There’s already a provision for us to pick a team from our armchairs and it’s called fantasy league so from the options available I’ll leave it to the guy who’s not sitting on his butt for the real thing.

Based on the 21 man squad released here’s my 1-17 and my reasons why

1 Woodburn hall
2 Saltonstall
3 fonau
4 maizen
5 walmsey
6 jouffret
7 Keyes
8 Murray
9 Moore
10 doro
11 Kavanagh
12 gee
13 tangata
14 inman
15 fairbank
16 Maher
17 matagi

McComb had a poor game against London and isn’t big enough to play centre and his distribution is average, is best position is wing and salty and walmsey are the form wingers , fonau will provide the size and punch we’ve been lacking in the centre.

I would start doro and the prop interchange would balance graft and punch , with doro and matagi providing the punch and Maher and Murray the graft.

Tangata has been inform and fairbank offers some ball handling skills from the bench when needed .

Our kicking game has been average so that’s why I choose inman over wood , he also provides a lot more defensively .

Willing to give Maher another opportunity although his performances have been underwhelming.

Agree about Maher so far him or Will Calcott for another shot at it and with most of that.
Not too fussed over who gets picked as SG will have the best 17 based on who he thinks can get the job done.
If Fonua does get a run out it will show wether a bigger centre can make the impact we think / hope it could.
Likewise with Matagi to see if he can improve us.
Just also add that Kav has been a stand out in the second row with Gee being a bit under par for him and the one under most pressure to keep his shirt before King gets included.

Agree about Maher. I would prefer Calcott oover Maher on his showing last week. We miss Worthington, he defended really well and could put a winger away. Big centres are in short supply, especially ones that can run!
Gee has worked hard but has not had much impact in attack. Let us hope that our halves and Woody have a good game and can perhaps put Fonau into some half gaps, if he plays.
Kav is my player of the season and we only three games in.

Maher looks to be blowing a bit in the games so far even without the big minutes and Calcott is solid and reliable.
I know Matty Gee is not exactly happy with his own game at the moment (as aren't some of the others) including his goal line defence especially against Sheffield and you can see him muttering to himself behind the sticks after a bit of a turn style effort.

As to the rest of the comb's just have to see who SG goes with in what will be a tricky game but he won't be risking anyone who's not 100% fit, quite rightly.

That was an embarrassment- really wise move subscribing to Viaplay yesterday. Certainly didn't help losing Keyes, but in fairness we were clueless before he went off. No point slagging off individual players as nearly all of them managed to have their worst game on the same day. One honourable exception I thought Calcott ran his blood to water and tackled everything that moved.

Awful. Keys going off didn’t help but wasn’t the problem. Our pack is too small. We
Just don’t have the grunt, firepower or what every you call it, we haven’t got it in the pack. Not looking forward to Sunday against Batley. With our being Negative I can see this happening a few times this season unless the whole squad buck up their play

I actually don’t think it’s the pack that’s the problem, it’s the centres , they’re great going forward but aren’t physical enough defensively. We haven’t replaced worthington and Arundel who were bigger and better in the defensive aspects of the game.

The 3 D's.
Disruption and discipline from Fax leading to total dominance from Widnes.

We seem to have gone backwards. New recruits not doing it, a few existing players maybe a season too long. The pack is being dominated, a prop in the 2nd row who could give us more punch down the middle but no one else to replace him and lacking decent centres, especially defensively.

We've started slow last few years ago but I'm not as confident we have the same quality to improve this year. Let's be honest we are lucky not to be 0 from 4.

That could easily have been the case. The good thing is that it isn't but we need to hit back hard against Batley. A scratchy win won't do we need to go out and make a big statement as we haven't played well yet at all. Up The Fax!

That was a hard watch, and getting up @ 3am didn't help. Lost in every single department. I don't think Widnes did anything exceptional. It was a typical Kear team but they did the basics very well. I reserved my judgment on the pack debate but my word we lack punch. You can see what Grix is going for, the working the opposition big men around scheme but too easily dominated. I hope we don't ever include another DR unless of injury. If Murray, King or even Forster were essentially dropped in favour of Matangi then Grix needs to hold his hands up. Granted, tough to stand out in that performance but he offered nothing. I got irritated even before the game learning that Fanoua had been recalled by Cas already and Grix clearly articulated that he was going to play. Inman has to start on Sunday, or drop woody into six and salty to FB. What I saw deducing from the other opening 3 games is either a lack of standards or believing in hype. Nearly blew two comfortable leads and got it handed to us in the other two. The saving grace is we are only 4 games in but we are shipping points like never before. I think Grix really missed the boat by bringing in Maher. I can't help Springer was let go for being a lazy so and so but at least one big carry can shift momentum in a game. I don't think we have anyone who can do it.

That was worse than the defeat against Oldham away a couple of seasons ago . Completely dominated in every department. Our poor set completion rate combined with a poor kicking game is putting our team under pressure, no field position whatsoever and try to play Harlem globetrotter rugby when we haven’t earned it . The players don’t seem to be listening, interesting times ahead for Grix .

That has to be up there with the worst performances in recent memory. In our defense everything that could go wrong did go wrong and the flip side everything Widnes tried came off and they took advantage of when we had a forward in the centres in the first half to great effect so fair play to them. The worrying thing is how easily we drop off tackles, our pack has been dominated in every game so far and we know that Grix likes his mobile ball playing types but seriously we are getting trampled and those players probably need to take a good look in the mirror.

I still can't get my head around letting 2 centres leave and then not replace them, in McComb and Maizen we have 2 wingers trying to make it as centres and Tibbs defense is really, really poor to watch. Yes in the summer we will get better as per normal but we have to understand that the start of the season and the business end are not usually played in conditions that we play well in and when we make a bang average team like Widnes look like world beaters there is some pretty big problems that need sorting.

As it happens we are in a similar position to last season with losses to Fev and Widnes under our belts so it won't define our season its just a little frustrating when it looks like there is a real chance of 2nd place that we once again start the season so slowly.

A bad night at the office , heads up and move on

Inman needs to play for me done nothing wrong to be not in that squad and would of been able to swap with Keyes yesterday.

The coaching needs questioning round 4 and the only 2 we won we looked shocking and only just won. Looking no where near top 4

Not sure why we did not sign another centre after losing Worthington and Arundel said it last year tibs and McOmb are not big enough

Well firstly well done to Widnes you thoroughly deserved that win and in the manner it came too. Also when some people say how hard it can be for players to play on a monday night when they have other jobs i would ask what about the fans. We have to pay to watch the crap like what was produced last night i spent the best part of 4 hours traveling there and back in poor conditions to watch that excuse of a performance we have other things going on in our lives too. As for our short comings the list seems to get longer with each game for me in previous seasons when we have had poor starts our defense as been pretty strong and it as been our attack that as taken time to hit its straps. This year our defense all over the park is very poor and for me that is the most worrying part of our game because ultimately what ever structures you have in place it comes down to attitude and will to win and we seem to be lacking in that area. As for solutions i am hoping we can do what we have done in previous years and come to life and get our season on track but there seems to be more deep seated problems in the team playing like a group of individuals rather then a team little what we do with and without the ball seems to be joined up.

Hit the nail squarely on the head there Terry. I used to be a fan of Grix but he comes across as either arrogant or just cannot be ar5ed. He is tipped for SL but surely not now based on that debacle?

I do think some of the heat on Grix is unfair. You have to remember not only did we lose two centres (one went for the money and one was lazy) but we lost Liam Finn last year and then Scott Grix this year. I appreciate Anthony Irvine is a local lad but he never played a sustained high level of the rugby league around the coaches the Grix’s and Finn will have been around. It was all but signed and sealed for Murrell to join Simon this year but then the club pulled the offer from Murrell. The BoD should take heat for that. With regard to centres if the players aren’t on the market what can you do? We can’t afford any transfer fees and if the players on the market are no better than two wingers you’re between a rock and a hard place.

There's a lot involved behind the scenes that aren't known to a lot of us on the outside.

On the theme of potential incoming targets Fax have made good offers to several players and got their man.

On the other hand they have been outbid on several others and not got them which is just how it works, sadly when the club says very little it leaves a void that when things go wrong gets filled with doubt, concern and negativity.

Likewise the same thing happens when the ones we have got either start slow or aren't even getting picked, again, incomes doubt, concern, negativity and even anger especially after a drubbing like that.

Can't go on forever about it but as an example of how things can be potentially miss interpreted [u take a statement from the BoD that Simon would be backed in the transfer market and would have more money to spend than last year[/u

On the face of it, it may seem that's not the case but is it because they have reneged on their promise.

Or is it that as with all things due to inflation some of the knock down going rates that Ian Croad said he had got some deals on just aren't available this year?

Knowing why helps a lot but not sure if it's realistic to expect that type of information to be revealed by the club?

So we're left with what we do know.

Against Widnes they were pretty good, Cas kept Fonua and we were Manure.

Absolutely agree with you. The BoD can’t be coming out with a statement after every defeat. And my post was mainly in response to the negative comments regarding Simon and him been called arrogant

I think Grix is a good coach. We are usually a threat with his attacking ideas. Most of the players that have joined the club during his tenure have added to the squad. It is obvious to most and I am sure certainly to Simon where we are a little weak or why would he take those two from Cas on the dreaded DR. However finding permanent replacements is not easy when every other club wants that type of player.
One poor performance doesn`t ruin a season or make a bad team.

Can`t make it this week so will read the comments on here with interest next week.

Widnes back down to earth with a bump today. People certainly underestimating just how bad we played against them.

Or how well we did against Sheffield.