I’m sorry but apart from the last 3 games Holmes had been dreadful all season and you didn’t need to be some coaching expert to see that. Stats don’t tell you all that but the 20m made v HKR was one of his many lowlights. Frustration with Holmes’ performances had nothing to do with his Powell association, many were not happy with Currie in equal measure. I think most people were happy with the Holmes signing as he seemed a good pro at Cas. If he continues as he has done in the last few games (I didn’t see today) then maybe he can redeem himself. Holmes has not been doing unseen work that only genius RL brains can notice, he had a mare for 95% of the season.

Powell has a real blind spot there.

Imagine if Ratchford had played for another team at full back for seasons on end. Could you imagine us signing him to play half back for 2023? Not in a million years.

We must be looking for a back.

Moving on ... I think we may have more signings to come. Powell did suggest we were still looking. For me I would love a Right Wing, Half Back & keep Wardle. I like Thewlis so much that I would really look at the potential to convert him into a half-back otherwise I'm not sure where he will play at Super League level. I'm also not certain about how good Wrench is & his best position ... good in space with the ball but need to see more. We won't be spending money on more forwards.

A halfback with a kicking game is an absolute must, then Ratchford as utility player makes perfect sense.

I’d like us to sign Murphy from Wakefield but I believe Saints are sniffing around him. Looks a great player.

We should be throwing the whole budget at Brodie Croft.

He is a great player, but not an organising half, which is what we need.

Sneyd fulfils that role at Salford.

Croft is just what Williams is supposed to be, isn't he?

I'm not saying get Marc Sneyd, but that's the type of player we need with Williams - a reliable, steady Eddie, who will do all the dirty half back work, like the kicking game, general organising and giving Williams the freedom to be off the cuff.

Personally, our half back formation is the one thing that frustrates me most about the modern game - the idea that a half back has to be confined to one side of a pitch - I much prefer the old fashioned use of half backs, where you had a flair number 6 ( a Ken Kelly, John Woods, Phil Blake,etc) and then had a solid half back partner, who basically led the forwards around like a shepherd does with his sheep.



Croft does look like an absolute throwback, mind you. Always fantastic to see a half back with the confidence and courage to just run at a defence, using an exciting box of half back tricks.

I must say , i was pleasantly surprised how the Wire came back in the 2nd half , although the commentators pointed out that Huddersfield's defence had not been great all season either.

I've just watched the tries back on YouTube. 3 of those tries were as a direct result of Thewlis dropping it/ineffectively challenging the high ball. It also appears that Huddersfield were having more success down our left flank. Thought Ratchford was poor on Huddersfield's first try.

Williams seems to have a strong game with his involvement in our tries and obviously Dufty is a real positive.

Defensively, Thewlis seems to have been targeted, in a number of games, with high balls bringing some success for the opposition. Medium to long term, given that he's been touted as a future FB, do people have concerns? He's been given plenty of game time by Powell to iron these errors out, but vulnerabilities still exist. Any thoughts?

Thewlis isn’t a poor player, neither is he becoming one.
It’s all relative across the board.
Our pack is weak, as is our defence. The weakness puts the opposition in a better position, and that presence puts a catcher under pressure. It could be anyone under a high ball with limited time & protection around him, and it has been.
You can’t just single out Thewlis because he’s having the balls to have a go and puts himself under a spotlight.

If our defence was better, those kicks from Huddersfield and any other of the 11 teams would have been deeper, then Thewlis would have had the time and space to route some of those breath taking runs we’ve seen him do, pre Powell.
And if they aren’t kicking the ball to target someone, they are running straight through us because we are defending a zone with greater options against us.

Bottom line is, we need to play rugby league in their half, and defend that area with fast line speed if we dont have a wall of weight, or a combination of the two, not trying to defend own 20 for three parts of the game.

Thank heavens for Dufty, he saved our skin, otherwise we’d be getting relegated on Saturday.

Only saw the game live, and yes Thewlis should have been able to cope with those kicks better, but he received very little help from his centre Joe Wardle who should have been able to block the Huddersfield chasers better.

I'm not having a pop at him, he's shown promise. I agree too that a better organized defence would help, but it won't always negate a well executed kick. Put it this way, there are other players who are going to be dealing with those situations better and he does appear to have been targeted by opposing teams with a degree of success.

I wasn't at the game so haven't seen it and it's a little unfair to comment. The second half fightback was a massive positive but the first half was a massive negative, at least we are in these recent games even if we shoot ourselves in the foot before we start to play.

For the lads who went was the second half a better performance across the board? Was our game management and tactical kicking from Leon Hayes? And was that pivotal? How was ratchford and Williams as a pair in the first half?

I think thewlis head/confidence has gone under the high ball, I had no problem with him previously, then he dropped one going for a Hollywood catch and since then he's got worse.

The zero defence he got at Wigan for challengers didn't help, mind as mentioned, we do a crap job of supporting defending our catchers

To quote Paul Cullen, we should all be lucky to have a degree in hindsight, brodie croft was deemed not good enough for the nrl.

If we had signed him in the off season, can you imagine the pelters that KF would have got?

He is definitely not dealing with high kicks well and quite simply he is not going to get picked at FB or Wing unless this aspect improves. Hence I will continue to bang on about a change of position for him. He is such a talented runner.
He has obviously had great success playing at Full Back at junior level but the standard of kicking & the pressure is at a different level in Super League.

I agree with this. If Thewlis can't improve parts of his game to suit FB or Wing then Powell needs to fashion a new position for him because he is too talented to be wasted. I've heard that Thewlis trains very hard so I've no doubt he will set about improving these aspects of his game.

Thewlis was a much better player last year, and currently seems to have had the confidence knocked out of him.

In addition he wasn't being placed under so much pressure last year.

Perhaps we could do with somebody like Charnley on the right wing .

Nor last year was he FB, dropped, left out, brought back in as a right winger, dropped, left out, brought back in as FB, dropped, left out, brought back in as a right winger, dropped, left out, brought back in as a left winger. Couple that with a lack of kick protection as a winger (which is a waste of his talent as he's a FB), no wonder his confidence is shot. We also have Dufty from the latter part of this year, so Thewlis is now waiting for him to get injured to get the FB shirt, only to be dropped, left out and repeat. No wonder he's lacking in confidence.

I was baffled with Dufty's signing, as FB didn't look like a position that we had a problem with, but he has come to play and has an attitude we've not seen in some previous signings who just played under their reputation. He's showing his class, but that creates a void for Thewlis.

I heard today from a bloke who went the game that Luke Thomas was excellent. Although he is slightly biased where he is concerned!

. Can anyone on here who went comment on how he played? He does seem to be getting a good reputation as a prop for someone so young.

Watched both his away 1st team games, I endorse what you have heard.

Still very young and underweight for a Super League prop but very strong and fearless.

Agree with every word.