Re: Tonight’s game v Leeds : Fri Jun 30, 2023 1:24 pm  

It was just a very disappointing game. Not switched on for first 20 minutes, I actually didn't mind beforehand the switch of Dufty into half back because his passing in the line had been good before, and he didn't defend at 6, so was OK to see how he did, but the combination of him and Pnut on that right edge awful you could see how much confidence was lacking in that Russell was constantly coming in from the wing which created a number of their tries.
Confidence again low Matty Ashton had a break and the beginning of the season would have smoked them on the outside but came back inside caught. Drinkwater short kicking was awful it was like he'd never played on the HJ. But they did get better after 20 or marginally less worse in defence but they were so toothless in attack and the niggling frustration on behalf of most players apparent to see. As regards the booing, I never boo I see it as counter productive and I always want to be behind the team not on their backs but I respect everyone's right to boo if that what they want to do, when after shelling out hard earned money on a school night on a fixture on sky, to be served up that is understandable.

Re: Tonight’s game v Leeds : Fri Jun 30, 2023 1:53 pm  

Barbed Wire wrote:

If my maths is right, 58 meters over 17 carries is an average of 3.41 meters.

Google puts him at 1.96 tall. He could have caught the ball, lay down without moving and made 33 meters! WITHOUT MOVING

and if he took a Walmsleyesque step forward before playing the ball, he'd be top meter maker.

Re: Tonight’s game v Leeds : Fri Jun 30, 2023 2:52 pm  

Having seen us play recently the still unanswered questions are how did he play so well at the start of the season ... & beat Catalan away twice? Williams obviously absent last two games.
Same team, same Coach, same management team.

[Uncle Rico]

Re: Tonight’s game v Leeds : Fri Jun 30, 2023 2:56 pm  

MorePlaymakersNeeded wrote:

and if he took a Walmsleyesque step forward before playing the ball, he'd be top meter maker.

What is this playing of the ball of which you speak? Do you mean fumbling the ball like it's a brief encounter on a first date, prior to panicking, rolling it down your shin and then trying to stomp on it?.

Re: Tonight’s game v Leeds : Fri Jun 30, 2023 8:28 pm  

Uncle Rico wrote:

What is this playing of the ball of which you speak? Do you mean fumbling the ball like it's a brief encounter on a first date, prior to panicking, rolling it down your shin and then trying to stomp on it?.

I'm not answering you, as you'll only ask me to explain some other unicorns of the game, like a scrum being fed in between both hookers and the ref taking them back the ten.

Re: Tonight’s game v Leeds : Fri Jun 30, 2023 9:48 pm  

I think Mattie Russell deserves a shout out here - he's not been mentioned.
I thought he did his usual thing of bringing the ball out strongly - similar to Ashton.
Thewlis also comes out with credit.

Naughty step - awful game from Kasiano, Dudson poor. The fact that Bullock got Wire MoM from his limited minutes says it all

Whilst Dufty was found out in the halves, I do recall a number of people calling for him to be in the halves instead of Ratch.
It cant be Dufty next week.
(I suspect he will go for PM so that Wrench can slot back in with Thewlis on the wing and Dufty back at fb even though Russell has done nothing wrong. I'd suggest Dufty could be better from the bench).

A disappointment for me was that when we had the ball we just didnt seem to put any set plays on, with different players on different scripts (no chase for kick throughs etc etc).

Very difficult times. Easy to complain - and people have every right to, but it doesn't solve the problem.
From what I've read no-one has a coherent and compelling solution.

Re: Tonight’s game v Leeds : Fri Jun 30, 2023 9:54 pm  

It's very difficult times. I never wanted the miserable sod as our coach, but something worked early on this year. We were winning in lots of different ways. Unless we get Holbrook (or equivalent), I wouldn't swap just for swapping sake. A few mentioned Rowley recently. Hmm. Certainly not Watson now. I'm not convinced Wane would have the passion for anyone but Wigan and GB/England. However, if this goes on for another five or six weeks, then I guess we'll have to bite the bullet. It does look like a lost cause at the moment, but Wigan dropped from top to 6th a few weeks back. Now they are back on the up. Ah well. It's time for sleep.

Re: Tonight’s game v Leeds : Sat Jul 01, 2023 5:45 am  

I don’t boo my team.
I just get gutted sick, and if I see them in a place to get boos, I’ll stay away, I can’t watch it.

Re: Tonight’s game v Leeds : Sat Jul 01, 2023 12:38 pm  

Green as had a good game in the academy today but can only get 18th man while Dudson and Kasiano are stealing a wage.

Re: Tonight’s game v Leeds : Sat Jul 01, 2023 1:20 pm  

fez1 wrote:

I think Mattie Russell deserves a shout out here - he's not been mentioned.
I thought he did his usual thing of bringing the ball out strongly - similar to Ashton.
Thewlis also comes out with credit.

Naughty step - awful game from Kasiano, Dudson poor. The fact that Bullock got Wire MoM from his limited minutes says it all

Whilst Dufty was found out in the halves, I do recall a number of people calling for him to be in the halves instead of Ratch.
It cant be Dufty next week.
(I suspect he will go for PM so that Wrench can slot back in with Thewlis on the wing and Dufty back at fb even though Russell has done nothing wrong. I'd suggest Dufty could be better from the bench).

A disappointment for me was that when we had the ball we just didnt seem to put any set plays on, with different players on different scripts (no chase for kick throughs etc etc).

Very difficult times. Easy to complain - and people have every right to, but it doesn't solve the problem.
From what I've read no-one has a coherent and compelling solution.

This is the job for the coaching and management teams, who are not getting anywhere near the best out of this squad. DP was brought in on the premise that he gets the best out of players, which perhaps has happened for a few, but just hasn't happened in enough cases.

My take on some areas that need addressing

1) Defence. Our poor line speed is the biggest problem, which allows our opponents too many easy yards and their halfbacks too much space and time to work in. Work on turning your opponent over in the tackle (Wigan in the cup were a great example that we should be replicating).

2) Attack. It's all one up stuff at the moment. We need to support the ball player, then when anyone makes a half break and can offload, there's a team mate ready to accept it. There's no planned moves, lets work on some as were really playing the most tedious brand of rugby that's too easy to defend against. Find the floor on your front and get quicker play the balls, work on not getting turned over in the tackle.

3) Motivation. The squad need to brought together and encouraged to put the McGuire issue behind them, and to get to the harmony we seemed to have earlier in the season.

4) Fitness. Kasiano has a silhouette of a seventies rugby player, and can only play for a few minutes a game. Our lack of line speed my be down to a lack of fitness, we might have a big pack this year, but they've got to be mobile as well.

I'm sure there's other stuff, but the above should not be that difficult to implement and for us to improve. The only proviso being that the squad is willing to work with the coach. As DP has already got rid of the "bad apples" who wouldn't work with him when he joined, and if his assembled squad currently does not want to work with him, then DP is the problem, not the solution.