Not knocking- just an observation. Not a single song in second half apart from a cheer when we scored. If it's flat then even MORE reason for the fans to get behind the lads and gee them up!

I was surprised at Grix coming back in so quickly last week, albeit with a good game. Brierley has been playing well and offers far more in attack. As for today, I chose a day with the family, enjoying the sun, glad I did now. We will do well to finish 8th, for it what it would be, would be safety only, no chance of getting near the GF with the points we'd have to make up. Even if it was mathematically possible, we are not good enough.

The major lesson is when it's approaching half time,just don't let the opposition anywhere near our goal line because we clock off, thinking we've had a great 40 and no way they can do what they have failed to do for the last 39,but this is not the first time this has happened.

One week we look a top six side, the next we look like wooden spoonists.

We looked a little clueless in attack against Catalans and really struggled to break down their defence. Against St Helens we threw the ball around, scored some fantastic tries and played a very entertaining brand of rugby.

Today we found ourselves 16 points up without playing particularly well and seemed to think that continuing in the same vein was all that was required. So we continued to throw questionable passes, fail to adapt our kicking game to the conditions on the pitch and fail to nullify their halfbacks - and we got what we deserved.

Who are our game managers? Brough, Ellis and Hinchcliffe? There was next to no game management and organisation evident on the pitch. Hinchcliffe was disappointing, his speed out of dummy half was sub-standard and his passing a little erratic. Brough helped with the go-forward on the occasions he stepped into dummy half and provided the odd spark, and Wood had a positive impact. Ellis, for the second successive week, had his pace - or lack of - exposed and had a poor kicking game - his ideas seemed reasonable but his execution left much to be desired. We had few good kicks in the game - yes, the pitch is unnatural for the players but this should be taken into account and tested during the warm-up.

Just what was our game plan? For swathes of the game we looked rudderless, and with poor (if any) game management we made poor plays, two examples of many being Lawrence passing to Mason when he had absolutely nowhere to go and Ta'ai forcing an offload to Connor who knocked on when all we needed to do was play safe and see the half out. Instead we let them back into the game and gave them hope at a critical psychological time.

Connor has undoubted talent but he did little today and was another whose pace was exposed. Wardle looked tired, almost disinterested at times, so why wasn't he spelled - maybe for Roberts who seems deserving of more than a 10 minute cameo at the end of the game? Grix lost the ball critically on our own line and died with it several times when in the attacking line. He also looked slow trying to cover Mellor. Eorl, unfortunately, looked a shadow of his former self and seemed to plod forward with the exception of one decent run.

That's a few players who, in my view, looked slow today. The pitch exposed us and whereas Broughton's pace helped win it for us last season, Mellor's pace and our lack of it cost us today. Wood made a break, no support. Leroy made a break, no support. I do hope Brierley's tonsillitis has cleared up by Friday.

Sebastine, Ta'ai and Rapira all worked hard but at the end of the day there were far too many sub-par performances in a potentially season-defining match. Very disappointing, completely lacking in organisation. Their penultimate try had a large question mark over it but we got what we deserved. What a difference a week makes.

A few of us did try but it was a strange following today, good in numbers but very subdued like you say, even at 0-16 we couldn't muster much.

Poor performance though, probably the worse since cas! we threw it away after working hard to get a 16 point lead, although still not sure about their 4th try!

Brierley doesn't have tonsillitis, he's been dropped for Grix, which has got to be the dumbest decision of the season. I know Grix is going to Halifax at the end of the year but there's no need to give him his last series of run outs at FB just for posterity. Brierley should be back to FB on Friday but PA's love affair with Grix will, I fear, continue.
We now need to look towards the future and that for sure this season is the middle 8's, hope I'm wrong but they've got no chance now of making the super 8's.

Taai did not try to force an offload he gave a straightforward pass to Connor that was dropped with no pressure so in my opinion the blame for this lies with Connor. I agree about Wardle but not sure where Ellis has been exposed for pace these last two weeks although he was far too quiet.

I agree Connor failed to gather an eminently catchable pass but my point was meant to be that at 16-0 up in our own half just before half time we should have been playing conservatively and keeping them scoreless. Manage the clock and stifle the opposition.

Could be an opinion that Cudjoe's best years have been wasted by a play safe back inside FB like pixie.Anderson is the one really at fault.

Totally agree with that !!

Hate sounding negative but just a few thoughts on todays p*ss poor performance;
Connor had a bit of a nightmare which reflected on Murphy's (lack of!) contribution.
Grix - not the best performance from him. Brierley must now be feeling a bit disillusioned and fed up.
Sebastienne - great effort but chucked a few silly balls and possession away.
Wardle was away with the fairies and was possibly dreaming of greater things (NRL? But who'd have him based on that performance!)
Dodgy 4th try from Widnes! Was Stevie Wonder running the line?
Do we have a captain on the pitch throughout the game? Seems Danny was happy to have a rant at individuals. Perhaps his energy might have been directed at the team as a collective.
Jools has questioned the support. After capitulating the second half and throwing away the game that should have been a done deal in the first half, is it any wonder we were stunned into virtual silence!
Still keeping the faith and still half full!!

Positives from today;
Hollands pies. The meat and potato (or should that be potato and meat?) were particularly nice and flavoursome , especially with the spicy brown sauce (free sachets!)
Free, secure(ish) parking - my wheels and windows were still intact on return to the car park.
Err, the sun was out in the second half.
Struggling now.... got caught up in the nasty pile up 1 mile from home but hey ho, no one appeared to be hurt so all's well!
Keep the faith!

It's not surprising Jools always finds something wrong with the fans or a fan somewhere.

It wasn't flat at the start or when we were 16-0 up it was nothing more than stunned silence at what we were seeing it wasn't flat at the end when we were scenting an improbable win or draw at 20-24.

Anderson's comments 'we didn't deserve it' 'at half time we spoke about doing the simple things right' 'we got a reality check' either he didn't put it across right or the players didn't listen and for crying out loud is that not the 12th 'reality check' we've had in 16 games how many more do we need ????? and the 'fans were flat ?' Shocked is the word I would have used !!

Even the Examier describes it as 'the vocal claret and gold following'

Not sure what your supposed to look like when you have tonsillitis but Brierley was picked out by the sky cameras watching the Leigh Bradford game at the summer bash in Blacky, hard to tell really it's not like having your arm in a sling or anything noticeable.

He warmed up with the team so can't have tonsillitis this week.

He needs to be playing now we are 6pts adrift of 8th he's an X factor we badly need like Mellor yesterday for Widnes showed what a step and raw pace can do when he scored.

Time for us to accept that the best we can finish is 9th and play to get the four home games.

I think we did what PA said we shouldn't.

We fell in love with ourselves after Magic.

Banning all mirrors is the way forward.

Brierley did have tonsillitis, at least thats what he said on his own twitter feed straight after the cats game. Anderson made no mention of it, even eluded to the fact Grix was picked ahead of him, someones fibbing.

Agree with a few comments on here, the faster pace of Brierley would have been more suited to the Widnes pitch, what difference it would have made to a poor performance is anyones guess.

My own opinion is that being in the middle 8s may turn out to be a good thing ( if that's where we end up ) There are a few possible benefits to be had should they be used, I don't know the situ contract wise, but it used to be that if you fell out of S league they were null and void. If that's still the case then it may have the effect of concentrating the mind of one or two players, I really hope KD makes his case with the players and PA both.

Another effect could be the ( Northern Ford effect ) for want of a better expression, It certainly won't be as easy as that was but it could have a similar effect, and could get us back into some sort of order for the following season.

I only listened to the game on the Radio but it didn't sound any better than the reading on here.

The PA / Brierley thing is bemusing to say the least. Grix had a very good all round game at Newcastle, but that's what Grix does he has a good game here and there, and then some shockers, which generally contain some real blunders. The big mystery for me is why he is getting in the side, why have we acquired Brierley if we are not going to play him, he did nothing wrong that I could see. PA babbled something about the long term player, but He is an out and out proven Try scorer, What does he have to prove to PA . I suppose it could have been a very very fortunate coincidence that Grix became available exactly at the time Brierley became Ill. It all begs the question, what is the difference between Brierley and Iffy

The situation at the moment seems to be that we will be in the middle 8s or we will be making up the numbers in the top 8, Either way we should now be dropping some of our past their best players, who appear to be picked on name and concentrating on what's coming , and playing people we have presumably paid a lot of money for.

The C Cup is our best chance to get anything for Mr Davy to offset the investment he makes in the club, We have the players to do well, as we saw at Newcastle, Lets hope the Coach and the team get their act together, If not I would expect some changes for next year, We live in a world of deliver or go to the wall, League is a part of that I just hope the people at the Giants are aware of it.

maybe wardle needs to return to playing at centre...

i dont mind the ikahihifo offloads, some sections of our fans want to see entertaining rugby and other teams do it, they need to be on the same page as him though and anderson will prob coach it out of him and its not how he wants our team to play

Then somebody wants to get Anderson onto the same page.

My biggest fear is Brierley becomes the new Broughton and seeks pastures new due to lack of opportunities I know its early doors before someone shoots me down, but if Brierley had had nightmare after nightmare then id agree grix should come straight back in but hes done nowt wrong , unless you call backing up breaks and being solid under the high ball as wrong? We need to be looking to the future as it looks like the super 8s are now forlorn hope.

Luke Robinson's column in the Examiner at the weekend clearly pointed to the fact that Brierley had been dropped for the Saints game and it wasn't because he was ill.

Correct,he was fit and available for Sunday as well,he did have a bout of tonsillitis,although it didn't have any affect on selection.

masterclass from queensland today in how to win a close game..... wish we could learn to do this! didnt hinchcliffe play with cooper cronk for long enough?