Re: SWINTON LIONS : Wed May 01, 2024 4:25 am  

Just watched the first half of the game, it seems as though players not knowing what is happening most of the time, when they spread the ball out looks quite promising then ends up either dropping the ball or just ending limply. It does not seem as though there are set plays, or a designated kicker, Widdop, Keyes, Jouffrey. Swindon kicked early in several sets and caught Fax having to scramble back one start from their own 10 yard line then going back to the Rhino days of one up rugby and try to break the line, of which clearly they are not big / strong enough, or got the guile to break a tackle, sidestep. It seemed as though the Lions worked Fax out very quickly in the game.
Has Widdop come in and upset the rhythm of the team seeming he wants to decide where to play, not taking away from LJ but he is not centre material, GW is bigger and supposedly a rugby brain which should allow him to read the game from centre . It was mentioned Finn has not got the dressing room, well if so that did not take long! It seems some players want an arm round the shoulder telling them it”s not their fault, well the hells fault is it, when they step over the white line? Bloody good booty kicking, and telling them to concentrate, play to the whistle, the second try was a gamble by Eden shooting the line, the third was a joke total lack of professionalism, kids in the park stuff.
Not sure if I have the stomach to watch the second half, and I am on you tube!, as Terry Silver alluded to people who have watched Fax for many a year left at half time.
It looked a relative dry track so no excuse there them. Come on Fax get a grip.

Re: SWINTON LIONS : Wed May 01, 2024 8:04 am  

Said a few times before that I were not a fan of the Widdop signing, not because I thought he couldn't do a job for us but more because it was very clear that we needed players in other areas. I'm of the belief that the Widdop signing was forced upon Finn and at this point it is easy to point the finger at him but looking at the bigger pitcture these problems started long before Widdop arrived. It must be nearly 3 years not that our pack is bullied in nearly every match. I reckon Nathan Cleary would struggle behind our powder puff pack and losing Calcott, 1 of only 2 or maybe 3 players I would keep in that pack, was a total disaster for us.

Re: SWINTON LIONS : Wed May 01, 2024 8:12 am  

Greg Florimos Boots wrote:

Said a few times before that I were not a fan of the Widdop signing, not because I thought he couldn't do a job for us but more because it was very clear that we needed players in other areas. I'm of the belief that the Widdop signing was forced upon Finn and at this point it is easy to point the finger at him but looking at the bigger pitcture these problems started long before Widdop arrived. It must be nearly 3 years not that our pack is bullied in nearly every match. I reckon Nathan Cleary would struggle behind our powder puff pack and losing Calcott, 1 of only 2 or maybe 3 players I would keep in that pack, was a total disaster for us.

I could not have put it better myself.

As i said previously Finn has inherited a team and especially a pack on the wane.

Re: SWINTON LIONS : Wed May 01, 2024 8:30 am  

the fax in asia wrote:

Just watched the first half of the game, it seems as though players not knowing what is happening most of the time, when they spread the ball out looks quite promising then ends up either dropping the ball or just ending limply. It does not seem as though there are set plays, or a designated kicker, Widdop, Keyes, Jouffrey. Swindon kicked early in several sets and caught Fax having to scramble back one start from their own 10 yard line then going back to the Rhino days of one up rugby and try to break the line, of which clearly they are not big / strong enough, or got the guile to break a tackle, sidestep. It seemed as though the Lions worked Fax out very quickly in the game.
Has Widdop come in and upset the rhythm of the team seeming he wants to decide where to play, not taking away from LJ but he is not centre material, GW is bigger and supposedly a rugby brain which should allow him to read the game from centre . It was mentioned Finn has not got the dressing room, well if so that did not take long! It seems some players want an arm round the shoulder telling them it”s not their fault, well the hells fault is it, when they step over the white line? Bloody good booty kicking, and telling them to concentrate, play to the whistle, the second try was a gamble by Eden shooting the line, the third was a joke total lack of professionalism, kids in the park stuff.
Not sure if I have the stomach to watch the second half, and I am on you tube!, as Terry Silver alluded to people who have watched Fax for many a year left at half time.
It looked a relative dry track so no excuse there them. Come on Fax get a grip.

the fax in asia wrote:

Just watched the first half of the game, it seems as though players not knowing what is happening most of the time, when they spread the ball out looks quite promising then ends up either dropping the ball or just ending limply. It does not seem as though there are set plays, or a designated kicker, Widdop, Keyes, Jouffrey. Swindon kicked early in several sets and caught Fax having to scramble back one start from their own 10 yard line then going back to the Rhino days of one up rugby and try to break the line, of which clearly they are not big / strong enough, or got the guile to break a tackle, sidestep. It seemed as though the Lions worked Fax out very quickly in the game.
Has Widdop come in and upset the rhythm of the team seeming he wants to decide where to play, not taking away from LJ but he is not centre material, GW is bigger and supposedly a rugby brain which should allow him to read the game from centre . It was mentioned Finn has not got the dressing room, well if so that did not take long! It seems some players want an arm round the shoulder telling them it”s not their fault, well the hells fault is it, when they step over the white line? Bloody good booty kicking, and telling them to concentrate, play to the whistle, the second try was a gamble by Eden shooting the line, the third was a joke total lack of professionalism, kids in the park stuff.
Not sure if I have the stomach to watch the second half, and I am on you tube!, as Terry Silver alluded to people who have watched Fax for many a year left at half time.
It looked a relative dry track so no excuse there them. Come on Fax get a grip.

Not sure where you get that Jouffret was playing centre. He was joining the line from Fullback. Unlike others I quite like like him there as he joins at speed and backs up well. There were times when LJ and Widdop were linking up really well and created some openings, but a few of them were on the last tackle so no chance to build on.

I thought JWH set off really well in the centre, and broke the line a few times with the step and strength he has, but then a combination of Swinton shutting this down (Patton may as well have been stood in our line) and our inability to create space on that side then seemed to nullify this. I don't think that was helped by changing the shape of the HB's as Keyes seemed to be struggling playing on the right when he is normally on the left.

I didn't have a problem with moving LJ to fullback and JWH to centre and I called that before the line up was announced. With our lack of quality in the centre, then with the squad we have JWH gives us something more there. LJ is not a bad replacement at full back and playing there gives him more space to run and take on the line which is a big part of his game. I'd have left Keyes on the left though, but as we haven't exactly been on fire in attack, I can possibly see some reasoning behind the changes.

But as much as we can lament our attack, its not helped by our inability to defend (through shape and attitude) and then having to chase games and we seem to panic when we go behind. We are struggling to play the game in the right part of the field, no penetration, slow ruck, poor distribution from the ruck and not being able to build any momentum. When we did seem to get some this week we then subbed the player who was taking us forward.

Also when things are not going right it needs leaders on the field and we are clearly lacking; we were blessed with several being on the pitch at the same time a few years back and now we don't seem to have any. None of our more senior players are natural leaders and in fact some have the worse body language or reactions when its not going our way. Probably not surprising they have brought Ed back in who is a talker on the pitch and one of the group of leaders we had before.

Re: SWINTON LIONS : Wed May 01, 2024 9:13 am  

@Gizempo, take your view of LJ being full back, I only have the camera view , and every time it showed him inside of Salty, so please accept my apology on that .
Also agree that there were times when he linked up with GW but too few and too late in the tackle count. I still stand by my view JWB to fullback. LJ back to stand off and GW centre, can’t be any worse. Unless Widdop has lost his appetite for tackling he should have the nouse to play there and is physically bigger and should look more imposing, surely with his years in the game has some knowledge of the dark arts to impose himself.