Yeah, how he justifies dropping a solid, consistent, local player while picking that shower yesterday is beyond me.

A quality right centre is what I have been calling out for for some time. Someone who can defend well and cause real damage in attack by either scoring tries or creating them. I dont expect a Jamie Lyon or a Gidley(If only) but it is a position where we can become better if the recruitment people do their job properly. I would settle for another Howell in fact if money is tight. I thought Lamont was going to play there yesterday as he has 'grown a bit' IMO and looks good going forward. I just dont know if I would give him the position next season based on a few games at the end of this. A major change in the player quality of this team is urgently required.
Well, we have Ollie Wilkes to look forward to next season anyway

During the first half of the Saints game (0-34 at half time) I was so stupefied that for the first time I noticed Mbu's surname is an anagram of "Bum".

Not posted for a while, but have to say I found my self shouting "rubbish" - such was our woeful performance.


for weeks i have been getting well and truely hacked off with the players standing very shallow at the play the ball when we are in attack. We look like the defending team. what happended to standing deep, giving the creative players room to move, look up, direct the attack and bring forwards running on to the ball?


LMS gets the ball 8 times out of 10 stood still has to start running and then is hit. Why is he not hitting the ball at full speed? Same Tamata, Hecks and Ward?

No wonder Randell, Purdo, Dorn and Orr can't create any space for flowing moves or overlaps.

You look at Leed, Wire, Saints, Hudds - all stood 10, 20 or even 30 metres back at a good ol' fashioned running the ball angle.


Then low and behold the Bulls show up, and guess what they play a flat attack to. At one point in the first half both attack and defence looked the same with more than 10 actual metres between both sets of players. No wonder the Dulls are stuck and at the bottom and we seem determined to join them.

Get the line of attack back at an angle, give Dorn some room, get the players running on to the ball - give Sharp some room to get on the outside of his man and stop wearing him out carting the ball forward like a forward!

Also BMcD stop the use of the wingers and centres bringing th ball out of our 20m area and use our forwards -that is what they are there for!!!


Sorry but at the moment I find myself more in tune with Lister's views than some of the more positive posters on hear - but for one thing.... I did not sit in the bar in the second half watching another game. Lister - no matter how bad the team plays you should stick it out, not scuttle off to watch the Pies (or any one else for that matter).

Agree with all of that.



Disagree. All teams do this. Watch Leeds and Donald and Hall do this job. Gardner and Meli for St Helens.



I spend £x to come and watch the team and when they displease me like that why should I bother watching for longer and getting even more bored and depressed when there is a quality game on the TV that I can watch instead?

It wasn't just me either, there were plenty of season ticket holders, those who follow the team home and away, watching the Cup semi too, obviously disillusioned and sick of the woeful rugby we are putting on.

Agree to an extent the Leeds / Saints wingers do it for the first drive to maybe catch the team asleep. Maybe drive two if they sense a roll on. But run the tape from Saints v Hudds and others recently and you will see that Saints now tend to send in Graham and Pullmefingerout on the second and third drives.

We are sending in Sharp/Melling, then Wells/Melling, then Gaffa/Wells/Melling and then one of these in again. No Quins forward gets a look in - there is the difference. We are to predictable at the moment. Teams have us worked out. No plan B or C.

If we are in our own 20 the defence will be putting a massive squeeze on so you'll need the pace and elusiveness of the wingers to get out. This may involve running sideways around the props who are flying in in defence. You need quick play the balls and players running from acting half back. I see no problems with this.

I agree our forwards are perhaps often underutilised and beyond the 20 we should not be having Gafa taking the ball up. Without wishing to be repetitive, this is where we need someone commanding play in the middle directing the team about - Orr does this to an extent but Dorn does not. Perhaps Randall needs to be more assertive too? He has definitely been dropping off in recent months.

I hadn't thought of that before but you are right. Williamson and Robinson offer plenty in defence, but attacking they are somewhat limited. This is why I am still bemused as to why Joe Mbu has been frozen out of the club - at least he made himself available to carry the ball up. I am also at a loss to understand why McDermott began playing him as a prop, which IMO was a backwards step.

I have no idea either. Joe wears his shirt with pride. As a make shift prop a couple of seasons back he spilt blood. He is a tackling machine, and has a bit of speed - but not a ball player like Hopkins.

Hopkins I am afraid is a dying breed in RL in both OZ and UK.

Oh, for another Gavin Miller !!!! Now there was a player...

Still peeded now 3 days later says it All really

I must admit seeing how the Wire v Wigan game was going I was tempted
to watch the last 20 mins of that in the bar.

As it transpired I didnt.

Missed the Bulls game on Saturday as I was on a holiday which I booked for that week as, originally we had no game that weekend. Apparently not a bad time to miss my first home game for three years.

Gotta agree - especially on the use of wingers running it from DH. Will Sharp is not big enough to hit the ball up twice in the first 3 tackles.