Re: SL RD 7 | Catalan Dragons (A) : Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:46 am  

Whilst our defence isn't very good, against CA's the best form of defence is attack. We have to assume they'll score points, especially on our right side.

Re: SL RD 7 | Catalan Dragons (A) : Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:48 am  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

Whilst our defence isn't very good, against CA's the best form of defence is attack. We have to assume they'll score points, especially on our right side.

I think if you speak to Cat fans their right hand side defence is about as good as ours, we need to be attacking them, Hurrell and Hanley could cause them a lot of problems, I would also be kicking to Eden at every opportunity, he is every bit of a liability as Briscoe is for us.

Re: SL RD 7 | Catalan Dragons (A) : Mon Mar 25, 2019 10:08 am  

christopher wrote:

I think we can win against Car, they are not the outfit they have been over the last couple of years, my only worry is if we get off to a bad start we don't look capable of clawing a big margin back.

My worries run a bit deeper: not only do we look incapable of clawing back a big margin, we have definitely been incapable of hanging onto a lead as well.

In other words, we cannot control a game. There are deficiencies in the pack, not least the "grabby" style of tackling that gives lots of metres and loses the wrestle. We might overcome these were we to manage a very high completion rate and then combine that with decent last plays. But we don't. Myler's dribbling the ball into touch might be good game management when we're hanging onto a lead with 2 mins to go but is useless when we need desperately to increase the margin we're leading by with say an hour left.

Cas aren't the side of a couple of years ago, I agree, but unless we rectify further shortcomings I simply don't think we can keep them at arms length. They may not have the strike power they once did but they still have enough. Everyone else has up til now, Salford excepted, and cas aren't the worst attacking side in SL by a long stretch. They would need to have a very, very bad day for us to win this. Not impossible but long odds for me.

Re: SL RD 7 | Catalan Dragons (A) : Mon Mar 25, 2019 10:31 am  

Clearwing wrote:

My worries run a bit deeper: not only do we look incapable of clawing back a big margin, we have definitely been incapable of hanging onto a lead as well.

In other words, we cannot control a game. There are deficiencies in the pack, not least the "grabby" style of tackling that gives lots of metres and loses the wrestle. We might overcome these were we to manage a very high completion rate and then combine that with decent last plays. But we don't. Myler's dribbling the ball into touch might be good game management when we're hanging onto a lead with 2 mins to go but is useless when we need desperately to increase the margin we're leading by with say an hour left.

Cas aren't the side of a couple of years ago, I agree, but unless we rectify further shortcomings I simply don't think we can keep them at arms length. They may not have the strike power they once did but they still have enough. Everyone else has up til now, Salford excepted, and cas aren't the worst attacking side in SL by a long stretch. They would need to have a very, very bad day for us to win this. Not impossible but long odds for me.

All valid points, I think I'm just trying to think positive rather than spending the week dreading the inevitable beating

Re: SL RD 7 | Catalan Dragons (A) : Mon Mar 25, 2019 11:42 am  

christopher wrote:

All valid points, I think I'm just trying to think positive rather than spending the week dreading the inevitable beating

That was my take last week. Didn't do any good...

Re: SL RD 7 | Catalan Dragons (A) : Mon Mar 25, 2019 1:31 pm  

Come on everyone it could be worse.

I think what we’re seeing is the same old split between top 4/5 and the rest, but the rest are more even now.

I’d expect one or two of our competitors to fall off a bit as this season goes on and injuries take effect.

We desperately need to keep in touch with Hudds and London in the meantime though.

Re: SL RD 7 | Catalan Dragons (A) : Mon Mar 25, 2019 1:45 pm  

KaeruJim wrote:

Come on everyone it could be worse.

Could it!
Bottom of the league, played more games than our immediate strugglers, the next win not even on the horizon.
Looks pretty bleak to me.
The club will be offering memberships as a BOGOF deal next season.

Re: SL RD 7 | Catalan Dragons (A) : Mon Mar 25, 2019 1:57 pm  

ant1 wrote:

Could it!
Bottom of the league, played more games than our immediate strugglers, the next win not even on the horizon.
Looks pretty bleak to me.
The club will be offering memberships as a BOGOF deal next season.

See there’s one silver lining for you. We have the best youth team(s) in the country at the moment and some of the best facilities.
Those things won’t translate into 1st team results this year but the future is very bright.
Ward, Ablett and Crosby are still to come back to the side, and in some games we’ve been very close to the Ws.
I also think we should get better with drier/warmer tracks and more time for new players to fit in.

Re: SL RD 7 | Catalan Dragons (A) : Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:30 pm  

If our silver lining is the return of Ablett and Crosby things really are bleak. Let's not kid ourselves Ablett is shot just as JJB is.

I asked someone close the team last week what was wrong with Crosby the answer was "knee, ankle and wrist" if he was a horse he would've been put down by the sounds. Another great signing.

Re: SL RD 7 | Catalan Dragons (A) : Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:58 pm  

Huddersfield and Catalans had won 2 out of 10 at a similar point last year with Warrington not fairing much better, there is time for us to clime to the mid table which is where I thought we would be this year, and Cats and Hudds were playing much worse than we are this year.

And conversly didn’t Leigh start quite well in the season they were relegated.

Don’t get me wrong I would like us to have a few more wins but its not over by any means is it