Re: CCF match discussion : Sun May 29, 2022 9:44 am  

Phuzzy wrote:

Absolutely NK. Jon is generally a good poster but he needs to stop watching games with the opposition fans if that was his take from the game. Smith MOM by a country mile. No one else including McQueen had the effect on the game that Smith had. If McQueen had then Huddersfield would have won. It really is that simple.

Just watching the game back and he also saves a try for Ollie Russell about 12 mins in, when he races him back in to the in goal and makes up ground on him to get the ball dead.

Re: CCF match discussion : Sun May 29, 2022 9:47 am  

What a stadium…

Much preferred that experience than Wembley.

Great facilities, good quality food & drinks.

Coach park just a short walk from the ground too.

Glad I didn’t bother with the local pubs as the fan village was far more spacious.

Can’t comment on the match as it’s all a bit of a blur now.

Re: CCF match discussion : Sun May 29, 2022 9:47 am  

jonh wrote:

Don’t think it’s fair to have a pop at the Giants fans.

I was in the Giants end and they were outstanding throughout the game creating most of the atmosphere. They were on their feet on mass for most of the game. It was only small packets of the game the Wigan fans were adding to the atmosphere and at the end obviously.

Not a pop at our fans as it was that kind of game, but I do think the Giants support was fantastic and a credit to their club on the day.

Good lord, you were smashed yesterday. Smith having a shocker despite being involved in three tries. The Wigan fans being 'quiet' and out-sung by the pittance Huddersfield brought.

You probably need to watch the game back because you're commenting on something that only happened in your inebriated mind.

Re: CCF match discussion : Sun May 29, 2022 9:48 am  

dany1979 wrote:

What a stadium…

Much preferred that experience than Wembley.

Great facilities, good quality food & drinks.

Coach park just a short walk from the ground too.

Glad I didn’t bother with the local pubs as the fan village was far more spacious.

Can’t comment on the match as it’s all a bit of a blur now.

It's much harder to get to than Wembley if you take the train into London. You're left with a 20-30 minute walk and a long wait to get into the Underground. I assume they're going to fix that eventually.

Re: CCF match discussion : Sun May 29, 2022 10:00 am  

P-J wrote:

Good lord, you were smashed yesterday. Smith having a shocker despite being involved in three tries. The Wigan fans being 'quiet' and out-sung by the pittance Huddersfield brought.

You probably need to watch the game back because you're commenting on something that only happened in your inebriated mind.

Not smashed at all. Just saying as I saw it.

Happy to watch it back later when I get home.

I thought both teams were very poor on last tackle plays and both teams were rudderless around the halves for long periods of the game. That was down to the 9s too.

When Tommy came on we looked more controlled.

With 10 minutes to go we’re we’re playing like headless chickens flinging the ball about with no direction chasing the game rather than keeping calm and trying to build sets.

That was my take on it.

Fantastic that Smith came up with the big play when he did and your only need a few minutes of brilliance to turn a game which he produced but over the course of the 80 I don’t think he had one of his better games, non of the halves did.

Giants badly missed Fages as their last tackle plays and organisation were shocking and as others have identified probably cost them the game.

Great result for us and in my opinion I felt Smithies was our best on the day.

Not nice to see a player get injured but I think we would have been very happy to see the withdrawal of Chris Hill who had a brilliant first 20 mins.

Re: CCF match discussion : Sun May 29, 2022 10:35 am  

jonh wrote:

He came up with match winning moments I agree, and fair play to him for that, but I I thought in general play we looked rudderless with both him and Cust having off days.

He came up big when he had to though and ultimately did come up with a few seconds of magic so fair play to him.

I think your being harsh again. Smith has clearly got talent but last year would have done him a lot of harm in his development. At the stage he’s up to he needs a strong partner along side him and is not yet able to take control of a game on his own. I think he’s shown a lot of progress this year and came up with the big play when it most mattered.

Understandably there are a lot of comparisons between Smith and Dodd. One of the biggest differences is Dodd was playing along side Lomax where Smith is along side Cust who we shouldn’t forget is also young and inexperienced for a half.

Re: CCF match discussion : Sun May 29, 2022 10:46 am  

Great atmosphere in a great Stadium. I'd be happy if the final is played there every year. Wembley is a morgue in comparison.

Took my daughter for her first game and she loved it. We were on 10 yard line next to the South stand and the South stand looked brilliant from our perspective.

Smith MoM, involved in many key moments both defence and attack. He's been outstanding for us since Tommy was injured and living up to his promise now.

Wigan deserved to win. Strange how a narrative of a game is shaped. When Saints won with the last touch of the game in the GF due to a fortuitous bounce and a speculative chase by Welsby it was all about Saints. When we win with a great play, outstanding skill by Tommy, Smith and pace from Liam it's about 'hudds deserved to win it'.... We scored three outstanding tries, 2nd half we made some great breaks. We deserved to win it. No lucky bounce for us.

Yes we were a bit clunky in the 1st half especially, I think O'Neilhad his worst game for us and showed we were missing some control in directing plays from dummy half - BUT we stuck in and didn't fold and you have to credit the players for that.

Hudd's were very good in shutting outplays down to bring our edges into the game, and I think this is something we will build on, how to get our strike players into the game when the defence is jamming in like they did.

I think we will build on this and improve even more for the play offs.

Re: CCF match discussion : Sun May 29, 2022 10:47 am  

Great result if not a great performance - but it's a W and in a final that is all that counts. Thought it was a fairly poor game overall with a lack of quality on both sides made a very bitty game.

Too many silly mistakes in the first half killed any momentum we tried to build (plus the ref seemed to let Hudds lie on every tackle for ages and slow the game down).

Delighted for Marshall to score the winning try after all the issues he has had.

Disagree as thought Smith had a decent game he is getting better with each game recently- Cust probably had his worst game for a while, perhaps guilty of trying a bit too hard.

Smithies had a good game apart from the high shots he really need to watch that, but the off load was great where did that come from? Bateman was good and worked his socks off, as was Singleton (our best prop). Farrell was quiet for some reason and Mago will never make it here or anywhere - poor signing.Credit to Thornley as well as he was clearly playing on one leg (Bibby was pretty decent as well).

Re: CCF match discussion : Sun May 29, 2022 10:51 am  

Trainman wrote:

I think your being harsh again. Smith has clearly got talent but last year would have done him a lot of harm in his development. At the stage he’s up to he needs a strong partner along side him and is not yet able to take control of a game on his own. I think he’s shown a lot of progress this year and came up with the big play when it most mattered.

Understandably there are a lot of comparisons between Smith and Dodd. One of the biggest differences is Dodd was playing along side Lomax where Smith is along side Cust who we shouldn’t forget is also young and inexperienced for a half.

This is so true. Cust is in his first year as senior player at 6. He's not an established senior player.

When you look at it Smith has more experience and we know what a car crash last year was. Both are learning their craft and for Smith to come out of this after last year like he has done shows the strength of character he has when fans were happy to bin him off at the start of the season.

Re: CCF match discussion : Sun May 29, 2022 10:54 am  

The 20th win is all that people will remember and all that will be in the record books. Very harsh on Huddersfield - they will be serious contenders over the next few years in all likelihood. We hung in there and executed three good tries but it was tough going outside of that.

Maybe we got a big dose of good luck to balance out the bad bounce in the last GF we played. Tui L missing his kicks, Chris Hill and Fages' injuries, no yellow for Smithies. I did come away from the game thinking we got away with one but if you're 2 points behind with a few minutes to go then you have a chance. Huddersfield's umbrella defence was smart in some ways but cost them in the end - they nearly got done early in the game with Field's kick to Marshall.

We don't win the game without Tommy Leuluai being there to nail down a few bolts - great effort from him to play. Bevan French was very solid and Harry Smith was great with his involvements in key moments (although there was a poor grubber kick through which led to Hudds breaking down field and scoring). Liam Marshall is rocks and diamonds - similar to the semi final a poor play led to a Hudds try (terrible attempt on Jerry) but evened it out by being in the right place at the right time. Brad O'Neill struggled and I'd really like to see Mago come onto the field and start pumping those legs after contact with offloading his 2nd priority.

Great to win the cup and congrats to the club. Brilliant to see a massive turnout from the fans showing there's still a big appetite for RL success in the town. I'd love to see this team really maximise their potential in the 2nd half of the year (after the inevitable hangover next week which I think we should allow them ).