Watson : Fri May 12, 2023 9:07 pm  

I was as excited as anyone for a new era with a coach who had been responsible (it appeared) for turning Salford into a side that played fast attractive, attacking Rugby and kept signing unknown players who turned out to be great value for money.

When we had to watch boring Rugby last year and listen to endless talk about 'the process' the results were decent, we finished 3rd and could have won a cup final. Anyone who has watched rugby for any amount of time could see we lacked pace and the ability to score from anything other than kicks and forwards near the line. In short, we lacked the flair and pace that the Salford side he presided over. With this being said why:

Did we come into this year with only two recognised half backs (one of which is nowhere near superleague standard)?
Did we replace arguably our best attacking player (Danny Levi) with a journeyman from a French team who had been relegated from superleague on a 3 year deal?
Did we not recruit any players with pace or the ability to support a break?
Did we spend so much of our cap money on more forwards despite this being the strongest aspect of our side?
Did we sign Jake Connor who is one of the slowest outside backs in superleague and is only effective at fullback or centre when we already had Tui and he had signed Marsters for the centres?

With the last two games scoring 4 points and conceding 58 it is clear the dressing room are as sick of 'the process' as we fans are. He will blame the injuries to Fages and Russell, but all sides get those. We ONLY have depth in the pack (ridiculous amounts). The fact is we have never replaced Aidan Sezer , Danny Levi or Ricky leutele with potent attacking players and we have recruited far too many of the same type of player. Bibby and Marsters are frankly terrible, an outside backs job first and foremost is to score tries, how many do they have between them? ALL our backs are only good at running out of D, none of them have the ability to beat players or the pace to finish a break.

When Watson took over he was in the privileged position or being able to mould his own side, we had finally got rid of Gaskell and we have ended up with this mess with none of the spine players even coming off contract this year so no chance to solve this in any short timeframe.

Although i have over the years seen terrible Fartown teams and performances i don;t think i have ever been as disappointed and Watson is fairly and squarely to blame. He may be a workaholic, but he has absolutely no idea how to build an attacking side and i would love to see Ken give him the sack and let Robbo or someone else take over for the rest of the year.

Re: Watson : Fri May 12, 2023 9:22 pm  

I'd say, well played Leigh tonight.

Re: Watson : Fri May 12, 2023 9:31 pm  

Cokey wrote:

I'd say, well played Leigh tonight.

Correct

Re: Watson : Fri May 12, 2023 10:51 pm  

Hangerman2 wrote:

I was as excited as anyone for a new era with a coach who had been responsible (it appeared) for turning Salford into a side that played fast attractive, attacking Rugby and kept signing unknown players who turned out to be great value for money.

When we had to watch boring Rugby last year and listen to endless talk about 'the process' the results were decent, we finished 3rd and could have won a cup final. Anyone who has watched rugby for any amount of time could see we lacked pace and the ability to score from anything other than kicks and forwards near the line. In short, we lacked the flair and pace that the Salford side he presided over. With this being said why:

Did we come into this year with only two recognised half backs (one of which is nowhere near superleague standard)?
Did we replace arguably our best attacking player (Danny Levi) with a journeyman from a French team who had been relegated from superleague on a 3 year deal?
Did we not recruit any players with pace or the ability to support a break?
Did we spend so much of our cap money on more forwards despite this being the strongest aspect of our side?
Did we sign Jake Connor who is one of the slowest outside backs in superleague and is only effective at fullback or centre when we already had Tui and he had signed Marsters for the centres?

With the last two games scoring 4 points and conceding 58 it is clear the dressing room are as sick of 'the process' as we fans are. He will blame the injuries to Fages and Russell, but all sides get those. We ONLY have depth in the pack (ridiculous amounts). The fact is we have never replaced Aidan Sezer , Danny Levi or Ricky leutele with potent attacking players and we have recruited far too many of the same type of player. Bibby and Marsters are frankly terrible, an outside backs job first and foremost is to score tries, how many do they have between them? ALL our backs are only good at running out of D, none of them have the ability to beat players or the pace to finish a break.

When Watson took over he was in the privileged position or being able to mould his own side, we had finally got rid of Gaskell and we have ended up with this mess with none of the spine players even coming off contract this year so no chance to solve this in any short timeframe.

Although i have over the years seen terrible Fartown teams and performances i don;t think i have ever been as disappointed and Watson is fairly and squarely to blame. He may be a workaholic, but he has absolutely no idea how to build an attacking side and i would love to see Ken give him the sack and let Robbo or someone else take over for the rest of the year.

Will he go, or will it be elementary my dear Watson?

Re: Watson : Fri May 12, 2023 10:53 pm  

He's lost that changing room, I've said it before & I'll say it again.

Not to mention too many players are picking up a wage packet they simply don't deserve, the team on a whole needed reinforcement but the players hes bought in are just not good enough.

Unless something drastically changes, it's going to be a long season.

Re: Watson : Fri May 12, 2023 10:55 pm  

Hangerman2 wrote:

I was as excited as anyone for a new era with a coach who had been responsible (it appeared) for turning Salford into a side that played fast attractive, attacking Rugby and kept signing unknown players who turned out to be great value for money.

When we had to watch boring Rugby last year and listen to endless talk about 'the process' the results were decent, we finished 3rd and could have won a cup final. Anyone who has watched rugby for any amount of time could see we lacked pace and the ability to score from anything other than kicks and forwards near the line. In short, we lacked the flair and pace that the Salford side he presided over. With this being said why:

Did we come into this year with only two recognised half backs (one of which is nowhere near superleague standard)?
Did we replace arguably our best attacking player (Danny Levi) with a journeyman from a French team who had been relegated from superleague on a 3 year deal?
Did we not recruit any players with pace or the ability to support a break?
Did we spend so much of our cap money on more forwards despite this being the strongest aspect of our side?
Did we sign Jake Connor who is one of the slowest outside backs in superleague and is only effective at fullback or centre when we already had Tui and he had signed Marsters for the centres?

With the last two games scoring 4 points and conceding 58 it is clear the dressing room are as sick of 'the process' as we fans are. He will blame the injuries to Fages and Russell, but all sides get those. We ONLY have depth in the pack (ridiculous amounts). The fact is we have never replaced Aidan Sezer , Danny Levi or Ricky leutele with potent attacking players and we have recruited far too many of the same type of player. Bibby and Marsters are frankly terrible, an outside backs job first and foremost is to score tries, how many do they have between them? ALL our backs are only good at running out of D, none of them have the ability to beat players or the pace to finish a break.

When Watson took over he was in the privileged position or being able to mould his own side, we had finally got rid of Gaskell and we have ended up with this mess with none of the spine players even coming off contract this year so no chance to solve this in any short timeframe.

Although i have over the years seen terrible Fartown teams and performances i don;t think i have ever been as disappointed and Watson is fairly and squarely to blame. He may be a workaholic, but he has absolutely no idea how to build an attacking side and i would love to see Ken give him the sack and let Robbo or someone else take over for the rest of the year.

Fantastic post - yet Watson can't understand why Russell isnt in the England squad - don't make me laugh, hes a Championship player at best.

Re: Watson : Sat May 13, 2023 5:03 am  

You ll be ok once Connor returns from injury.

Re: Watson : Sat May 13, 2023 8:05 am  

I think most fans would echo the questions being asked. Levi leaving may have been late but we needed equal quality at 9, maybe Peats as a back up. O'Brien tries hard but is not a super league hooker.
I cannot fathom the lack of depth in the halves, it was obvious last year. Fages is a sick note, and Russell just solid.
I also agree that players are being paid well without performing.
Having heard Watson's interview there was no explanation for the appalling defence, you don't need brilliant halves to make sure you defend properly. Effort areas as most of the coaches talk about now.

Re: Watson : Sat May 13, 2023 8:43 am  

Murphy wrote:

I think most fans would echo the questions being asked. Levi leaving may have been late but we needed equal quality at 9, maybe Peats as a back up. O'Brien tries hard but is not a super league hooker.
I cannot fathom the lack of depth in the halves, it was obvious last year. Fages is a sick note, and Russell just solid.
I also agree that players are being paid well without performing.
Having heard Watson's interview there was no explanation for the appalling defence, you don't need brilliant halves to make sure you defend properly. Effort areas as most of the coaches talk about now.

I think they are not putting in the effort because he has turned on the team now things have turned bad. I could not believe the fact that he blamed the loss to Hull FC on young Halsall and that despite him playing really well in the two games prior he then dropped him , and replaced him with his mate, no pace Bibby. There were two tries last night that Bibby was directly responsible for but i didn't see him getting a mention. Then he blamed senior players ego's. He basically loves himself and is only interested in players who unquestioningly buy into his methods. Well your methods are crap and not working mate that's why the team are now turning against you. Anyone can coach 5 drives and a kick and stick it up your jumper when you are ahead.

He aggravates fans by making ridiculous excuses like 'other teams are playing us when they are in form' or 'we had 3 fullbacks on the pitch' (who's fault is it for recruiting 3 fullback's watson? if you include Golding it's 4) instead of fronting up and taking the blame himself.

Re: Watson : Sat May 13, 2023 11:19 am  

Tend to agree. Actually losing Golding has had a big effect - his enthusiasm and commitment is obvious and he did okay as a back up hooker. The lack of pace is frightening. Think he has to play Jerry and Senior on the wings.