of the season which they ARE NOT doing now. I think it's reasonable to assume this might have some slight bearing on our performance.

WTF?!! Turner's made mistakes, yes. But to seriously suggest Turner has been a bigger problem in defence than Walsh over the last two games is totally absurd.

Your right, it was poor on that edge at the start of the year but as we was winning and everyone thought we was the best thing since sliced bread that nobody noticed it.



That left edge is probably the weakest ive ever seen and probably the worst in super league in defence. It looks worse now with Walsh on that side snd teams are targeting thst edge more.

Yes, they're were doing it at the start of the season, but our left edge defence was still poor back then. It can happen you know, that the forwards do what you've stated they did but for us to still miss tackles on the left side of defence.

I doubt there is a single team in SL which defends equally well on either side. In any case, performance is meaningless without some kind of context. The fact that going into last night's game ALL BUT ONE side in SL had a worse defensive record than Saints speaks volumes about the problems other sides have to worry about.



Given the injury craziness we've had to contend with this season it's nothing short of a miracle our defence is as good as it is. Let's see how well Leeds or Wigan or Huddersfield do when they're down to their 7th choice fullback, missing their best winger, second row, loose-forward and nursing a crocked scrum-half back to full fitness.

2nd best defence but think I read we've missed more tackles than anyone.

Hull KR 684

Saints 645

Salford 634

Catalan 625

Wakefield 613



Bottom of the league stuff. Still time to get the MIT award. Good chance of getting the PEN award we are no 1 offenders for that one.

You win no trophies for missing the least number of tackles.



I'm sure Huddersfield would trade the best defensive statistics in the competition for being where we are now in the league.

The problem is we are making it very difficult for ourselves, if we can just improve 20% on our defence and conceding penalties we will most likely control the game for longer periods and perhaps go on to win more games.

But all teams are saying this. Basically it's a very competitive league and when you play another team it's hard to know who will win.



After last week, did people predict Wigan beating Leeds?

Nope. It's Walsh. And I don't just mean defence. Tonight Walsh was a defensive weakness even holding the ball. Turner's defense won us the game.

Walsh really shouldn't have been playing for us through his rehabilitation. He should have been doing it at Rochdale. Get his confidence back, get him physically fit. He looks lost at the moment.

Give the lad a break (excuse the pun) I accept he's a way to go to reach his best form, but his kicking game last night repeatedly drove Wire back in their own twenty.

I don't think he would be allowed to play for Rochdale.(Rules)

He will only get better.

I don't think Walsh was that bad last night. The thing that has worried me most about him is whether he will be able to make a full enough psychological recovery to play his proper game. He's still not quite there, but I think he's made progress in each of his last two games after the nightmare at Leeds - he took the line on and stuck his body in the way of some big runners last night.



The other thing is his timing ... his passing just seems a little off, and he keeps getting underneath his long kicks, but that's something I expect to improve with game time.

I didn't get to watch the game last night but spoke to my brother this morning and he said Walsh was poor defensively and will be a gamble going into the semi-final against Leeds if he doesn't improve a great deal.



I thought he was on an upward curve and was impressed with him after the Huddersfield game although I thought there would still be some more improvement to come, so to hear he has took a backward step is a little concerning.

Personally I disagree with your brother - I thought he was still shaky but he was better this week than he was against Hudds.

It was always a difficult one to judge, I think (except Leeds game) we,ve got away with him playing a partial passenger role. He's getting better every game now despite his new niggly injury (toe), we really need these last few games and the 8's to get the partnership going with Burns, we would,t get that if one of them was playing at Rochdale.

Burns is gradually getting a more running game now and is finding gaps and half breaks with Walsh directing position and set plays, I reckon we are turning the corner with our half back impact on games from now on.

He only watched it on TV last night but at the match last week I was watching Walsh quite a bit even when the ball was elsewhere and I thought (without Wilkin being on the pitch) he was a lot more vocal than he was against Leeds and thought he would have carried on with that yesterday against Warrington.





Did you go to Warrington yesterday or watch it on TV and how do you feel Walsh is progressing if indeed you think he is. I had a kidney transplant (from my sister) yesterday afternoon so unfortunately I was away with the fairies last night but fingers crossed I will be at Warrington at the end of the month if all goes to plan.

Hope you have a swift recovery!



I didn't think it was anything great that he did - he still looks unsure of himself and his timing is still off - I just thought he looked more prepared to get stuck into tackles last night than he did against Huddersfield. I only saw it on TV as well, so I wasn't able to have a good look at him - but to me he looked a [ibit [/imore comfortable this week. As long as that trend continues I'll be happy.

Hope everything' gone alight with the kidney and you're back on your feet soon.



Walsh was a mixed bag, scuffed a couple of kicks and a gave couple of loose balls, but he was having a go, both in defence and with the ball.

Looks like he's still got a bit of a hobble in his jog towards the end, possibly just a subconscious favouring. Plus, he's never going to be Paul Sculthorpe in defence.

After watching the ankle break from only 20 foot away I honestly thought it would be career ending for Walsh and can only admire his steeliness at coming back so quick. But another part of me thinks he might have come back a little too soon and when he walked past the interviewer after the cup game against Widnes with his boots in his hands he was limping that bad that I really didn't expect to see him for a while so he must be playing each week with a fair amount of pain. I think it could be another month or two before he starts to get his self confidence back or maybe if he gets a heavy hit on the ankle to show it can stand a knock then it may come sooner.



I just think Leeds will be able to exploit any weakness with the accuracy of Sinfield's kicking game when it comes to Walsh but with Wilkin getting an injury yesterday it somewhat limits our options anyway.