Re: Radford Out! : Wed May 07, 2014 10:15 am  

You have also forgotten Feka who was a Radford signing, although I reckon that Tony had more to do with his signing aswell as Talanoa.

Radford has certainly brought some good things to the squad IMO, the use of Westerman, Thomspon, faith in the young players like Shaul, Bowden and Hadley.

But he needs to start learning from his mistakes and must get his best team sorted.

Re: Radford Out! : Wed May 07, 2014 10:26 am  

My only quibble with Radford is his interviews. No coach should ever say that they don't know how to fix a problem, EVER!!! even if they don't know. They have to motivate a group of players, how can they do that if the players aren't sure if the guy leading them knows what he's doing.

Re: Radford Out! : Wed May 07, 2014 11:09 am  

Halfback is almost certainly our biggest issue, but I think there's too much more also wrong to think that getting the right one would solve almost all our ills. IMO, the biggest single problem on Sunday was ptb speed, as it has been for most of the last 5 years or so. We were playing against a set Wakefield defence, they were playing against a scrambling Hull one. That isn't about having more brains on the field (even though we definitely do lack them), it's about technique, enthusiasm, and determination.

Re: Radford Out! : Wed May 07, 2014 11:25 am  

Dave K. wrote:

But he needs to start learning from his mistakes and must get his best team sorted.

This is something that I'd like to see addressed soon. I realise that injuries and suspensions can dictate a team selection but sometimes it does seem that he's tinkering for no real reason other than because he can.

Re: Radford Out! : Wed May 07, 2014 11:56 am  

Staffs FC wrote: http://www.superleague.co.uk/report/10018 The stats don't back you up. They couldn't get in our half for the first 10 mins of the second half. Depends how you read stats, really. Whilst I wouldn't go so far as to say that they 'bossed' ours, I do think their forwards outplayed ours, and the stats pretty much back that up IMO. We might have made more metres in total, but that's because we had more possession. Looking at the 8 'proper' forwards for each side: They averaged more metres per carry than us. They made more offloads than us. They made more tackles than us. They completed a higher percentage of their tackles than us. They made the same number of tackle busts as us, off less carries, therefore more than us as an average. They made less errors than us. The only area in which we came out better than them was penalties, which actually leans towards 1865's assertion about them piggy-backing us up the field. And then there's what the stats don't show, and what was IMO the biggest difference between the 2 sides, ptb speed. Their forwards were far better than ours on both sides of this.

Staffs FC wrote: http://www.superleague.co.uk/report/10018 The stats don't back you up. They couldn't get in our half for the first 10 mins of the second half. Depends how you read stats, really. Whilst I wouldn't go so far as to say that they 'bossed' ours, I do think their forwards outplayed ours, and the stats pretty much back that up IMO. We might have made more metres in total, but that's because we had more possession. Looking at the 8 'proper' forwards for each side: They averaged more metres per carry than us. They made more offloads than us. They made more tackles than us. They completed a higher percentage of their tackles than us. They made the same number of tackle busts as us, off less carries, therefore more than us as an average. They made less errors than us. The only area in which we came out better than them was penalties, which actually leans towards 1865's assertion about them piggy-backing us up the field. And then there's what the stats don't show, and what was IMO the biggest difference between the 2 sides, ptb speed. Their forwards were far better than ours on both sides of this.

Re: Radford Out! : Wed May 07, 2014 11:59 am  

Dave K. wrote:

It's obvious our main tactic involves Westerman, so surley it's the coaches fault for not having a back up plan if he gets injured etc.

Terrible team selection again, he has made mistakes in just about every team he has put out this year. To not play Whiting and Carvell is poor, I honestly think he was saving them for the Wigan game, which was a huge mistake.

I think it's time for Pearson to act and bring in someone more experienced, no problem with Radford staying to learn his trade.
I'd also say our fitness is the worst it has been for years, how many games have we lost or failed to win in the last 10 minutes.

I disagree. Based upon this year's performances it's entirely fair/justified IMO. Carvell I agree with you, but for me that would have been at the expense of Tuson and putting Thompson in the back row.

Re: Radford Out! : Wed May 07, 2014 12:14 pm  

carl_spackler wrote:

I disagree. Based upon this year's performances it's entirely fair/justified IMO. Carvell I agree with you, but for me that would have been at the expense of Tuson and putting Thompson in the back row.

You like me like stats, compare Whting Stats to Tuson and hadley and see who offers more in attack and defence?

Whiting has been messed around this year, he has been moved to Centre and given low minutes off the bench in games.

Re: Radford Out! : Wed May 07, 2014 12:22 pm  

Dave K. wrote:

It's obvious our main tactic involves Westerman, so surley it's the coaches fault for not having a back up plan if he gets injured etc.

Radford said that the team lacked cohesion after Westerman went off in the London game, so he is aware of the problem.
Backup plans are unlikely to succeed if there isn't another player capable of taking his place.
If there was such a player, we wouldn't be struggling the way we are at the moment.

Re: Radford Out! : Wed May 07, 2014 12:25 pm  

ccs wrote:

Radford said that the team lacked cohesion after Westerman went off in the London game, so he is aware of the problem.
Backup plans are unlikely to succeed if there isn't another player capable of taking his place.
If there was such a player, we wouldn't be struggling the way we are at the moment.

He should have a backup plan, even it involves changing the tactics and not using the LF like that.

Re: Radford Out! : Wed May 07, 2014 12:55 pm  

Dave K. wrote:

He should have a backup plan, even it involves changing the tactics and not using the LF like that.

But what you're really saying is that he should have a backup plan that works - if only it were that easy.