I watched the game and it was dire, probably the worst game so far on Sky this season, you definitely looked to play with more effort I'll give you that, but against that Leeds team which was absolutely shocking, and to not get the win tells you a lot. Next week will give you a real clue as to where you really are as a team. Warrington are a very good side unlike that Leeds team, I honestly think Leeds were that poor they made you look better. Youll say I'm trolling but I'm just giving you an outsiders view.
I watched the game and it was dire, probably the worst game so far on Sky this season, you definitely looked to play with more effort I'll give you that, but against that Leeds team which was absolutely shocking, and to not get the win tells you a lot. Next week will give you a real clue as to where you really are as a team. Warrington are a very good side unlike that Leeds team, I honestly think Leeds were that poor they made you look better.
Not expecting much on Sunday, in truth I gave up expecting anything from us weeks ago, I'm just taking each game, week by week, on its own merits!
Would simply like to see some energy and enthusiasm put in through the 80 minutes. Would also like to see some evidence that at some point during the week someone on the coaching roster remember to take the tackle bags out of the training cupboard, and that someone within the coaching staff reminded the players that they are allowed to tackle the opposing players when they have the ball!!!
Like I said, I'm not expecting much but even a couple of small steps in improvement will be a start. We have a very long road ahead of us but we have to begin somewhere, even if it is with only a couple of small steps forward. Let's hope we get to see at least some rays of sunshine come Sunday afternoon (metaphorically as well as meteorologically!!) to cheer us up a touch at last!!! We live in hope, as always!!
Well, I got what I was looking for (as posted above on Thursday).
Clearly a massive improvement on what we have seen so far this year, we competed well for the full 80 minutes, we looked committed, especially in defence, and we finally looked like we were playing for each other, for the shirt, for the badge and for the club. It's amazing what a little bit of energy and enthusiasm can do! Noticeable the crowd responded in kind, think we all felt more energised by what we saw, for probably the first time since kick-off on the opening night!!
We obviously still have major problems in attack, as exemplified this afternoon, but we will only be able to seriously remedy the situation with changes in personnel, we have no choice currently but to soldier on the best we can and hope that Truman's return will at least give us some options there for the remainder of the year.
I suspect we will still have to suffer some more thrashings before this year is out, but after watching this afternoon I'm now hoping that we have reached the bottom of the curve, with those humiliations against Leigh and Huddersfield, and from this point onwards we will start to climb upwards (if a little slowly to begin with).
On a side note, Leeds were terrible. They looked no better than us, even excusing the fact that we finally put a shift in for the first time this year. Apart from maybe Handley and Newman, that wasn't too far short of their first-choice thirteen. For such an expensively assembled team, they looked distinctly average. I would be concerned at that display if I was their supporters.
I watched the game and it was dire, probably the worst game so far on Sky this season, you definitely looked to play with more effort I'll give you that, but against that Leeds team which was absolutely shocking, I honestly think Leeds were that poor they made you look better. Youll say I'm trolling but I'm just giving you an outsiders view.
To be fair to you, those same thoughts did pass through my mind as I watched. For such an expensively assembled team, Leeds look very poor, at best average. The fact that this afternoon's game looked like a contest between two evenly matched sides (bearing in mind what we have endured over the first nine weeks of the season so far) spoke volumes, I thought, about where Leeds are at right now. Only the fact that we still have major problems in attack saved Leeds this afternoon.
From our perspective, I was simply glad to see us play with some energy and enthusiasm at long last. You might think that is not very much, but our climb back has to start somewhere and I'm hoping this afternoon was at least the first faltering steps on what is going to be a long road back to respectability for us.
Against Warrington with Scott, Trueman and Briscoe back I’d go Walker Martin Chamberlain Sutcliffe Briscoe Charles Trueman Ese’ese Houghton Sao Scott Lane Cator Subs Brown Pele Aydin Smith
Personally if Trueman is back next week I'd give Charles a week off and play Trueman with Smith. Charles hasn't let anybody down, but he's played a run of 4 or 5 games now which is great for him at his current stage of development. But Warrington have some huge bodies and its been clear in every game how much Charles has been targeted in defence. Think he would really struggle against them. I'd give him a rest next weekend and then bring him back in for London.
Defensively much better, not perfect but better. You could see the effort and we were trying to get 3 men in the tackle and control the speed of the ruck which worked o the whole. Still plenty of work to do though and we are too passive for me giving leeds easy metres for much of the game.
Attack wise its still awful. Painfully slow, inaccurate passing from dummy half, players taking the ball standing still, no dummy runners, poor shape, terrible last tackle kicks. The list goes on but for me we need to keep working on improving fitness and defence before we worry too much about the attack. Stop the tries against and overlooks better.