Re: Challenge Cupv Cats : Sat Apr 10, 2021 9:38 pm  

If that today was wakefield playing with pride and passion it’s a very sad day and state of affairs at the club .If that is the best they can muster for the fans for the challenge cup ,some need to be looking at jobs away from rugby as obviously they have no heart for the game and do it a disservice.
All we could muster was yet another solo effort from off the cuff play .
How on earth the club expect to pull new and stay away fans back to belle vue is beyond me ,you’ll need someone who can sell sand in the desert.
I’ve followed this club through thick and thin and seen some hammering along the way ,but I honestly find it hard watching guys who are supposed to be professional players turning out performances like I witnessed today and to be honest for quite a while now .I don’t know what the answer is ,is it the coaches/players fault , I don’t know but I feel like I’m witnessing the slow demise of a once proud club and most on that field today don’t seem remotely interested .
We may be well down the salary cap ,we may have a small squad ,but that’s no excuse for not putting some pride and passion into the effort , headless chickens spring to mind .
As you can tell I’m miffed to say the least about today’s lacklustre performance but stopped short of picking individual players out for some special treatment .Bursts of brilliance Marred by lots of mediocrity, god help us the next few weeks if we can’t sort our attack out .

Re: Challenge Cupv Cats : Sat Apr 10, 2021 10:13 pm  

Kettykat wrote:

If that today was wakefield playing with pride and passion it’s a very sad day and state of affairs at the club .If that is the best they can muster for the fans for the challenge cup ,some need to be looking at jobs away from rugby as obviously they have no heart for the game and do it a disservice.
All we could muster was yet another solo effort from off the cuff play .
How on earth the club expect to pull new and stay away fans back to belle vue is beyond me ,you’ll need someone who can sell sand in the desert.
I’ve followed this club through thick and thin and seen some hammering along the way ,but I honestly find it hard watching guys who are supposed to be professional players turning out performances like I witnessed today and to be honest for quite a while now .I don’t know what the answer is ,is it the coaches/players fault , I don’t know but I feel like I’m witnessing the slow demise of a once proud club and most on that field today don’t seem remotely interested .
We may be well down the salary cap ,we may have a small squad ,but that’s no excuse for not putting some pride and passion into the effort , headless chickens spring to mind .
As you can tell I’m miffed to say the least about today’s lacklustre performance but stopped short of picking individual players out for some special treatment .Bursts of brilliance Marred by lots of mediocrity, god help us the next few weeks if we can’t sort our attack out .

Before the Leigh v Warrington game on Sky, there was a reference to Leigh being an 'underdog', 'mongrel' and 'backs against the wall' attitude. Something that has always been connected to Wakefield.
Unfortunately now we have a very soft underbelly and are even now, sleepwalking towards relegation.

Re: Challenge Cupv Cats : Sat Apr 10, 2021 10:36 pm  

wakefield1990 wrote:

At the end of the day we got beat by a very professional Catalan performance. It was a well balanced first half and we could have easily gone in at half time with a lead if the Pitts try was given and Bill went himself in the corner. Second half we gifted them field position with unforced errors and dumb penalties. You can’t compete without the ball unfortunately. Westerman head and shoulders our best player today.

I agree about Westerman. I believe Trinity need a couple of props signed...too weak in this area of the game.

Re: Challenge Cupv Cats : Sun Apr 11, 2021 6:18 am  

asmadasa wrote:

I agree about Westerman. I believe Trinity need a couple of props signed...too weak in this area of the game.

What saddened me the most about yesterday’s game was our one time talisman and crowd favourite taking the ball stood and virtually walking into the oncoming tackles . On around the 7 min mark I watched him walking back into the line like a condemned man going to the gallows .Simply not good enough from him or others on the park for that matter .God know what the likes of Crowther and batchelor think of this ,who do they look up to for inspiration in the heat of battle .you’ve got the likes of Innes running it out and getting bundled back over the line with players stood about watching, yes we need some grunt up front but we also need our incumbents to role their sleeves up and put a shift in .Our attacking structures yesterday were more akin to wath brow hornets than a super league side , although we did shore up the defences at times or it would have been a cricket score .Tompkins aside les cats were a bang average side but they simply had more desire and determination than us on the day ,obviously the cup means a lot more to them than us .

Re: Challenge Cupv Cats : Sun Apr 11, 2021 6:46 am  

Kettykat wrote:

What saddened me the most about yesterday’s game was our one time talisman and crowd favourite taking the ball stood and virtually walking into the oncoming tackles . On around the 7 min mark I watched him walking back into the line like a condemned man going to the gallows .Simply not good enough from him or others on the park for that matter .God know what the likes of Crowther and batchelor think of this ,who do they look up to for inspiration in the heat of battle .you’ve got the likes of Innes running it out and getting bundled back over the line with players stood about watching, yes we need some grunt up front but we also need our incumbents to role their sleeves up and put a shift in .Our attacking structures yesterday were more akin to wath brow hornets than a super league side , although we did shore up the defences at times or it would have been a cricket score .Tompkins aside les cats were a bang average side but they simply had more desire and determination than us on the day ,obviously the cup means a lot more to them than us .

the look of Crowther and Westerman when Fafita stripped the ball 5 yards out on our line in the second said it all, the days of rolling up their sleeves has gone with them getting paid the same for a win as a loss

Re: Challenge Cupv Cats : Sun Apr 11, 2021 7:00 am  

MOPSEY LIVES ON wrote:

catalan are flat track bullies and drop to bits when stood up to but the question is have all our pack got it in them to do it and to make drink water and maloney look out of sorts. That is the only time Miller and lino will get some field if we can at least reach parity with their pack. I wouldn’t send senior in or jowitt or Ryan first drive off our line either they are game but too light and it sets the tone of the set getting driven back, before we know they field the kicks and are back on half way. If we can go in with an attitude in the pack of let’s take them on then who knows if we don’t I fear a good hiding coming

Well he didn’t seem to send Jowitt in at least, just the 3/4 line for the first 3 plays instead, especially off our own line. Brilliant tactics against a powerful defensive unit...
It took us until the 18th minute to create a play to try get our best player into the game whilst he was actually on the wing. Obviously he’d had the ball numerous times before that repeatedly driving the ball up into The Catalan pack.
For all that we competed well and kept the mistakes down in the first half we effectively competed with Catalan on their terms, trying to match their pack. Why not play to our strengths and get it wide often and early, move their big men about. We effectively played to our weaknesses and whilst we did it well in the first half I always felt we wouldn’t be able to maintain it, People have been criticising a couple of individual mistakes, but you will always get mistakes in the game we actually had a pretty low error account in the first hour, I felt it was our tactics that failed the longer the game went on

Re: Challenge Cupv Cats : Sun Apr 11, 2021 7:07 am  

Kettykat wrote:

What saddened me the most about yesterday’s game was our one time talisman and crowd favourite taking the ball stood and virtually walking into the oncoming tackles . On around the 7 min mark I watched him walking back into the line like a condemned man going to the gallows .Simply not good enough from him or others on the park for that matter .God know what the likes of Crowther and batchelor think of this ,who do they look up to for inspiration in the heat of battle .you’ve got the likes of Innes running it out and getting bundled back over the line with players stood about watching, yes we need some grunt up front but we also need our incumbents to role their sleeves up and put a shift in .Our attacking structures yesterday were more akin to wath brow hornets than a super league side , although we did shore up the defences at times or it would have been a cricket score .Tompkins aside les cats were a bang average side but they simply had more desire and determination than us on the day ,obviously the cup means a lot more to them than us .

The Fifita one not running onto the ball is a real gripe of mine. It’s pathetic to be honest, catching the ball standing still trying to use his fend to make metres. Another thing we miss from him is his quick play the ball and Woody running off the back of it.

Re: Challenge Cupv Cats : Sun Apr 11, 2021 7:16 am  

I noticed that one forward seemed isolated behind the try line after a cats try.
Two groups of players congregated leaving one by himself and he made no effort to join either group.
I could be reading too much in to it but it could also be a rift.

Re: Challenge Cupv Cats : Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:01 am  

Schunter wrote:

For all that we competed well and kept the mistakes down in the first half we effectively competed with Catalan on their terms, trying to match their pack. Why not play to our strengths and get it wide often and early, move their big men about. We effectively played to our weaknesses and whilst we did it well in the first half I always felt we wouldn’t be able to maintain it,

I agree that our strengths at the moment are in the backs. The problem seems to be that the opposition's defence is on them almost before they get the ball. Sometimes it's because the distribution is slow/predictable but I reckon that more often than not we have not drawn enough of the opposition's forwards into the middle of the pitch which would allow the backs chance to have an overlap or be creative. That comes down to our forwards needing to be more of a handful and getting quick play the ball. The predictability causes a problem as the opposition can move their defence around with confidence. When Lino did his little kick through and broke the defensive line it created some uncertainty In Catalan's defence for a short time and they made sure they got to him before he had a chance to do anything like it again. We need to create that uncertainty more often.

Re: Challenge Cupv Cats : Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:47 am  

McNamara is quite complimentary about us in today's League Express...

" Wakefield played well on Saturday, we had a lot of ball control and pressure but they were really strong in defence.....Wakefield haven't managed to get a win, but I know that they are potentially a lethal team this season. They have a real opportunity to do something special..."

Let's hope he is right