I'm on about youngster's. Look how long it's taken Brown, Aspinwall, Robinson and Wild to get over being thrown in at the deep end during their time in a struggling Wigan side.

We can choose which weekend to play Harlequins?

Other than that - I got nothing

ah right yeah i see where you are coming from, but i still feel you have to do something about these first team players not playing well enough, and the only way to do that is to drop em, and bring in some of the academy players.

Probably cos there IS no consolation this time, as far as I can see?

Least we don't have to wait long to get back out on the field

I'm quietly clinging onto the final hope that this is all part of McNamaras crazy plan to fool super league.

Plan is we play e all the way up to the Leeds game, hammer Leeds by 70, and win every game upto the grand final where we once again play Leeds. We're losing in the 79th minute, with 10 seconds to go. The ball comes to Menzies, who passed it to Platt, who finds a gap, has a brain fart and chucks the ball over his head - which then finds its way to Halley, who plays it inside to Sykes, who plays it back to Platt.. who SCORES!

But wait, in another brain fart, the video referee thinks Platt has knocked on when putting the ball on the line. 10 seconds later the TRY sign appears and once again we are the champions, destroying the hearts and minds of the Leeds site, and fans to which they never ever recover.

Wishful thinking, that'll probably never happen for a hundred years or so (at least with those players, else they'd be running around at a grand age of 120+), but it's nice to dream.

I like it








However I think this one is for you

A nice cup of coffee

I think you might be having a breakdown Paul, fear not though.. you're not alone.

I'm backing you in your prediction of Brian Smith, back at the Bulls in 2010 by the way.

It wasn't a prediction.. it was a prayer!!



We'll probably get Darryl Powell and Iestyn Harris.

Well, the other week when I named them the "Collapsibulls" in my sig, because they are, i would still never have imagined that.

We shipped 40 points in not much over half an hour. To illustrate how bad that actually is, if you played at the same rate all game, you'd concede 100 points.

The players on the field - especially having collapsed and collapsed in several games previously - ought to hang their heads in shame.

The fact that for 45 minutes we had so far outplayed Catalans that it looked like a training run against Wibsey Juniors makes it so much worse, and - well, what's the word ten orders of magnitude beyond 'inexplicable'?

I actually have no clue how a team can look so good, for so long, and then collapse like a pack of cards. The more I think about it, the less sense it makes. It wasn't fitness; at the end we were still going strong and attacking, and with a tiny bit of luck could have salvaged a win. What was it?

Out of a sense of duty I made myself watch the second half again, and all I can say is that as soon as some lasting pressure was applied to us, our defensive systems seemed to collapse, and the sort of ragged lines and holes appeared that I would expect at a junior game. It isn't our first collapse, it is though by far the worst and most humiliating, and I think what I would do if I were coach is sit down and analyse the tapes of all our collapses, identify the worst 4 players whose defensive work disintegrated the most in each game, and drop them.

You note I said "the most", and that's because whatever way you look at it, ALL the team shares collective responsibility for this 19th Nervous Breakdown, but you can't drop 'em all.

The coach carries the can, and it is up to him to sort whatever it is, but frankly I think it's past the point of no return now. An unlikely win against Leeds may be all that can save him as I have that feeling of a coach here who is on borrowed time from his Board, it has, to me, that 'end of days' feel about it now and I am sure Hood & Co. will have had that conversation. Whether it is right or wrong, it seems to be gathering an ominous aura of inevitability about it.

But I refuse to believe that te players do not know our defensive patterns, that plainly can't be possible, and so if you eliminate that then it means they [ido[/i know their defensive patterns, but simply lose their heads and [iignore[/i them for swathes at a time.

Why? You'd probably need a psychiatrist for that one. As an amateur diagnosis, the bottom line is that we clearly seem to suffer from a collective panic, which turns us into headless chickens, until we let the opposition get in front, when we gather our wits about us and start to play again.

It would be less painful if McNamara's team was a poor side, but it's not. There are some top players throughout the squad, and for half the game they showed it and looked the polished part. The trouble was the other half they fell around polishing their parts instead of tackling the opposition, and I really don't understand it, but the players who did that are the ones who we need honest answers from.

Seven games gone and no improvement shown, it's certainly looking like the end is nigh.

Where is ME he will want this for his sig



For me I think there is a case for sticking with Macca until it is clear we wont make the playoffs but many would argue that we are starring down the barrel of doing this now. Sad times for the club.

On a positive note, it was pleasing to hear Claire Balding describe Nero as 'the emperor'

Its looking bad for the coach. This is substantially his team, its past the stage where some of the blame lay with previous regimes. If this collapse had been a one off you could excuse it but its the third under his leadership and as Lady Bracknell would say....

I thought after the Wigan match that it was time for Hood to start looking around to see who else might be available. But what we dont need is an abrupt sacking followed by the hasty appointment of some out of work coach who just happens to be readily available. I'd still rather write off this season and make sure we have the right guy in place in the summer, when recruiting for next season starts.

If FA has lost the faith I do feel it is the end for Mac, I will get no pleasure from it, quite the opposite; another potentially top British coach bites the dust. I have not seen the game, I was enjoying the banter of Cougarville, but the teams performances & attitude is the sum of the coaches work. Saints showed you can beat the best in SL without a SH if you are coached well (flashback to Milward), Leeds showed you can challenge the best in the CC even if you are playing poorly provided your key men put the effort in.

The only other explanation I can think of is that Macca cannot do tactics on the fly, or adapt to a changing tactical situation. When he has all week to analyse & drill the players to an upcoming game - We generally start well & brightly (ignoring Wigan). At half time - the oppositon coach can see what needs to be done to nullify our strengths & exploit our weaknesses in that specific game - and does it. I have no idea what happens in our dressing room at half time but not much seems to summarise it. The opposition start to exert some pressure, our confidence vanishes like snow off a dyke, leadership on & off the field takes an ill-timed break, then we have post match platitudes again.

As an aside - Platt just took a huge gamble with that offload - if he held onto the ball I think another set without possession was certain defeat anyway - so the choice he was left with was -

1) hold onto ball, look competent but certain defeat

2)Very risky offload - small chance to get possession back, downside looks stupid.

I think the bigger problem is that he has recruited a group of players who cannnot do tactics on the fly

I haven't lost the faith, I can just see it coming. If he goes it is his players who have let him, and us, down so badly.

How are we coached? Who coached the team that clinically dismantled Catalans and steamrollered into a 26-0 lead? I think it was McNamara.

And Leeds? They are out of the Cup, exactly the same as us, having lost comprehensively on their own pitch to a team lacking key players. Maybe there is a God

The whole set up isn't working at the moment. The season is a write off and I hope we're already on the lookout for a new coach.

Yup. Best we can hope for is scraping 8th place then out of the playoffs at first attempt, early break for everyone.

I actually think 8th is beyond us at present, we are looking at 10th/11th really on current form.

On current form you can't argue with that.

My point about Leeds is that I don't think they are that good. I am still not sure about McL, but what Leeds do have is a nucleus of (world?) class players still with enough belief to get them through most scrapes.

Just what we need, a coach with a record of winning silverware. NOT!

As a matter if interest how many of yesterday's 17 have won anthing, with the Bulls and elsewhere? Could it be that we now have a team that knows how to win things or are prepared to put in the hard graft to do it?

I don't think we are in a position to demand a coach who will win silverware, just one who can put us back on the right track will do in short-medium term.