Re: Some home truths....this may hurt : Mon Oct 10, 2016 5:20 pm  

Smiffy27 wrote:

Thank God for Captain Hook. We are much to critical of our players. Mind you if you look at the Forums for other teams all "fans" are the same. We watch our players more closely and spot all the weaknesses. Some forum members seem to think we ought to have won the treble and then in the next breath go through the team and say how weak we are ... that's illogical. We need to stand back and think how lucky we are to support such a club. I know it's frustrating that we didn't win one of the big two but as Captain Hook says ... get a perspective. I'd like to add ... don't be so flaming miserable.

I'd take going out of the CCF at the first hurdle, finish fourth in the table just to concentrate our resources and win the GF. That is really all that matters.

Re: Some home truths....this may hurt : Mon Oct 10, 2016 5:22 pm  

Aboveusonlypie wrote:

Losing narrowly always hurts. But Wire came so close to winning all three. Often in top class sport a coach can do no more than send his team out well prepared and then take - the poor refereeing decisions, the bounce of the ball, some good players making rare mistakes and your best players having an off day, to say nothing of the opposition actually turning up.

Tony Smith has had a great season. You can ask no more as a fan, than being in the mix at the end of the season which Wire were. I must be one of the few who think that coming top of the pile after 30 games is still an achievement to be proud of.

Thanks by the way, for making Saturday special. The atmosphere at the ground was great. The fans were a credit to the club. The team and management took defeat gracefully.

Good luck for next season. I suspect you will be very close.

Very gracious post, thank you and congratulations on the title

Re: Some home truths....this may hurt : Mon Oct 10, 2016 6:44 pm  

mark_m wrote:

From an outside point of view then... where would Hull play him?

Mate of mine at work, Wigan fan, said he would love to see Ratchford playing for them - he reckons with Ratchford & Gelling in the centres that they'd be unstoppable.

[Uncle Rico]

Re: Some home truths....this may hurt : Mon Oct 10, 2016 6:54 pm  

mark_m wrote:

I'd take going out of the CCF at the first hurdle, finish fourth in the table just to concentrate our resources and win the GF. That is really all that matters.

I bet you'd take it

However, serious questions, how do you do that and is it wise putting all your trophy 'eggs' into the one SL 'basket'? This year would our 17 have been any different if we sacked off the Challenge Cup and nursed our squad through to 4th to set up a grand finale? Are you saying that the injuries to Westwood, Currie and Dodds could have been avoided somehow by a softly, softly approach

In sport more often than not you don't have the choice, I would have liked our 17 to have been fresher with a bit more energy in the tank for sure, maybe next year win the LLS early then coast and it would help if the CC was moved so it didn't interfere with the 'business end of the season' rather than contenders having to duck it (no pun intended?

Re: Some home truths....this may hurt : Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:01 pm  

Psychedelic Casual wrote:

Is it though? We've been light in the props all year, we've got no decent passing centres so our wingers struggle and are then dropped, and we've got a few players who aren't good defenders.

If we'd had Dodds, Harrison, Grix, Westwood and Currie in that GF I'd have agreed but I though Wigan had a comfortably bigger, faster, more powerful and better pack than us and that's why they deserved to win.

I don't possess hindsight, so at the start of he season we had a full compliment....besides that,
Champion teams don't settle for mediocrity.
The expectation of this team was IMO for a wipeout akin to Leeds last year.
What we saw this year was sport science and fortune against our nearest rivals keeping us in touch.
Too much tuna pasta and not enough raw meat.

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: Some home truths....this may hurt : Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:06 pm  

bonaire wrote:

If he came to Hull we would show you.Great player

Let's see how you get on with Connor first, he's ratch 2.0

Re: Some home truths....this may hurt : Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:19 pm  

Uncle Rico wrote:

I bet you'd take it

However, serious questions, how do you do that and is it wise putting all your trophy 'eggs' into the one SL 'basket'? This year would our 17 have been any different if we sacked off the Challenge Cup and nursed our squad through to 4th to set up a grand finale? Are you saying that the injuries to Westwood, Currie and Dodds could have been avoided somehow by a softly, softly approach

In sport more often than not you don't have the choice, I would have liked our 17 to have been fresher with a bit more energy in the tank for sure, maybe next year win the LLS early then coast and it would help if the CC was moved so it didn't interfere with the 'business end of the season' rather than contenders having to duck it (no pun intended?

You would take it but the whole focus of the club is surely now all about getting this monkey off our back.

And if playing less games to keep our players fresher and with sufficient time to recover from injury so be it.

Re: Some home truths....this may hurt : Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:22 pm  

Mr Snoodle wrote:

Mate of mine at work, Wigan fan, said he would love to see Ratchford playing for them - he reckons with Ratchford & Gelling in the centres that they'd be unstoppable.

I have thought that in the past but personally I think he would be excellent working out of dummy half.

And therein lies the problem he can cover so many positions sometimes to his own detriment.

Re: Some home truths....this may hurt : Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:30 pm  

I agree with mark m. I think injuries have defiantly played apart in us not winning the grand final, I know people will say the tugs had injuries which they did but the difference was there injuries came back towards the back end of the season the business end. We lost key men in Currie and sandow for the last part, even godly missed a couple near the end. I'm convinced hill picked up. An injury against saints, he wasn't the same hill Saturday as previous weeks. We had three tough games in hull Wigan saints then the final. Just proved to much for the depleted team and not having the strength in depth particular in the prop department. I think Bailey only ran with ball a hand full of times even in the first half he was blowing out of his booty. Without sounding arrogant of disrespectful if other teams but we should of Won the shield with weeks to spare, then we could if rested the likes of hill, Currie etc we need to focus all our efforts in yo getting the grand final, if that's means sac rising the cc for one year then so be it

Re: Some home truths....this may hurt : Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:33 pm  

mark_m wrote:

You would take it but the whole focus of the club is surely now all about getting this monkey off our back.

And if playing less games to keep our players fresher and with sufficient time to recover from injury so be it.

Very very high risk strategy this Mark. Thank God you're not running the club ... this would not go down well with the fans.
Have you considered that this master plan might back fire.