Two evenly matched teams . Could of gone either way . Just felt that their Halfbacks kicked better. Tyler Dupree another local lad had a strong game for Widnes.
Not sure how we have ended up with Martin at fullback. Is he mates with Finn and Grixy??
Hopefully we will see Walmsley come back into side.

Was always going to be a tight game. Like last week I thought Gwaze and Fairbank gave us the impetus when they were on. We were dominating the 2nd half through basic play and completing our sets with solid defence - that's all it needed. Then 2 mistakes in sucession, a knock on from an unnecessary forced pass and a cheap offside from resulting scrum, gave them territory and momentum we didn't seem to recover from.

As for team/subs selection, I didn't get the subs with the weather. I'd have rather gambled on an extra forward in Morris.

As has been said above the difference was the kicking game and ours was awful in the first half giving them multiple 7 tackle sets. Discipline as well was poor but that has been a staple of Grix's team so not really much that can be said about that. Playing a game in a mudbath like that with just 16 players makes absolutley no sense whats so ever and Im not sure what point Grix is trying to make in doing that. Moore ran round like a headless chicken for a lot of the second half and made multiple mistakes but Joufrett is still not good enough to get on the pitch. Id love to know the plan with that as he may as well have picked Elliot Morris and had another forward on the bench that could have offered an impact. The jobs for the boys act at fullback is not working and Im not sure what we would lose by having Walmsley on the wing and Salty at FB.

Its not a disaster as I see that as a game we would have won on a decent pitch as I thought we did look better with the ball but we are now 1 from 3 with 3 tough games coming up that we will do well to win anymore than 1 from and an injury list that is stacking up to the point where like at the end of last season we look down to the bare bones especially if we are saying some of our new signings are not good enough now.

Aye, some of SG's selections/tactics are starting to look alarmingly strange. At 0v8 down and looking to be going nowhere I said if we somehow get it back to 8v8 just go for the one pointer at any possible opportunity. We didn't, Widnes did.

Aye, kicking game plaudits go to Smithy and Danny C today, we just couldn't get the range, either too short or too long and the 7 T sets as a result.
Discipline,Penalties,Position again, arrrrrrrrrrgh, must have been at least a 3 to 1 count against.
Maybe there's a connection with the injuries and us now largely back to the same pack and serial offenders from the recent past, hard to see why without watching reruns but easy to see the outcome.

Positives, good D and restricted a team who had racked up points in their last 3 to one try off a last tackle up and under that on another day could have been cleaned up.
On the rare occasion when we had some field position we looked dangerous in attack, we just didn't have enough of it to make it count.

Other news.
Games / Injuries, well we're 1 from 3 and 5 key players short with Knowles out for the season at least, Gee, Worthington and possibly Wood months away and JWH a few weeks off, 3 of our other signings not getting a start and one other going back to Siddal, not good, not good at all.

Poor set completion poor kick choice and execution especially in the first half and conceding penalties was the story yet again. Grix keeps mentioning brain explosions , maybe it’s time some players saw a shrink or readjusted earring aids because this brain explosion thing seems to have been happening for some time . It’s a long season and I’m sure things will improve ( probably not for a while with fev and Leigh on the horizon) gwaze looks a Find , I’ve been impressed with him runs hard tackles hard does big minutes and follows the gameplan . We’ve played 240 minutes of rugby and played well for about 75 mins that’s over 2 full games poor performance, imagine where we’d be if we could reverse that statistic.

Nowt changes, does it?

Said it last year will say it again Grix is not the man for the job do not care if we got 3rd last year.

His team selections are shocking. Two star signings not getting any game time LW had a bad game like many others against batley but he as not played since. Why have Jufret on the bench and not play him at all. We need a full back and another forward fast. Could of easily had LW or Joufret at fb who are both far better than martin

Personally I like Grix , his communication skills have improved with the media and he comes across well in his interviews. As regards ‘ star players ‘ we have signed , you get picked on form not status and I’m pretty sure subjectively Grix doesn’t look at them as stars , Grix played under one of the best coaches of super league in tony smith he played in grand finals he played with legends like lee briers , Adrian Morley etc in pretty sure he isn’t remotely intimidated by Lachlan walmsley and Louis jouffret. Personally I don’t understand the jouffret thing but then again I don’t spend all week analysing the games or working with them in training and neither do I have Simon Grixs ‘ cv , we didn’t lose against Batley or Widnes because of grixs’ coaching decisions we lost because of individual errors or individuals giving silly penalties away . It’s seems pretty obvious why Grix picked salty , barber , arundal , McComb: the pitch and weather and injuries, all them players make yards on slow pitches and are defensively sound . I actually thought Martin played pretty well yesterday. Halifax have actually only conceded 1 try in 160 mins and I reckon we’ve defended significantly more sets than the opposition in our own half because of ill discipline and look defensively sound , once the weather improves so will our attacking play .

I think we should have won this game. Widnes looked the stronger in the first half on the back of a good kicking game. We doggedly held them out apart from a testing kick. Gradually got on top and had Widnes rocking and then attempted a drop goal in a swamp that would only have got us level. The better option imho would be put a decent grubber in and at least they would have started that set near the line. Instead 7 tackles from the twenty and the game was done!
As i have previously reported a Batley fan said we would not see Jouffret until the sun came out.

For me good coaches are the difference in tight games because they make adjustments , but to sit someone on the bench and not use is a big question mark . Communication and decision making abilities are key..just nudge the players to make the correct decisions. 2 points lost big time .

It’s interesting to see Simon Grix getting criticised for is substitutions or lack of substitutions being inept and the reason why we lost when one point separated the two sides especially when Simon finnigan only used two subs himself for the same tactical reason Grix mentioned in his interview https://youtu.be/3veudqz1zQY We lost because 1 there kicking game was executed better 2 our discipline was poorer 3 individual errors compounding point 2 .

It’s interesting to see Simon Grix getting criticised for is substitutions or lack of substitutions being inept and the reason why we lost when one point separated the two sides especially when Simon finnigan only used two subs himself for the same tactical reason Grix mentioned in his interview https://youtu.be/3veudqz1zQY We lost because 1 there kicking game was executed better 2 our discipline was poorer 3 individual errors compounding point 2 .

Slightly different subject matter but I would be doing my best to sign someone like Tyler Dupree for next year, young local lad and is exactly the kind of prop we need , believe he’s on a one year deal at Widnes .

From what i have been told we had the chance to sign tyler but simon wasn't interested he is another who is not simons type of forward. And that as been a problem with simon last year and this he does not want forwards who may offer impact and go forward he prefers smaller fitter players with higher work rates who tick the boxes that he is looking for. The problem is those type of players lack punch and we are desperately missing that and until simon addresses this we will always have this problem at the start of the season and also when we play the best sides. Packs need to have balance and ours is too one dimensional. As for the game other then the opening 20 minutes of the second half i thought widnes were the better side and played the conditions far better then we did. Tyler was a handful and the rest of there pack did well which laid the platform for smith and craven too completely dominate the kicking game our halfbacks kicked very poorly in comparison. If jouffret was dropped on the back of the batley game then aston should be no where near the side next week not that keyes kicked much better. If i where simon i would be on the phone to huddersfield for as many players as possible for next week and if he still cant get a response from the players then he is the wrong man for the job. The problem with that is the board have just given him a new 3 year contract which i questioned at the time as a big risk. All that being said i will still be going to workington next sunday some of us fans must be mad.

If this is the case regarding Tyler then I have to agree on it being a missed opportunity, having a blend of for example a Titus gwaze and Dupree type forward would be more beneficial.

I'm glad i've read someone saying they understand why LW isn't in the team. It was blindingly obvious that it wasn't a day for him. You need wingers who will make metres on a boggy pitch, LW isn't built for that.

I disagree when Simon said in his post match interview that he didn't bring Jouffret on because Brandon was ok out there and didn't need to come off. Brandon was blowing for the last 20 minutes and made some poor judgements out of dummy half causing our halves to play some silly passes as Widnes' defence were already in their faces.

I think all in all it came down to poor kicking, ill discipline and individual errors (Many have already said this). These games happen unfortunately but we have to turn up at Workington next week.

Having a mobile pack is all well and good if the conditions are right but you can’t hang around waiting for warmer weather and drier pitches.

In winter conditions you either get field position by yardage from the pack or by kicking well and we aren’t doing either well enough.

Like Terry posted you need a balance between size and mobility and we haven’t got the size.
Workington this weekend and once again the above will be put to the test, if we fail again then SG has to do something about it.

I don't feel the forwards were the problem. We got outclassed in the halfbacks. Their kicking game was superior.
Calcott , fairbank , gwaze and Murray held their own.
We had a big lump in K Hirst. He was sluggish and didn't play enough minutes.
By the way thought widnes were lucky not to have had Lawton sent off.

Keegan was a world beater when at Fax according to some on here.

The pack has held it’s own to a degree but the point is it’s supposed to get on top of the opposition.
To do that you add to what you already have, in our case, fitness, big minutes, mobility with some size and punch.
And if we’re going to choose a “big lump” why not a Mitch Cahalane or a Gadwin Springer and then say we wouldn’t be a better, stronger side right now with them in the side.

INOUT

The whole the pack isn't big enough is misleading. No pack is ever dominant all of the time and games have momentum shifts that directly effects yardage. I think some people still live in the era of that Bulls monster back of Fielden, Anderson, Vagan etc. The forwards game has evolved since then and forwards can make yardage for more than just size. Eliott Morris is a classic example of just quick feet at the line which gets him easy meters. The pack isn't small. They are all 6 feet. I mean the best prop in the world is James Fisher-Harris @ Penrith is only 6'1. John Bateman was the best second-rower in the world at Canberra and he is hardly a monster. Sunday was a 50/50. You can pick hairs but if our pack was so dwarfed, Widnes would have won more comfortably.

Where did anyone say the whole pack wasn’t big enough, small or was so dwarfed?
Those words were never said or implied.
What was said was add to what you have some size or punch.
Someone who can break the line and get some space to play against a retreating defence which by the way we haven’t done, it’s mainly been tit for tat in the middle of the park.
You can pick hairs but if we did have that bit extra size or punch as explained above Widnes wouldn’t have won by any score.

You certainly are implying about size but don't we all


I do get your point about that line-busting forward but they are few and far between in our division at least. Springer was that type of player but that came to nothing. I do miss that Cahlhane type of prop as he had everything but hopefully, when Matty Gee is fit, I think he can give us some dimension.

So the reality is we are three matches in and we are all reevaluating potential league positions . Fev look very good and leigh look to be emerging as the next contenders . For me it looks like fax for mid table but get better on drier pitches as the team gels . Workington will probably be a 60s mudbath, I fear by the end of this weeks rain. I seem to remember going to a cup match workington v fax years ago early 90s? Standing in the bottom corner not able to tell the shirt colours wondering why on earth I had driven 3hrs to watch that mud feast .
.

Sorry but you are still misquoting people and your entire first post was built on misquotes and “straw man” arguments.
To be clear.
I did not imply that the whole of the pack were either too small, not big enough or were dwarfed as you posted.
I did not imply anything about size/punch, it was a clear statement and I will repeat it.
Our current pack would benefit by having the likes of Gadwin in there based on what is evident now on the field.
We hardly break the line and have little second phase or field position from that section of the team in winter conditions, fact.
How anyone can make a connection to yesteryear and Bradford and state that is where some people are living is total garbage, can you read peoples minds?
Do you honestly think we are at a game in 2022 and giving even a nanoseconds thought to Vagana, Feilden or anything to do with Bradford? And you say others are misleading


SG himself on the one hand acknowledges the threat of size/punch on his assessment of the opposition in his prematch interviews when he says they are a big bunch of lads or have a big pack but for some reason doesn’t add that threat to the side!!
And you have to be at least looking before your going to find that type of player.


Unfortunately the most likely source will be on DR from Huddersfield.
A simple point of example from our own team is Ed Barber.
Ed as a lot of qualities but one of the primary reasons he has stand out games when he plays in the centres is that extra bit of size that punches through the line, often with an offload, second phase, field position, points etc etc.