What game was you watching? He blew 2 overlaps in the last 10 minutes when he should have put Charnley in.

Didn't he lose his footing for one of them? A touch harsh to class that as 'blowing' the overlap.

You were doing well until you mentioned Roberts and his associated word (if).

Where the buggery is Roberts? Why isn't he EVER mentioned when injuries are discussed?

What's the latest?

This is completely out of order. Yesterday he wasn't given much chance in attack apart from one opportunity where he passed too early for charnley when we were close to scoring. He defended well, made good yards from his scoots and if we were gonna question any of the centres it would be Carmont. To build up a centre/wing partnership takes time for example Joel and Josh last year. While this is happening the other centre/wing partnership needs to be strong and yesterday Carmont and Pat looked weak for me. It was almost as if Carmont doesn't trust Richards on the outside anymore which is going to make our attack on that edge ineffective

So Goulding s the new Mathers by the look of things , i think Goulding s the least our problems going of yesterdays overall TEAM performance .

Don't think we should be 'knee jerking' here with Goulding he started life as a centre under Nobby and looked a good young prospect, lets give him a few more games at least to prove his worth [or not!

Which overlap chances??? There was never a time in the whole game when we had clear overlaps. They always had cover coming across. The ball was too slow away from acting halfback, or the pass so poor it was halting the back-lines momentum. If anything Carmont and Richards looked like carthorses, not Goulding.

On 3 occassions he had chance to pass it out out to Charnley but instead took the tackle. Two of them occasions had he done so Charnley had a break on down the line with his pace. To be fair to Goulding, Carmont blew at least 2 on the other side as well.

Good to see it's only taken one game to sort out this season's whipping boy.

To be fair i do think this thread is unfair. At least ten that played yesterday deserve their own thread if Goulding does. Theres a few players who need to have a good look at themselves if yesterday is the best they can give.

You could always sign Keith Senior.

There were never 3 occasions that there were clear overlaps. The had that side covered pretty well for almost the whole game. Bearing in mind that a defending player can allow himself to be further inside of his man because the touchline acts like an extra defender there were no clear cut opportunities where there was an overlap. The tackle count also has to be taken into account, because going wide too early can lead to a turnover of the ball.
There weren't any clear cut opportunities that I could see.

Some people seem to think that if the winger has a few yards of space out wide the centre has to pass the ball, regardless of how easy it would be for the defence to cover across and dump the player into touch.

I think we need to give him time & a chance. Not writing him off after one game. He needs to build his confendince back up, and perhaps he will fight for his place with gelling

I never said there were 3 clear overlaps but 3 occasions he could of passed to Charnley to have a run at them.

It depends what you define as clear. Two occasions if Goulding had passed to Charnley he would of been past his man and down the line imo. The pass had to be quick but Goulding didnt pass it.

Im not making a scapegoat of him but just commenting on his performance. Like if there were threads for other players i would do the same.

I'm sticking to my guns and only booing Lauaki

Don't you mean Feka Pryce?

Goulding is the least of our worries at the min. I cant see even after the first game that were good enough! A bold statement but i think were short of cover in the halves and at 9, which are the game winners. All that we look to have a pack that could do with stripping a few pounds.

Crazy stuff that people are having a go at him already. I thought he was pretty solid in defence with us not looking to have frailties down that side as bad as last year.

In attack he caused some problems and even though he probably could have done better on occasion he was far from on his own in that. I thought Carmont got some better ball then Goulding but did less with it although Richards didn't help him much having one of his poorest games in a long while.

Goulding will be this years whipping boy along with McIlorum (who also played ok and better then a lot of the others).

I don't think it would have mattered who was in the centre position, the ball wasn't reaching them enough. The only opportunity I thought Goulding "bombed" was one in the 2nd half when he should have dummied and gone himself but he gave it Charnley who was well covered. IIRC Lockers barged over from the PTB anyway. FWIW I do think Gelling will get that spot at some point this season, he looks more natural in that position than Goulding ever has.

Totally agree, this entire thread is ridiculous. There were far worse players than Goulding yesterday and those that are criticising him are not judging him as they do any other player. The same posters slag Goulding off time and again and seem to actively look for faults in his play and if none can be found just seem to make them up like in this thread. Throw enough mud and it sticks I guess. If people are scrutanising every minute detail of a players play yesterday to find fault then, if there is a thread about Goulding, I find it bizarre that there is no other thread singling out any other player. Unfortunately though this is a thread I predicted when I said pre-season, tongue in cheek, God help Goulding if he doesnt score 4 tries in his first game.

I would love though to see these 3 certain try scoring opportunites that he fluffed that cost us the game. I guess this costing us the game had nothing to do with missed chances on the right with Carmont/Richards, where the ball went far more than the left, or soft missed tackles up the middle. Pre-season the people on here that make Goulding the scapegoat criticised his defence but in both pre-season games and yesterday the right hand side was solid and there have been no tries conceeded down that side. Indeed the Goulding/Charnley partnership on the whole has looked quite promising so far and to me the left and been more of a worry than the right.

As you said Conner,"you cant see after the first game that were good enough".
All last week all we saw on here was "its the first match lets play safe and go with four forwards on the bench".
The answer is HALFBACKS,HALFBACKS BRUDDY HALFBACKS.
As well we have a coach who is obbsessed with size and fitness,there must be an happy medium and someone on the coaching staff has to come foreward and give a case for a more creative game.
Fans on this site when things go wrong allways seem to look for a scapegoat without looking at the root cause of the problem.

OMG.... This thread is a Joke... and typically of my appathy to many of our fans...

The lads 24.. played through the pain barrier for our great club and is trying his best and was by far not the worst player yesterday.. FFS give the guy a chance... Could we please have a season where scapegoats are a thing of the past and appreciate that we have a coaching staff who will pick on form and not on reputation.

I even heard a few boos after yesterdays loss..... I am getting disolutioned with the pathetic nature of some of our so called "fans"... RANT OVER...

"He's 24, give him a chance"

he's had about 5 years in the first team and NEVER impressed at centre, because, he's not a centre. Im not using him as a scapegoat I just look at the starting 13 and immediately pick him out as being our weak link, and im sure plenty of opposing sides coaches look at it and think the same,

As far as I can remember he hasn't had a shot at centre since the BN days and we are 1 game into the season which has seen him (the right hand side) receive very little ball.