Easty wrote:
I've shown optimism for the squad all year in the face of many Rovers fans who have discredited the side. We finally stick a run of games together and I'm meant to adopt the opposite mentality. I believe in the squad and Sandercock and feel comfortable talking up a side that many have wrote off all year.
You mention a could've attitude I adopted with the Saints & Cas games, Surely it's the same could've attitude you mention if roles are reversed. We however won against Warrington and Hull.
Rovers have a decent team and a very, very good coach. Slowly things are coming together, the progress graph has not had a uniform incline, nor will it have. If we lose away on Monday to a quality Huddersfield team I dare say the doubters will be back out in force. The good thing is we have progressed to a point where people give us a genuine chance away to Huddersfield a team who has wiped the floor twice with Hull FC this season, at home & away, in the league & in the cup.
We are a decent team yes but very much not across the board from 1-17. There are some glaring weaknesses and also particularly early on, several of the better players missing. Sandercock has managed this and a '5 home, 8 away' first half of the season really well. Gentle's '8 home, 4 away' start would have been far easier. While Hull were scraping those home wins against London, Wakefield etc. Rovers were losing at Warrington, Leeds & Wigan.
Inevitably things are now evening up as they were always going to.
People should think about players like Craig Hall, Josh Hodgson and Rhys Lovegrove and their contribution under Morgan and now under Sandercock. These 3 were make-weights in 2011, now they are stand outs. Coincidence? I think not, Rovers fans
Craig Hall in particular. Morgan would never have trusted him to play 6 in a million years. He'd have moved Galea, Murrell anybody. Hall cannot do what Blake Green does at 6 but he can do what Craig Hall does which quite often is scoring and setting up match winning tries.
Actually Hall has a good tackling technique far better than Welham or Dobson, his worst fault is sometimes choosing to go for the creative when the simple choice would be better. A dilemma never encountered by the less talented. But under Sandercock, Hall finally has a mentor who believes in him, nutures him, works with him not against him and gives him his chance. We've seen the results.
Rovers finally showed the ability to defend tough, like a top Super League team in the second half against Warrington. All season long we haven't done that. Can we do it again consistently and complement our attack which is statistically in the top 4 in Super League? Only time will tell. At least we now know we CAN defend because it had seemed at times we could not.
Huddersfield are a team I rate very highly and there is no doubt at all they will sometime recover the form which saw them crush Hull and others so easily. I'm thinking Rovers will be in for a hard night, I think Hudds will be really up for it. Losing runs end, winning runs end I just feel that's how it will be hope I'm wrong.
If Rovers win at Hudds then it's light the blue touch paper. If not it's back to the fight for 7th & 8th with the likes of Bradford & Hull and I'd back our chances.
