Views : Tue Mar 21, 2017 10:50 am  

I think we have done better than I expected so far this season, before a ball was kicked I gave us a chance at Huddersfield but honestly on paper I thought we would lose to Hull, Saints, Salford and Leeds. So to have two wins and four points is a bonus for me. We have shown team spirit and a willingness to defend. Everybody knows that we lack quality but spirit and desire goes a long way when it comes to defending. Our long kicking game has improved. We will need a great deal of luck to finish in the top 8, as stated before the season started we can play well and finish in the bottom four or even 12th, its a tough evenly matched league it is no disgrace to be in the bottom four.
I am disappointed that even with five pre season games we are still experimenting. It is madness to play Sio at 9, he is a great defender with a heart the size of a Lion but he simply does not have a passing game, why a coach would chose to play him at 9 is staggering, the speed of his pass against Leeds was laughable, we all know this but our coaches apparently cant see this. Our wingers are our best players, playing Twopoo next to Johnson is also a coaching crime, how many games do our coaches have to watch to know that Twopoo cannot pass and also has no idea re timing of when to try and pass to his winger. Again Twopoo is a strong runner, brave and good in defense, for me he has to play back row and just be used to cart the ball up. Arundel should be Johnsons Centre or Gibson who is perhaps the best footballer of all our centres. There could be an argument that the short turn around affected our performance against Leeds, but Leeds were very good and for the first time this season we lacked leadership and passion, we played well for twenty minutes and then our heads dropped. I agree with others that Kirkmond looks like a busted flush, also it is obvious that other natural leaders keep quiet when Kirkmond is on the field. We need a vocal leader. Grix had his worst game against Leeds, I would give Jowitt a game, the enthusiasm of youth is a great thing, there should be jeopardy for a poor performance. Likewise I would give Batchelor Kirmonds place.
The biggest issue we have is the lack of skill and creativity in attack, even if we defend well the likelihood is that a team will score say three tries against us, we dont look like we can score three tries against Stanley Rangers Veterans. The problem for me is Miller, you can just predict what is going to happen, we bring the ball out of defense well get towards the half way line, Miller gets the ball, skips across the line, doesn't take the line on and gives a murder ball to Ashurst who has to take two men and ball. No wonder Ashurst gets injured, concussed so often. The crying shame is that Ashurst is a quality player who runs really good lines. The coaches need to resolve this major problem and do it quickly, the answer is 100% not to drop Finn. Finn must play, he can defend in the 9 position and attack in 6 or 7. Miller plays a set move no matter what has developed, Williams needs to take the line on, he needs to offer more than just a good long kicking game and he needs to practice his short kicks. How bad is our touch kicking from Penalties, if thats the best we can do we may as well just run the ball. Does anyone else think that as soon as our players win a game they start to think they are world beaters, the coaches need to keep the players feet firmly on the ground.
All in all we are doing better than I expected but the coaches need to act now to resolve the staggeringly obvious problems.

Re: Views : Tue Mar 21, 2017 11:12 am  

It'll be interesting to see what the fallout from the Leeds game will be, will in cause them to react in a positive way where they become more fluid in attack or will they regress and play the percentage game even more. Miller and Williams both have the potential to be great halves, but they're too similar in their play and both seem to lack the ability to read what's happening in front of them. That hospital pass from Miller needs to be cut from his game right now, as you say, it WILL lead to the serious injury of one of his teammates. Tupou really needs to figure out a working relationship with Johnstone quickly, the left edge looks disjointed and it's almost criminal having one of the best wingers in the league carting the ball up the middle like a prop.

Hopefully we see them all working together and being vocal for the full 80min. Leigh are certainly beatable but we can't have players not giving 100%

Re: Views : Tue Mar 21, 2017 11:15 am  

bellycouldtackle wrote:

I think we have done better than I expected so far this season, before a ball was kicked I gave us a chance at Huddersfield but honestly on paper I thought we would lose to Hull, Saints, Salford and Leeds. So to have two wins and four points is a bonus for me. We have shown team spirit and a willingness to defend. Everybody knows that we lack quality but spirit and desire goes a long way when it comes to defending. Our long kicking game has improved. We will need a great deal of luck to finish in the top 8, as stated before the season started we can play well and finish in the bottom four or even 12th, its a tough evenly matched league it is no disgrace to be in the bottom four.
I am disappointed that even with five pre we are still experimenting. It is madness to play Sio at 9, he is a great defender with a heart the size of a Lion but he simply does not have a passing game, why a coach would chose to play him at 9 is staggering, the speed of his pass against Leeds was laughable, we all know this but our coaches apparently cant see this. Our wingers are our best players, playing Twopoo next to Johnson is also a coaching crime, how many games do our coaches have to watch to know that Twopoo cannot pass and also has no idea re timing of when to try and pass to his winger. Again Twopoo is a strong runner, brave and good in defense, for me he has to play back row and just be used to cart the ball up. Arundel should be Johnsons Centre or Gibson who is perhaps the best footballer of all our centres. There could be an argument that the short turn around affected our performance against Leeds, but Leeds were very good and for the first time this season we lacked leadership and passion, we played well for twenty minutes and then our heads dropped. I agree with others that Kirkmond looks like a busted flush, also it is obvious that other natural leaders keep quiet when Kirkmond is on the field. We need a vocal leader. Grix had his worst game against Leeds, I would give Jowitt a game, the enthusiasm of youth is a great thing, there should be jeopardy for a poor performance. Likewise I would give Batchelor Kirmonds place.
The biggest issue we have is the lack of skill and creativity in attack, even if we defend well the likelihood is that a team will score say three tries against us, we dont look like we can score three tries against Stanley Rangers Veterans. The problem for me is Miller, you can just predict what is going to happen, we bring the ball out of defense well get towards the half way line, Miller gets the ball, skips across the line, doesn't take the line on and gives a murder ball to Ashurst who has to take two men and ball. No wonder Ashurst gets injured, concussed so often. The crying shame is that Ashurst is a quality player who runs really good lines. The coaches need to resolve this major problem and do it quickly, the answer is 100% not to drop Finn. Finn must play, he can defend in the 9 position and attack in 6 or 7. Miller plays a set move no matter what has developed, Williams needs to take the line on, he needs to offer more than just a good long kicking game and he needs to practice his short kicks. How bad is our touch kicking from Penalties, if thats the best we can do we may as well just run the ball. Does anyone else think that as soon as our players win a game they start to think they are world beaters, the coaches need to keep the players feet firmly on the ground.
All in all we are doing better than I expected but the coaches need to act now to resolve the staggeringly obvious problems.

Spaces between paragraphs are your friend.

Re: Views : Tue Mar 21, 2017 11:18 am  

I haven't agreed with a lot of what you've said in recent months but quite a lot of this I do agree with.

Tupou - Never going to be a passing centre so playing him inside our most potent attacker does indeed seem a waste. I'd be tempted to put him on the opposite wing and play Johnstone, Arundel, Gibson, Tupou
Sio - I agree, great defender but not sharp enough from dummy half
Kirmond - I wasn't at Saints so i haven't seen much from him to justify him being first choice at SR any more
Miller - Frustrating and predictable sadly - We all know what's coming which I would expect means any decent opposition coach will also know what to expect.

Generally speaking (and has been the case for a long time):
Forwards not coming onto the ball from deep enough
Nobody running angles to switch the direction of play - once we start passing in one direction it rarely comes back the other way, a tactic that works dividends against us so why don't we try it??
Penalty kicks to touch making 5 yards, like you say we'd make more ground just running it.

Having said all that, a win against Leigh would put us on P6 W3 L3- a 50% win rate is generally good enough for top 8 so not all bad, but I would like to see a bit more of the entertaining rugby that signalled Chetster's arrival last year rather than the "play the percentages" type rugby that we don't appear to be the best at.