One thing that I noticed (and was commented on with frustration by people around me) was his tendency to stop when he had caught the ball on kick returns. He would run until their pack closed in on him and then stop and almost prepare for the impact rather than continuing to make progress forward. The other thing was he definitely ambled a bit for kick returns to the empty places on the pitch - he didn't look like he was busting himself to get there (like Zak does) and consequently Golding either was quickly set up on when he did get to the ball or was in the general area he needed to be but not totally set to catch it and thus caught it either slightly awkwardly or after it had bounced.
The bit where the saints k/o went straight out seemed similar - AG should have busted himself to be set in the right position to take that, but was not proactive enough to do so and failed.
Someone else should have also quickly taken charge of it and their failing to do so was down to them individually. Part of Hall / Cuthbo / Garbutt failing to take charge of it was (I have no doubt) because had Zak been there he would have been more proactive and got himself in the right place to catch it, therefore preventing the balls-up which followed.
He did get better as the game went on though, I agree with that. For me, on that performance I think to write him off is harsh though conversely to say he was good is over-the-top the other way. As with the majority last night, overall it was a bit of a non-performance; a '5 out of 10'er if this was a newspaper report...
