Positives & concerns : Mon Feb 08, 2016 1:46 pm  

The team did not give up, fitness looked better, England looks a player, no obvious injuries, Bill Tupou went well.

Owen, Gibson, Moore, Simon, Tansey, Hall, Anakin, Yates, Walton did not play yesterday and it could be argued that if fit each of those players would improve the side.

Arguably the major problems with yesterdays performance were individual errors that can be cut out, poor selection which can be improved.

Of concern : Anthony Tupou and Kirmond look average, poor selection, lack of a plan to counteract the obvious and well know threat of Brown and Hanbury, Anderson gets dominated every week, no reward for good performances in pre season games.

Without team spirit, fitness and a desire to give 100 % then we have no chance, so delighted that these vital components seem to be in place. Think that many of the concerns can be improved upon.

Onwards and upwards

Re: Positives & concerns : Mon Feb 08, 2016 2:09 pm  

Personally thought from the time Tupou (A) was on, he had class written all over him.

But what do I know, compared with your RL knowledge.

Re: Positives & concerns : Mon Feb 08, 2016 2:27 pm  

Anthony Tupou looked pretty solid to me and I think he'll be one of our best players this season.

He also has a look of Curt Smith of Tears for Fears fame.

Re: Positives & concerns : Mon Feb 08, 2016 3:20 pm  

lifelongfan wrote:

Personally thought from the time Tupou (A) was on, he had class written all over him.

But what do I know, compared with your RL knowledge.

Apart from England who was my MoM I thought Tupou went very well and he certainly took some stopping. I think he will break some lines as the season progresses especially when defences are tiring because he looked strong to the end

Re: Positives & concerns : Mon Feb 08, 2016 3:31 pm  

A Tupou showed signs that he is a class act. My only concern would be that he has built his career on hitting lines a bit wider, and the fact we have given him the 13 shirt and he played as a middle yesterday, would suggest we are going to use him in a different way??

All in all, not too despondent as we were more than competitive.
TJ throws a decent pass to BJB and then later BJB uses his foot on the kick through and we are looking alot better.

TBF to Widnes, i thought they defended well although we didn't possibly ask as many questions as we could have. There was absolutely no push in attack. Widnes wrapped the ball up well, but there were occasions when England, Tupou and Anderson got an arm free but there were no willing support runners.

England went well, as did both hookers. Didn't think Bill Tupou did much wrong, but when Gibson or Hall come in, id still like to see him on the wing, trying to get us on the front foot from kick returns.

All in all not a bad start, plenty to work on and we were competitive! Just the silly errors that proved costly.

Re: Positives & concerns : Mon Feb 08, 2016 3:43 pm  

bellycouldtackle wrote:

The team did not give up, fitness looked better, England looks a player, no obvious injuries, Bill Tupou went well.

Owen, Gibson, Moore, Simon, Tansey, Hall, Anakin, Yates, Walton did not play yesterday and it could be argued that if fit each of those players would improve the side.

Arguably the major problems with yesterdays performance were individual errors that can be cut out, poor selection which can be improved.

Of concern : Anthony Tupou and Kirmond look average, poor selection, lack of a plan to counteract the obvious and well know threat of Brown and Hanbury, Anderson gets dominated every week, no reward for good performances in pre season games.

Without team spirit, fitness and a desire to give 100 % then we have no chance, so delighted that these vital components seem to be in place. Think that many of the concerns can be improved upon.

Onwards and upwards

Agree with everything except for Tupou, pure class when on.

Re: Positives & concerns : Mon Feb 08, 2016 7:40 pm  

[quote="vastman"]Agree with everything except for Tupou, pure class when on.[/quote]

Hmmm, Ok, I'm happy to debate that point - but first let me state for the record that I'm not wanting to knock Tupou, I sincerely hope he turns into a club legend.

I watched him closely when he came on because like most of the North Stand I was keen to get a super league look at out marquee signing.

He came on after about 30 minutes (why? Is he not fit? We weren't told he wa unfit so without any stated evidence to the contrary I have to assume he was fit to go). So we have a marquee signing, a good home crowd looking to set a base for the season, and definitely beat-able opposition. Wouldn't you have thought you would have an influential player on the field earlier than that; there was a danger the game could have been effectively over before he crossed the whitewash.

I watched him closely when he came on and he looked solid enough and got a lovely ball free which led to Lyn going over well in the corner.

What conclusion would I have drawn from his performance if I had not been aware of his pedigree? I would have thought he was a steady enough player who would,fit well into the squad and certainly not weaken it. I certainly wouldn't have marked him down as 'pure class' on the evidence of yesterday alone.

Once he settles in I trust we will see more influential displays and hopefully some vocal leadership which certainly doesn't appear to be there from our existing Captain.

I hope he becomes the player we all want him to be, but on the evidence of yesterday alone, we only have hope to work with.

Re: Positives & concerns : Mon Feb 08, 2016 7:55 pm  

Red, White and Blue wrote:

Hmmm, Ok, I'm happy to debate that point - but first let me state for the record that I'm not wanting to knock Tupou, I sincerely hope he turns into a club legend.

I watched him closely when he came on because like most of the North Stand I was keen to get a super league look at out marquee signing.

He came on after about 30 minutes (why? Is he not fit? We weren't told he wa unfit so without any stated evidence to the contrary I have to assume he was fit to go). So we have a marquee signing, a good home crowd looking to set a base for the season, and definitely beat-able opposition. Wouldn't you have thought you would have an influential player on the field earlier than that; there was a danger the game could have been effectively over before he crossed the whitewash.

I watched him closely when he came on and he looked solid enough and got a lovely ball free which led to Lyn going over well in the corner.

What conclusion would I have drawn from his performance if I had not been aware of his pedigree? I would have thought he was a steady enough player who would,fit well into the squad and certainly not weaken it. I certainly wouldn't have marked him down as 'pure class' on the evidence of yesterday alone.

Once he settles in I trust we will see more influential displays and hopefully some vocal leadership which certainly doesn't appear to be there from our existing Captain.

I hope he becomes the player we all want him to be, but on the evidence of yesterday alone, we only have hope to work with.

Nothing to debate I'm afraid. You think you're right and I know I'm right and nothing you could say will alter that so what's the point. No offence but your opinion means as little to me am mine does to you. But thanks anyway.

Re: Positives & concerns : Mon Feb 08, 2016 8:26 pm  

vastman wrote:

Nothing to debate I'm afraid. You think you're right and I know I'm right and nothing you could say will alter that so what's the point. No offence but your opinion means as little to me am mine does to you. But thanks anyway.

I agree and that's fair enough but a pity because a decent argument would have brightened up my Monday evening

Re: Positives & concerns : Mon Feb 08, 2016 9:02 pm  

bellycouldtackle wrote:

The team did not give up, fitness looked better, England looks a player, no obvious injuries, Bill Tupou went well.

Owen, Gibson, Moore, Simon, Tansey, Hall, Anakin, Yates, Walton did not play yesterday and it could be argued that if fit each of those players would improve the side.

Arguably the major problems with yesterdays performance were individual errors that can be cut out, poor selection which can be improved.

Of concern : Anthony Tupou and Kirmond look average, poor selection, lack of a plan to counteract the obvious and well know threat of Brown and Hanbury, Anderson gets dominated every week, no reward for good performances in pre season games.

Without team spirit, fitness and a desire to give 100 % then we have no chance, so delighted that these vital components seem to be in place. Think that many of the concerns can be improved upon.

Onwards and upwards

Out of your list I'd agree with Owen, Moore and Simon if fit in the 17. Simon would be good at 13 with A.Tupou playing in his natural second row position out wide where his impact may be greater.