Re: Chester must go now : Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:17 pm  

upthecats wrote:

So we were unfit and London were fit yet at the end of the season their points difference was -282 and ours -115...

This is what makes me laugh about our fans. Supposed to be ‘supporting’ our club but rip us to shreds at every available opportunity, yet heap praise on the teams in and around us who are getting similar results!

Case in point...praise for Hull KR trying the other day but forgetting in their previous game they lost 40-10 to the same Warrington team we did.

We lose our first game back by a point to Wigan who are now sat top but instead of praising a gutsy effort let’s pick apart the performance and say Wigan eased off to let us get back into it...and it goes down as another defeat to add to the numbers...

I was only ever talking hypothetically, on the basis that if someone else "were" to come in. I don't think I've ever posted a "Chester Out" post, and for me this season doesn't matter, other than getting some cash in the bank. I have said a lot in the past that if you can't be the best, be the fittest, something London brought. They were clearly very fit, which gave them a chance. What caused them to go down with a big points difference is that they were fundamentally a Championship side who played above themselves.

We have battled against injuries for two or three seasons now, and I imagine that fitness must be a factor, as you must come off worse in a challenge if you are more gassed than the other bloke.

My starting point for us, however, is that with the lowest budget in the league, any top half finish is a good season. We have to utilise every aspect to achieve that, and being fit is part of that, which is clearly what London realised. As it happened, it wasn't enough, but it very nearly was.

Re: Chester must go now : Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:23 pm  

PopTart wrote:

Saying that my mate is a Cas fan and says they have exactly the same issue. Maybe all clubs have them.

Yes they’re suffering too and have returned 3 losses since the restart, same as us! A gutsy effort against Wigan with a fair few injuries, a few 50/50 decisions against them and disruption through the game with injuries...a good effort at Saints but registered a 0 in the points column, and after going 14-0 up shipped 40 unanswered points against Catalans...

I still don’t see any side being able to do much with 8 backs out pregame and losing a further 2 during the game, which ultimately leads to all four 3/4 made up of players playing out of position. Up against a team with a spine of Ratchford, Austin, Widdop and Clarke is the scoreline that surprising?

Re: Chester must go now : Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:29 pm  

Slugger McBatt wrote:

We have battled against injuries for two or three seasons now, and I imagine that fitness must be a factor, as you must come off worse in a challenge if you are more gassed than the other bloke.

The ones that are hurting us at the moment are in the backs though...which of the current injured backs would you say picked up their injuries through lack of fitness?

Or do you put it down to bad luck...to add to being without 4 more players stood down for other reasons completely out of the coaches hands..

Re: Chester must go now : Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:38 pm  

Just for PT our shirts look nice but unfortunately that is the only positive I can think of. With regards sacking Chester it is not the money which is the major factor but his friendship with the CEO, so no it will not happen. The only way he will go is if he resigns and looking at his lack of responsibility that is very unlikely.
I am not sure we have the lowest budget that may belong to Salford but I expect we should receive a bonus from SL by playing and moving our games around just to keep Sky happy.
With regards the four players who had to stand down, this was a decision taken by the club and coach to play when we could have postponed like all the rest have, so yes he knew the risk he was taking with regards the outcome and therefore cannot use it as an excuse.
We were bad before lockdown but whatever happened during this period has not helped in generating any team spirit when we returned unlike all the other teams. I don’t know why and anything I think would be pure speculation just as I am sure everyone on this forum will have their own.

Re: Chester must go now : Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:49 pm  

upthecats wrote:

The ones that are hurting us at the moment are in the backs though...which of the current injured backs would you say picked up their injuries through lack of fitness?

Or do you put it down to bad luck...to add to being without 4 more players stood down for other reasons completely out of the coaches hands..

I don't think fitness in the backs is necessarily an issue. Our spine yesterday is the one most people are calling for, but the backs we have are not able to do a job because they are never in a position to because the pack isn't strong enough.

In some respects, bad luck plays a part, but when the same clubs suffer the same bad luck, there is perhaps another cause. Hull FC promise every year but always seem to be club that has wretched luck with injuries. Ours too.

It could be technique. It could be fitness, so players are straining more than they need to do, or doing more tackling than other clubs. When Chester first arrived, he recognised that our pack was too light and took steps to address it, and we had a couple of good seasons. A lot of the players are older and a little more battered than before. It maybe just needs a refresh in the pack. Westerman should be an eighty-minute player, for example, but he isn't fit enough, but we need him to be.

Catalans have turned back into the team they were a couple of years ago because they have a pack that is big and strong, and a couple of players in the backs who are effective when given the chance. We have the backs but perhaps not the pack anymore. Write this season off and prepare for next. Refresh the pack and I reckon we'll go well again.

Re: Chester must go now : Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:56 pm  

That’s a very fair post! I honestly thought our forwards did ok yesterday and continually got us good field position only to be let down by very poor last tackle kicks.

Chester was spot on back then...he identified early on that we were getting bullied by teams and we got the likes of Fifita, Pauli, Huby, Hirst...big intimidating guys who probably put fear into opposition...

The way the game has changed and quickened up though has maybe caught some of the big fellas out and it’s clearly been tougher on some having to come back after 5 months off with no pre season. Taking all that into account I’m prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt...

Re: Chester must go now : Mon Aug 31, 2020 2:06 pm  

Slugger McBatt wrote:

I don't think fitness in the backs is necessarily an issue. Our spine yesterday is the one most people are calling for, but the backs we have are not able to do a job because they are never in a position to because the pack isn't strong enough.

In some respects, bad luck plays a part, but when the same clubs suffer the same bad luck, there is perhaps another cause. Hull FC promise every year but always seem to be club that has wretched luck with injuries. Ours too.

It could be technique. It could be fitness, so players are straining more than they need to do, or doing more tackling than other clubs. When Chester first arrived, he recognised that our pack was too light and took steps to address it, and we had a couple of good seasons. A lot of the players are older and a little more battered than before. It maybe just needs a refresh in the pack. Westerman should be an eighty-minute player, for example, but he isn't fit enough, but we need him to be.

Catalans have turned back into the team they were a couple of years ago because they have a pack that is big and strong, and a couple of players in the backs who are effective when given the chance. We have the backs but perhaps not the pack anymore. Write this season off and prepare for next. Refresh the pack and I reckon we'll go well again.

Comparisons with Catalan are irrelevant as they have spent big, very big, certainly when compared to us.
For me, we have only 2 star players in our side and both need to be playing and in decent form to help make up for our shortcomings (compared to other sides) in other areas, that's TJ and Fifita.
Johnstone is injured so, we cant do anything there and Fifita doesn't want to play.
We are severely lacking in the halves, with not enough organisation and a woeful kicking game. Without Brough we lose both organisation and a quality kicker and this is the area that needs addressing more than anything else.
Our pack, despite having Batch and Crowther in there looks old and tired and our three quarters is shot to pieces with injuries.
It's going to be a very long season and spotting where the next victory may come from and whether it might no be this season, is difficult to see.

Re: Chester must go now : Mon Aug 31, 2020 2:18 pm  

Slugger McBatt wrote:

I haven't done the maths but I reckon if someone sat down and worked it out, he would have one of the worst win-ratios for Leeds in the super league era. He won some of his grand finals from lower down the league. He was very good at a short run at the end of the season, but Leeds had a history of starting badly under him but then coming good at the end of the season. My reading of his Leeds side is that he benefited greatly from a golden generation and strong leadership within the playing group rather than astute coaching.

Smith won two Grand Finals with Leeds. They finished top in one season, and second in the other, just a point behind Saints.

Re: Chester must go now : Mon Aug 31, 2020 10:40 pm  

We must be a godsend to Super League because we would have played Saints at their ground, Warrington at theirs and now Leeds at Headingley. This is coupled with our cup game against Catalan followed by a SL game against Catalan which should have been Saints being brought forward a day and then we play Warrington with 2 players missing through track and trace which appears to be unique to us and 1 by association. We then quite happily agree to play Leeds with a three day turnaround and have to probably use an ill prepared player coming back from a serious condition.
I wonder if they would have asked this of any other club or are we just so desperate to keep Sky happy at the risk of further injuries due to player fatigue. The load should be shared between the clubs not just accepted that it will fall to us every time, with the exception of Castleford who had to play on their free weekend to cover for a team who had players testing positive.

Re: Chester must go now : Mon Aug 31, 2020 10:47 pm  

Scarlet Pimpernell wrote:

We must be a godsend to Super League because we would have played Saints at their ground, Warrington at theirs and now Leeds at Headingley. This is coupled with our cup game against Catalan followed by a SL game against Catalan which should have been Saints being brought forward a day and then we play Warrington with 2 players missing through track and trace which appears to be unique to us and 1 by association. We then quite happily agree to play Leeds with a three day turnaround and have to probably use an ill prepared player coming back from a serious condition.
I wonder if they would have asked this of any other club or are we just so desperate to keep Sky happy at the risk of further injuries due to player fatigue. The load should be shared between the clubs not just accepted that it will fall to us every time, with the exception of Castleford who had to play on their free weekend to cover for a team who had players testing positive.

Thats been my point mate, the teams who have done nothing wrong are being penalised to keep sky happy.