We needed a game that was like 2 sides in the trenches.

What is needed is to up the number of tackles to say 10 then players & teams may be able to do more with ball in hand. It might also help with handling errors caused by rushed plays to try & do something with the ball in six tackles. Too often we see teams running out of tackles which results in the inevitable stereotyped kick repeated endlessly by both teams till the game resembles a version of rugby union.

The last 15 minutes last night was basically a game of RU - 2 sets of forwards trundling into position for a kicker to take a pop at goal.

It was everything that RL fans have historically slated Union for.

Or drop the numbers to 11

Playing centre in RL isn’t that different to playing centre in RU. For me I can’t understand why you wouldn’t play your ex England international centre - now fully fit after full pre-season - in his normal position before a young guy who is clearly struggling to step up.

Burrell does seem to be getting as bit of a raw deal. Don't know whether Price is making some kind of point here, not picking players who were signed he didn't want. Does Latu fall into this this club of the unwashed as well

They have to serve a period of mourning of at least 1 week after their side suffer a loss.

For one individual it is considerably longer than one week.

Not sure how far you go back but I just found one that boasted Maden, Alstead, Smyth and Crouthers (v Leeds 2002). It is easy to get carried away with hyperbole.

I agree. I thought we looked committed. There is obviously still a lot to work on but hopefully we can use this game as a foundation to build on.

I was looking back on the 2018 season. At the same stage we were just 2 wins from the first 6 games - Widnes (A) and Wigan (H) having lost to Leeds (H), Huddersfield (A), Hull FC (A) and Saints (H). 76 points for, 107 against.

We are currently 3 wins from 6. 78 points for, 100 against.

In 2018 we went on to win the next 8 games and made both finals. I tracked down some of Stve Price's Guardian interviews from the time and they are almost carbon copies of what we're hearing today. Let's hope that we see a similar turnaround in 2020.

I did say one of the worst.

Also I wonder how the total salaries of these 4 from 2002, compare with the total salaries of those 4 from Friday night?

Rob Smythe scored some cracking tries! Agree about the rest though - I could pick a better threequarter line in The Kings Head 10 mins before kick off.

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For me, I can't understand why our current "coach" sold one of the best SL centres of recent years.
A regular try scorer sold, to accommodate a RU convert.
Insanity

I just shuddered

Yes it is. It's massively different.

i'm glad i'm not the only one that thought that, both centre positions(in yawnion) are completely different as i recall.

Absolutely, the 2 centre positions in Union are different to each other let alone to RL.

Sam Burgess. one of the greatest RL back rowers of all time switches to union and gets played at centre. if positions were that similar why didn't they play him at 8?

RU is nothing like RL.

Burrell looks lost in the back row with ample players on each side of him. There's no way he'd be able to stand at centre and hold his own in RL.

Nonetheless, virtually every RU centre who came north slotted into centre at RL with very little bedding in, adjustment or settling in period.

tbf, Burrell was thrown in before he was fit last season, has had a close season then been thrust into the matchday 17. He should have been at Widnes for two months to learn his trade and gain confidence.

Couldn’t disagree more. Centre in RU and RL are poles apart. In attack, big man running out wide might make sense, but in defence it’s a different beast. Centres in RL can’t just hit who’s in front of them. Jon Clark said once, about having to half back, that he’d rather make 50 tackles the middle than 10 on an edge as you have to think a lot more. And that is a RL thoroughbred 10 years into a career.

Burrell is a waste of a shirt for me.

Like who? and recently within the last 10 years?

Admittedly going back to the 1990s but one of the finest Warrington centres I've seen was Allan Bateman. Slotted in quickly to RL having been a regular RU centre. He played centre for the British Lions in RU and for Great Britain in RL if I remember correctly.
Its about ability. If you have it you'll adjust in my opinion

Who mentioned the last 10 yrs? Apart from becoming a better spectacle have the requirements of an RU centre changed dramatically in that time? No.

But since you ask

Davies, Bateman, Deveruex, Tait, Innes, Tuigimala, Gibbs, Hayne, Vainkolo off the top of my head.

Yes, it's down to ability as well, but Burrel WAS an RU international.

Comparing people that came over nearly 30 years ago before full time training isn't even like comparing apples and oranges, its like comparing apples and super fish.

And Hayne and Vainikolo were RL players who went to union, and were mainly wingers as well.

Me.



Not drastically but yes they have.



Pretty sure they aren't players within the last 10 years.



and as pointed out, RU centres are NOTHING like RL centres. The jobs are completely different. The skill level/ability is completely different. the fitness levels are completely different. The defensive reads are completely different. The communication skills required are completely different.

In short, everything between a RL & a RU centre is completely different.

That's why he isn't playing at centre and is being shoehorned into the back row. Because he's more looked after and there's less chance of him coming up with an error. More so in defense rather than attack.