Re: Time for a pisitive spin on it : Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:21 am  

Always thought it was going to be a close run thing and it was a friendly but equally there were some big red flags.

When you look at our front row logically our first choice props

Battye 5-10 16 stone - decent player in championship London go to forward for several years
Whitbread - 6-1 back row forward that can play prop , 4 games for Leigh and 30 for Gold Coast mainly in back row
Fafita - probably still one of the best in super league
Arona 32 years old , been great for us but really struggled last season due to illness
Aydin - decent prospect but still only 21 ? And not the biggest

Realistically if you Take Dave out it’s a relatively small front row for super league . With questions about form and fitness on several fronts. Non of which were answered in a positive light yesterday

Yesterday was an ideal opportunity to go up a pack more typical of super league size on a pitch that’s designed for forward dominance

Pretty poor outcome and I don’t imagine any Wakefield team wants to loose to fev and we were well and truly off the pace.

Still 3 weeks to go but very worrying

Re: Time for a pisitive spin on it : Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:28 am  

Nothing quite like a kick up the booty just before the season start. It was a friendly against highly motivated and non too shabby opposition. If we played poorly yet only lost by 1 score the that's not so worrying. We do not know the instruction, winning wasn't important, no injuries and a rustiness further reduced from the playing squad with some youngsters chopping at the bit for an opportunity.

We've had poor pre-season results and done well and vice versa. They'll be plenty of time for worry when the season starts, we only have to wait three weeks and then we can moan to our hearts content.

Re: Time for a pisitive spin on it : Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:36 am  

Khlav Kalash wrote:

Nothing quite like a kick up the booty just before the season start. It was a friendly against highly motivated and non too shabby opposition. If we played poorly yet only lost by 1 score the that's not so worrying. We do not know the instruction, winning wasn't important, no injuries and a rustiness further reduced from the playing squad with some youngsters chopping at the bit for an opportunity.

We've had poor pre-season results and done well and vice versa. They'll be plenty of time for worry when the season starts, we only have to wait three weeks and then we can moan to our hearts content.

The main 2 concerns for me were the level of enthusiasm which was poor but can easily be rectified, and our noticeable lack of size.....and to be honest I do worry about how we can rectify that in the next few weeks.

Re: Time for a pisitive spin on it : Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:39 am  

jonh wrote:

The main 2 concerns for me were the level of enthusiasm which was poor but can easily be rectified, and our noticeable lack of size.....and to be honest I do worry about how we can rectify that in the next few weeks.

Other than Green, have we lost much size from the last few games of 21? Also, the first issue will compensate the second. It wasn't long ago we were bemoaning our pack as being too big and lumbersome for the current style.

Re: Time for a pisitive spin on it : Mon Jan 24, 2022 11:34 am  

Khlav Kalash wrote:

Other than Green, have we lost much size from the last few games of 21? Also, the first issue will compensate the second. It wasn't long ago we were bemoaning our pack as being too big and lumbersome for the current style.

I am hoping the size issue could potentially be offset by a more expensive style of play with our forwards able to do big minutes and seeing lots of ball movement.

That however will not compensate against tries like we saw from Kopczak yesterday where he simply carried 4/5 defenders over the line with him and still managed to get over the line.


I also think it is important to have a mix of sizes in the modern game and apart from Dave our pack looks very similar in stature.


We don't know the remit or the instructions from WP yesterday so it is hard to judge, it is however a concern of mine that we lacked the ability to stop Fev bossing us in contact.

[PopTart]

Re: Time for a pisitive spin on it : Mon Jan 24, 2022 11:55 am  

We didn't seem to be small against Leeds.

Re: Time for a pisitive spin on it : Mon Jan 24, 2022 12:48 pm  

While I think our discipline was primarily to blame yesterday ,and you could pick out some slack tackling near our line and the edges especially first half . The same defence held up well with 12 men near our own line for periods in the second half.
That and some of our wrong options decision making in attack is always going to happen in friendlies and into the start of the season.
It’s how we deal with them that matters!
I’m certainly not panicking over the result of a friendly match.

On a more positive note… I thought Cory Hall showed up well again..
Max Jowitts conversation kicking was excellent, must of been some practicing going on in off season.
And I thought fitness wise were ok, especially when our team decided to play with 12 men for 20 mins of the game.

[PopTart]

Re: Time for a pisitive spin on it : Mon Jan 24, 2022 1:26 pm  

This is the link to everyone else's squad. https://www.superleague.co.uk/article/2 ... ad-numbers There are some great players around Super League but I don't think we in any way out of touch. I think the preseason has shown that we have some depth. The issue was actually with the first choice players not being quite ready rather than squad players.

This is the link to everyone else's squad. https://www.superleague.co.uk/article/2 ... ad-numbers There are some great players around Super League but I don't think we in any way out of touch. I think the preseason has shown that we have some depth. The issue was actually with the first choice players not being quite ready rather than squad players.

Re: Time for a pisitive spin on it : Mon Jan 24, 2022 1:43 pm  

PopTart wrote:

We didn't seem to be small against Leeds.

I did think that we were physically dominated for quite long spells by Leeds on Boxing Day, but that was hardly surprising give the nature of the 2 squads.

I am not sure if stats are available but I expect meters made was hugely in Leeds favour....but again you would expect that due to selections. Yesterday was pretty much a full strength pack.

I also agree with the comments above in regards Hall and Max kicking looking at the positives. hall looks ready for SL now i just hope we don't rush him or apply too much pressure if he has an off day which he is bound to have at some stage. Turning 4's into 6's could be crucial this year so great to see Max starting off so well. Long may it continue.

Re: Time for a pisitive spin on it : Mon Jan 24, 2022 4:07 pm  

After the event today I’m not too fussed about yesterday. They need to be better and I can’t see our discipline being as bad as that for some time. We simply didn’t respect possession and if I were bothered about checking our completed sets and %s it would tell the story.

What may matter is the disciplinary.

Hood I didn’t see it.

Be extremely surprised if Dave has a case to answer. Though 10 minutes was harsh during the game. He flung his arm out but barely made any contact if at all. Silly but usually the ref would just give a player a ticking off for that and consider turning over possession with a penalty. Handbags at Best Buy appeared Fifita wasn’t happy with the tackle.

We will see.