someone could give me a quick lowdown on the players that have played this year. As diplomatic a reply as possible would be greatly appreciated. No need to mention Myler as I'm aware he's the dogs doo-dah's.

No worries if I don't get a response. My fault for being 4 months late for class!

All you really need to know is that Jeremy Smith is this year's scapegoat....admittedly he hasn't been very impressive but a) it's not all his fault and b) he's miles away from being the worst import we've ever had which quite a few people are saying.

Wilshire - Confidence player, You'll know what type of game he will have in the 1st 5 mins, having nighmare under a bomb at present but hopefully will get better

Henry - Steady eddie, give him service and he'll run fast, doesnt get much but with what he gets its good

Litter - Same old Littler, not as angry as in previous seasons imo

Turner - Bit of class, good set of hands, good brain, tacking a bit iffy sometimes

Goulding - Solid, quick, Shoots out the line a bit but playing out of position
so will let him off

Smith - Got a bit of brain, has got that bit of zip somtimes, you can tell he has played international rugby league but without Myler he's a marked man and playing out of position too

Cashmere - Good hard worker, you dont realise how many yards he makes in a game, not going to scatter a defence but will keep taking the ball in, got a good offload too

Alker - Same old Alker

Stapo - See Cashmere minus the offload

Adamson - Immense, young, fearless both in attack and defence

Parker - Good proffesional will give you a 8/10 performance every game, got a bit of stick early in the season with alker situation but after that he has been a model pro imo

Swain - Works hard, tackles lots, starting to find his hands and running into gaps now another 8/10 performer on a regualar basis.

Paul - Seems to be treading water a bit imo, play of the ball is sped up when he is hooking but defence is bit iffy, getting old, hopefully has another couple of performances till he jacks it in at the end of the season

Big Phil - Makes an impact when he comes on but bit like wilshire you know what type of game he'll have within 5 mins

Sibbit - Started off brightly but has faded badly imo, needs to find form again, seems to have a good understanding with smith, not been injured much which is a positive.

Rachford - He is very good, gone under the spot light with myler hoggin it, still developing seem to play him everywhere on the field

Ill do more later if nobody beats me to it.

Cheers for that. Much appreciated.

You mean it [iwasn't[/i his fault for that particular try last Friday?

Swain is the best of the imports in my opinion. Works hard and earned a lot of respect playing half of the Warrington match not really knowing what planet he was on after knock early doors.

Myler and ratchford best half back pairing we have had so far. Ratchford and smith may gel given time but haven't any real chance to with Myler still in the ranks.

Agreed on Adamson - immense so far. Hope he's back for saints game cos we missed him last week.

Not seen the best of Goulding. has potential but need to see more.

Wilshere has had a couple of mares especially last week. Not sure if its confidence or mood. Comes across as a bit of a stroppy sod at times but will give him the beneift of the doubt as long as he starts catching the bloody ball on the full.

Others have not done much to note - not in a bad way, just much the same as we have seen before eg Alker.

Great review 'The Optimist'.

I agree with pretty much every word!

Thanks once again. this time to chrismum.

i just want to ask and it will be the last time,when myler signes the contract with warrington does he finish this season with us or go straight to warrington.

yes.

Fitzpatrick - Hampered by injury though this season so far but what we did see was a shaddow of what we have seen before, worth putting him back to fullback when fit but its up to Mcrae to give him a chance to show he isnt finished.

Talau - injury has cut short his season but what we saw was impressive, good defence, solid in attack. nice pair of hands

Jewitt - Not reaily moved on with the likes of Turner, Myler and Rachford in the big league, still learning his trade i surpose, does try thou but gets caught out sometimes with his aggressive tackling technique.
Had problems with his waving action early in the season but has settled down now but needs to step up a gear if he is to compete at superleague level.

Thornley - cant reaily comment on 1 sub appearence, he scored which is nice, let hope he can continue to put his name on the score sheet this season.

Nash - Has got bigger physically than last season but still needs to be bigger, faster, stronger and more aggressive in the tackle if he is to compete at this level.

Sidlow - See Nash but is further on in his development imo its more in his head than anything, bit like Haggery mentally.

McGillvery - High hopes at the beginning of the season for this chap, started off injured played a few games, got injured at Hull KR and never reaily saw him again apart from batley, he is very quick but perhas mcrae doesnt like what he saw.

Walton - see Thornley but hasnt scored

White - Saw him at Hull KR, knacked his knee, still managed to score and play for 30 minutes on 1 leg, looked good.

And Finally....

Mcrae - Knows the team isnt the finished article and its lacking the killer instinct to finish a team off quickly with flair, persists on trying to wear teams down in a rope a dope way sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt depends on the levels of concentration and fitness shown by the players.

So there you go, better being honest than lie, we know the players read this board so the message is if your not happy with your review so far you have the rest of the season to change it.

Options are sit there and sulk or go out and make me change my mind starting friday.

Optimist (guess you have to be as a Solly support

)

That's the best, level headed, honest appraisal I've seen on here.

Have you played or coached professionally to be able to make such a clear assessment?

A lot too much hysteria on this board - thanks for a cool headed view.

I played a bit for langworthy but i wasnt any good, imo you have to be hard, fast or mental to play rugby league, the good players are all three.

No never coached rugby just watched salford a lot, during the game im far from level headed but when the games over you can evaluate what went wrong, why it went wrong (or what went right and why we won).
Id love to get hold of a video of the game around wednesday in a week so i can watch it again and see if i missed anything but the club dont get them for about 2 weeks so not much point.

Thanks for the feedback tho

Don't encourage him.

Exactly what I was thinking!!
It'll be "pivots", "arm wrestle" and "pairs of hands" all over the place tomorrow now!

The optimist. Exactly the sort of review I was after. Cheers!