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Potter Bemoans Killer Touch

7th Feb 2010, 9:00am

MICK Potter felt Saints didn’t take their opportunities during their 32-12 defeat to Hull on Saturday night.

 

Despite dominating the opening quarter, Saints couldn’t find a way through the visitor’s resolute defence, and ultimately were made to rue those missed chances.

 

“Even though Ade Gardner and Sia Soliola were taken off through injury we actually handled that three-quarter problem pretty well,” Mick said after the game. “That was a minor part of the display really. I thought we played a little too lateral and didn’t finish our sets off.

 

“Yes, we begun well and were making breaks but our support play wasn’t there. That is another thing we need to improve on.”

 

Mick says the fog wasn’t ideal for the spectators but it wasn’t a factor on how the game was played.

 

“You couldn’t see over the other side of the field but that didn’t affect the amount of good football played. Both teams made plenty of breaks but we didn’t finish them off.”

 

James Graham will have a scan on a sternum injury as will Sia Soliola (ankle) whilst Ade Gardner looks set to be out for two to four weeks with a rib cartilage problem.

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Comments

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• tony b says:
  mick potter has got to go back to styles of play that are tried & tested they proved they work under d a you dont change a winning way they seem to struggle with micks style of play a team like these
• Chris Harrison says:
  Last night was so disappointing, after looking forward to the first round and return of sean long for so long it was a masive come down in feelings. Hull played great and sean long ran the show. We look lost, and uncreative. The game seemed to turn when Soliola went off injured, i just hope this is not a sign of things to come this season. Gary Wheeler was fantastic yet again and i hope he gets a regular first team place.
• baz woggy says:
  i dont think it was a good start , need 2 pull the finger out before its to late . we need some quick players
• Gareth Ramsden says:
  We didnt make any breaks to finish off, Mick. Support play isnt what we need to work on, you need to take the barge, barge, barge out of us that we see week in week out. We have no idea when we get near to the try line, we look completely devoid of ideas at all. We have 1 set play which EVERY team in the league has now sussed which is why the reciever gets hammered EVERY time.
• Lorraine says:
  Extemely dissapointed with last night's display against Hull. We were too prdictable and could not match Hull's power in the forwards and our backs lacked skill and pace. As a team we had no direction. I don't know where the fault lies but it looks like we have wasted the closed season as we have started without any new ideas. I don't want to criticise anyone by name but there is only a handful of players who look interested in beating the opposition, Too many players are going through the motions collecting their wage packet at the end of the week. I think everyone needs to take a good look at themselves as an individual, a team and club and realise that this is just not good enough. I only hope it gets better, if not we're in trouble...
• ste says:
  I give credit to some of the players who turned up to play but the rest have got no excuse and they cant put blame on the weather. Lets hope they get there heads together this week with that game out of the way and get a good result at bradford.
• Ray Green says:
  Can they only play open rugby when the other team is down to 12 men.I have watched Saints for over 66 years and would like to know why we have to play up the middle now.I cant see us in the top 8 with that type of rugby
• Ron Saint Wiggin says:
  Why do we in the greatest game always shoot ourselves in the foot ? Last nights game should never have been played every fan got a raw deal because we had not got a clue what was going on .Good luck to Hull on their win come on u SAINTS
• A Hughes says:
  Why on earth did this game go ahead? Was it because it was televised? It's very unfair. We could see absolutely nothing unless the play happened to be near us! As the Hull fans were singing - "what the **** is going on"! Aside from that, I thought we played ok... Hull were the better team on the night.
• c.littler says:
  As a spectator at the game I thought it was silly that the game was even played.After paying hard earned money to watch my team we couldnt see, this is not just my opinion but if the game had not been on sky it wouldnt have been played.Most of the fans I have spoken to are of the same opinion and are wondering when sky tv became the ruling body of the RFL.They showed no consideration for the paying fans.ABSOLUTLY SILLY
• Saint Jon says:
  With the injury to winger Ade Gardner & the absence of stand off Leon Price in the fog I was disappointed that we didn't take the opportunity to put James Roby at stand off & utilise Leon on the wing. Hull were very good last night and Saints were just not up to their usual high standards
• Mark L says:
  Saints fans feel Potter isn't the right man for the job. Read the comments on the Official Saints Facebook page. We're simply picking up where we left off last season, with soppy defense and the usual predicable attack. The team has the talent there, we're just not allowed to shine because of the poor tactics drilled into us by Mick Potter. Remember the days when Saints could come back from a 18 point deficit to win?? Or when we run riot on a team?? Since this guy took over those days are gone. I wont surprised if the Mods of this site refuse to publish my comment, but hey, it only echos the 12,000 fans from the beginning of last night, and the 6,00 that we're still there at the end, in the cold and fog having watched our boys underperform AGAIN! Such a shame :-(
• Diane says:
  I don't know which match Mick Potter was watching but if he thinks our only problems were playing a little too lateral and that we didn't finish off our sets then it clearly wasn't the match I went to last night! Our defence was atrocious, we looked unfit and demotivated, we were positively clueless when it came to the tryline (with one exception, when poor ole Scott couldn't keep hold of the ball) and Kyle would be far, far better as a stand off where he could be set free to cause the opposition all manner of problems. Pryce should either be moved to the wing or dropped: fans are heartily sick of him playing no creative part in a match thus taking up space were a youngster with talent and commitment could be developing. There are an awful lot of very unhappy fans out there and not because we lost but because we played the same awful, dull, low grade rugby league as we were doing at the back end of last season, but this time our defence was terrible too.
• C Willo says:
  Game should of not been played- standing at restaurant end- at times we could not see further than 20 metres. Did sky force the game to be played? from what we did see Hull wanted it more than us, as expected alot went through longy--Why didnt we stop him??????? Need to get more fire in our bellies for the long season ahead!!!!
• Shaun says:
  Didnt take there chance's?? What a joke they didnt have any chances! Longy looked fitter and more up for it than ive seen him for years. Saints where out classed, but its a long season, we'll have our time.
• Steve Johnson says:
  After reading the above article, firstly the match should not have been played. The conditions were disgraceful and you could not see across ground let alone from end to the other. You have to question the ability of who is making the decisions. Secondly i am pretty sure that Mick Potter is watching a different game to me. The performance was as clueless and gutless as you can get with no game plan apparent and no organisation from the half backs. After the back half of last season when we changed the style of rugby to a more boring type, i expected changes back to what we know and appreciate but it was still the same. Nothing has been done in close season. If we stay like this we will have teams queing up to hammer us and a new stadium we may have soon but there wont be anyone in it. There has to be big changes swiftly and quick.