Thankfully i missed today's game, working and saving for France, so was listening to the game on't wireless. I was amazed to hear MC say he wished he had the luxury of bringing three aussie players in mid season as Gateshead have done. What a smack in't face for the players he has at the club, although after yesterday they need to stop and have a good look at themselves. But it is an even bigger smack in't face to the directors of the club who have provided the funds to bring in all the very good players we have. Matt Calland needs to concentrate on his own role as coach because with the players he has at the club we need to be winning trophies and not be known as also-rans.

Prob refering to the one rule for them and one rule for us rather than having a go at our directors to be honest ? I do belive he needs to stop whinging and get on with it though because any club in this league would swap squads with ours. and it was 32-0 at half time and that has nothing to do with anyone else other than the team and the coaching staff.

I get what you are saying but I have to ask how many Aussies did Gateshead have in their team yesterday?
Do they bring Aussies in mid season to save costs or just get those who want some game time? Plus how the hell can they afford them on crowds of a few hundred?
The point is this is not a level playing field - okay it sounds like sour grapes but any team that could bring in some half decent Aussies mid season will definitley benefit.
Its this 'expansion clubs' at any cost thing that annoys me. We cannot win can we, have a go about it and we get accused of 'flat cappers' a term I hate or support it and cut our own throats.
No win situation, another RFL disaster zone.
Ask cas fans how they feel about expansion clubs???

Which fans. Those that bottled the catalans players?

Sounds like they got a tough call and none of them were happy, no excuse for the bottling incident though.

Calland's only saying what everyone else is - regarding the lack of a level playing field. How on Earth do the RFL justify such a policy? It's nonsense.

Matt Calland's a young coach and is learning like everyone else. His comments re the "best team by a country mile" did make me wince at the time ... it's like standing up in the trenches and shouting "Shoot at me then!". He'll continue to make off the cuff statements which will be shot at, after all we are still the top team in the division and the one everyone wants to have a pop at. This "indifferent" spell, after it really did look like we could go through the season undefeated at one stage, will be a test of Calland's character and I for one feel he'll come through stronger and better.

I also think the "country mile" comment was just a one line throw away comment. He certainly wouldn't have said to himself, "I know, i'll slip this into the interview just to hack our rivals off and make my job harder". Like Tony said - he's young. He'll learn. I remember some rip roaring gaffes by more experienced coaches gone by. Peter Fox & Alex Murphy

oh dear has matthew put his foot in his mouth yet again???????

No, but thanks for your concern.

Read the Thread.

or maybe MC should of said, i'd have liked to of brought in a good, experienced coach just like Gateshead but couldnt !!

Did he also say the that 'fax were the better team on the day and that Gateshead simply just took all their chances?

i have brew, i was being sarcastic because matt has had the balls to say what a lot of people are thinking.




remember brew, letting some clubs have oodles of aussies on their books is good for the expansion of the game

no gateshead brought in steve mc cormack

correct. top appointment

I agree with Matt and dont see how what he said was offensive to the team as I think we could do with 2-3 more players in our squad as it shows when we have played a big game and have a couple of injurys.

I dont think it is offensive to either our team or anyone else, it was just a comment.

Of course those who wish to perpetuate the "country mile" comment will pick up on anything that is said by Matt.

This thread may run for a while, but it doesnt concern me in the slightest.

I suppose Calland's comments are better than those of Brian McDermotts in the post match press conference following the 18-20 loss to Wakefield after Danny brough got a touchline conversion after the hooter had gone-

[iQ: Do you feel as though you’ve been mugged, Brian?
A: No.

Q: How disappointing is it to lose it right on the final hooter with not even an option to come back?
A: It’s no more disappointing than any other loss.

Q: Did you think you’d got it won?
A: No.

Q: Brian, did you get the response you wanted from last week? You were on course to win that game today.
A: I don’t agree with that. I don’t think we played well. We didn’t play well in the first half but we got it back a bit in the second half, but…

Q: Do you think in another game there would have been less penalties overall?
A: I have no opinion.

Q: What about the three penalties in succession at the end?
A: No opinion.[/i

the country mile quote made me cringe at time and wasnt justified anyway.we had strugged to beat barrow,whitehaven and widnes(twice) in the preceding weeks.if those 4 games had been won by 40+ points each then i could have understood it.
while i fully support matt he has stated on several occasions that he wants to add 2/3 players to his squad.he has failed to find anyone (except hemmingway).that isnt gatesheads fault who have been able to strengthen within the rfl rules (however unjust they are).
it was a long way home yesterday through those bloody contraflows after watching that shambles.i couldnt help thinking that the recent threads on us imploding completely this season may not be too far off the mark.

Look what comments the Barrow Chairman got last week when he said he paid top dollar and they should be playing better.

It doesn't matter what is said, somebody will always make something of it.

If Matt said, "the players are ok but we've been lucky with some of our wins" somebody, no doubt would have said "so he thinks you're lucky and doesn't think your squad are any good. What does that tell the players"?

Doesn't matter whether he bigs them up or slates them, he can't win really, but one thing's for sure. Matt's no mug.

Wonder what he'll say this week after what happened at Batley

Matt said the country mile quote when he was on the high of the teams performance against Castleford which as of course motivated the other tems in our division. It is also no cowincedence that our 2 league loses have come after narrow defeats in big cup matches even though Miles Greenwood had said they had learned leasons from the Sheffield game clearly they have not as their heads was still down in the 1st half of yesterdays game. They is no more cup distraction now so lets move on starting Friday against Leigh.

Yes everyone's thinking it but would Calland of said out if won? NO!

Just whinging as he is struggling to deal with a loss of form is all!

All teams suffer dips in form, its how they respond that determines if they are a good team and potential champions this is the test Calland and the team now face.