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[Offside Monkey]

Gaskell and Lance didn't seem to know between them selves what roles they were suppose to be playing.
When Lomax is playing with either of them, he takes up 1st receiver t'other 2nd, which gives us structure to work with.
Also, Wilkin kept cropping up trying to do the play making which didn't exactly help matters.

I agree with someone on here that says we should have been out of sight and i wonder had Lomax been playing, whether we would have been.

I want to like Lance, I dpn't think he lacks effort or ability in certain situations but I was thinking today, we could have signed Hanbury for half the price, he wouldn't have used a quota place and he would have fitted our needs much better.

Albion wrote:

I could have done a similar job to them today.

Yes I agree with that...at times Gaskell wasn't getting into the game at all because either Hohaia would play the short ball or Wilkin would be in at second receiver

With regards to Wilkin, that's starting to wind me up. It happened last week too, if Gaskell is on the pitch let him play, don't leave him hanging around the back doing nothing whilst Wilkin plays 2 positions.

Whilst Rush and KC have done a decent job getting is to where we are, there's some massive flaws in their game plans and man management.

BackrowSaint wrote:

Whilst Rush and KC have done a decent job getting is to where we are, there's some massive flaws in their game plans and man management.

I agree. I particularly don't like the way they are handling the young blokes. Rush in his post match comments on the Saints site has only referred to Dixon's pass (which was intercepted) and Makinson's error on the touchline. No comments about how utter garbage Wilkin was or how useless Hohaia was. He did give credit to Gaskell's kick but nothing about how hard he worked in defence (which he did, even if he missed a couple of tackles - and he wasn't alone there). I think Rush is negative about the young guys and I'm not liking it.

SaintsFan wrote:

I agree. I particularly don't like the way they are handling the young blokes. Rush in his post match comments on the Saints site has only referred to Dixon's pass (which was intercepted) and Makinson's error on the touchline. No comments about how utter garbage Wilkin was or how useless Hohaia was. He did give credit to Gaskell's kick but nothing about how hard he worked in defence (which he did, even if he missed a couple of tackles - and he wasn't alone there). I think Rush is negative about the young guys and I'm not liking it.

He does seem to be a bit too pally with the senior players, I must admit. I think it's down to the fact that next season when he returns to his original job role it may be awkward for him if he's upset the apple cart amongst the senior players.

On the subject of Makinson though, he deserves hammering for that howler. If it had of been Meli there would be uproar on this board. Dixon's pass was good work by Ah Van though.

BackrowSaint wrote:

On the subject of Makinson though, he deserves hammering for that howler. If it had of been Meli there would be uproar on this board. Dixon's pass was good work by Ah Van though.

I think Makinson may have been getting hammerings anyway judging by the way his head went down after that mistake. I haven't seen Makinson fall apart after an error before and that unsettles me. He usually atones for his sins. But he just went from bad to worse after that. I saw that error back on the tries show tonight and I can see what he was doing. He made a schoolboy error, that's all. I doubt he will make it again.

There would definitely be an uproar if Meli did it because Meli has made that kind of howler many, many times in spite of his years of experience more than Makinson, and he's more often than not made those kinds of howlers in Grand Finals and other important matches.

Besides, Meli always deserves hammerings. He's tosh.

SaintsFan wrote:

I think Makinson may have been getting hammerings anyway judging by the way his head went down after that mistake. I haven't seen Makinson fall apart after an error before and that unsettles me. He usually atones for his sins. But he just went from bad to worse after that. I saw that error back on the tries show tonight and I can see what he was doing. He made a schoolboy error, that's all. I doubt he will make it again.

There would definitely be an uproar if Meli did it because Meli has made that kind of howler many, many times in spite of his years of experience more than Makinson, and he's more often than not made those kinds of howlers in Grand Finals and other important matches.

Besides, Meli always deserves hammerings. He's tosh.

I agree with everything there but I think it will do Makinson more good than bad pointing it out. He'll work extra hard in training on Tuesday now because it's been noticed. By the looks of it, nobody was informing Meli and look where that's got him.

We've been obviously desperate for an organising half ever since Eastmond imploded and we're no nearer having one now than we were then. Problem is that there just aren't any around - you either need to spend the thick end of 300 grand on a transfer fee for a Brough or Chase (money I'd be very upset if we did spend given the need to finish off the stadium first), or make do with mediocrity like Matty Smith in the current market. The best available option for now is to see how Gaskell comes along over the next year or 2 although I still remain to be convinced that he's the real deal.

And the situation isn't being helped by the Hohaia farago - we all know he's no half in a million centuries, but with his experience and obvious quality and abilities he should still at least be able to take some of the pressure off Lomax/Gaskell by giving the opposition something to think about when he gets the ball. If I'm an opposition coach coming up with a gameplan I know I can virtually ignore Lance and just load up on defending Lomax/Gaskell instead as Hohaia's never going to do anything except take a couple of strides and then just immediately pass it on to the next man in line or slice a kick straight at my FB. We might as well play Perry at #6 or #7 instead frankly. Lomax/Gaskell are being forced to make all the plays and all the running when neither is ready or experienced enough for it and it's a recipe for disaster both for team performances and for their development...

BackrowSaint wrote:

I was baffled he didn't put Gaskell at 7 and let him do the organising, put Lance at 6 and told him to take on the line. For me that would have been far better than Lance shipping the ball on poorly and Gaskell getting closed down.

Someone needs to keep telling Rush and Cunningham that until the penny drops. Gaskell at the moment is playing within constraints, he was playing a better game last season.