Re: Pleasantly surprised : Tue Mar 03, 2020 1:53 pm  

TrinityIHC wrote:

Yeah I was a bit "meh" when we signed J Wood but he's been great. Ferocious tackler and like a trufflepig when he goes for the line. From what Ive seen so far, definite upgrade on Randell

Well put, I remember Kear saying he never signed for the sake of it and always believed the player he signed was better than the one he replaced. This so far seems to be the case but it's early days so I'm still cautious as we've been caught out before.

Re: Pleasantly surprised : Tue Mar 03, 2020 2:07 pm  

Fishermanscap wrote:

Well put, I remember Kear saying he never signed for the sake of it and always believed the player he signed was better than the one he replaced. This so far seems to be the case but it's early days so I'm still cautious as we've been caught out before.

THat may be Kears (and every other coaches) ambition. However, EVERY coach will make an error of judgement and not always does a "better player" improve the side.
It's all about how they fit into the structure and what they bring to the party.

Having said that, we've knocked a couple of years off the average age of our forwards and we appear to have a significantly more mobile pack than last season.
As usual, it's all about having the right players fit and in form at crucial times.
Right now, it's a case of getting through without two of our "first choice" spine and it will be interesting to see how we go on Friday.
I do agree that we look stronger though

Re: Pleasantly surprised : Tue Mar 03, 2020 3:29 pm  

wrencat1873 wrote:

THat may be Kears (and every other coaches) ambition. However, EVERY coach will make an error of judgement and not always does a "better player" improve the side.
It's all about how they fit into the structure and what they bring to the party.

Having said that, we've knocked a couple of years off the average age of our forwards and we appear to have a significantly more mobile pack than last season.
As usual, it's all about having the right players fit and in form at crucial times.
Right now, it's a case of getting through without two of our "first choice" spine and it will be interesting to see how we go on Friday.
I do agree that we look stronger though

I was thinking mainly of the forwards.

England (never recovered from injury)
Huby (ditto)
Hirst (I liked him but was borderline SL at best)
Anakin (local fave but never quite made it)

None of these would get a look in this year.

We have not really replaced Pauli in that we have two NRL spots left rather than in terms of his ability or lack of.

In terms of size and power we nudged down a bit but as far as I can see in terms of work rate and durability we've gone up quite a lot. As I say its a bit early but we look a younger, fitter more resilient outfit than last year. We got no breaks against Cas in terms of two serious injuries and one very dubious sin bin but we bounced back a week later which we weren't doing last year.

Re: Pleasantly surprised : Tue Mar 03, 2020 4:15 pm  

Fishermanscap wrote:

I was thinking mainly of the forwards.

England (never recovered from injury)
Huby (ditto)
Hirst (I liked him but was borderline SL at best)
Anakin (local fave but never quite made it)

None of these would get a look in this year.

We have not really replaced Pauli in that we have two NRL spots left rather than in terms of his ability or lack of.

In terms of size and power we nudged down a bit but as far as I can see in terms of work rate and durability we've gone up quite a lot. As I say its a bit early but we look a younger, fitter more resilient outfit than last year. We got no breaks against Cas in terms of two serious injuries and one very dubious sin bin but we bounced back a week later which we weren't doing last year.

Absolutely agree.
It's difficult to know how good / bad Salford are this season although, it's probably fair to say they aren't the same team that made the GF and even though they blow hot and cold, Hull FC will be a far better benchmark. IF we can get a result on Friday and with players still to come back, things would definitely be looking up.
We shouldn't get too excited after one victory and it's all about backing last weekends result up, with another decent performance.

Looking forward to the game though.
Hull have great support and it promises to be a decent atmosphere under the lights on Friday.

Re: Pleasantly surprised : Tue Mar 03, 2020 5:27 pm  

Fishermanscap wrote:

I was thinking mainly of the forwards.

England (never recovered from injury)
Huby (ditto)
Hirst (I liked him but was borderline SL at best)
Anakin (local fave but never quite made it)

None of these would get a look in this year.

We have not really replaced Pauli in that we have two NRL spots left rather than in terms of his ability or lack of.

In terms of size and power we nudged down a bit but as far as I can see in terms of work rate and durability we've gone up quite a lot. As I say its a bit early but we look a younger, fitter more resilient outfit than last year. We got no breaks against Cas in terms of two serious injuries and one very dubious sin bin but we bounced back a week later which we weren't doing last year.

Yeah agree with all that but I think though that Tanginoa is the direct upgrade to Pauli - probably the area we've made most improvement tbh!

Re: Pleasantly surprised : Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:56 pm  

Fishermanscap wrote:

Some of the signings we made this season came with some reservations.

Most notable was Westerman who I feared may have been after a final pay. So far more than so good, added some real class, not totally on the same wave length as the rest of the team just yet but getting closer every game.

Ryan Atkins looked the most committed player on the park on Sunday, lost his pace but he’s still strong and clearly wants to play.

Naveretta??? He looked far too small when I first saw him but has a big heart and despite his size always seems to beat the first man, I like him far more than I thought I would.

Along with Green, Tangata, Pitts, Walker and Tanganoa there doesn’t look a poor signing amongst them, well not so far anyway. Sorry if I forgot anyone.

We’ve missed Fifita and Arona but nowhere near as much as I expected. Some real competition in that pack when they are fit.

I actually thought Naverette was poor in the first three games so hopefully we’ll now see some of the potential he showed at Catalans. I prefer Tanginoa in the back row, but he’s also been our best prop forward recently as well. Tough call who to drop for Arona this week.

Re: Pleasantly surprised : Wed Mar 04, 2020 10:19 pm  

imwakefieldtillidie wrote:

I actually thought Naverette was poor in the first three games so hopefully we’ll now see some of the potential he showed at Catalans. I prefer Tanginoa in the back row, but he’s also been our best prop forward recently as well. Tough call who to drop for Arona this week.

He was our best forward on Sunday.

Re: Pleasantly surprised : Wed Mar 04, 2020 11:49 pm  

Fishermanscap wrote:

He was our best forward on Sunday.

That’s good to hear. How did Crowther go? My guess is that he’ll be the one who makes way for Arona.

Re: Pleasantly surprised : Wed Mar 04, 2020 11:50 pm  

imwakefieldtillidie wrote:

That’s good to hear. How did Crowther go? My guess is that he’ll be the one who makes way for Arona.

Crowther went ok, got through his tackling. Took a knock and went off for a head test IIRC.

Re: Pleasantly surprised : Thu Mar 05, 2020 7:04 am  

imwakefieldtillidie wrote:

That’s good to hear. How did Crowther go? My guess is that he’ll be the one who makes way for Arona.

Never went ok. Crowther is your ultimate steady developer. He’s not an automatic choice just yer imho but I reckon he will be one day.

Comparing players isn’t generally fair but in this case it is. A few years ago Crowther was totally eclipsed by Batchelor who looked a world beater. Now Crowther looks the better prospect. There is time for Batchelor to kick on but he needs to because there is a lot of competition in that back row and my money is now on Crowther.

For now though a fit Arona trumps both of them.