Obviously we are not. For me it doesn't matter who comes and goes as if we continue as we have been we will still struggle to get the best from the players, no matter how good they are

Yeah, I agree but we don't know how it will go next year yet do we? Let's see if it is another downward trend or we are in fact getting stronger.

Nothing we can do about it now anyway.

From an outside POV there can be no excuses for failing to reach the play-offs your coach was backed in the transfer market and beating the top 2 show that yer current squad can compete.
The questions you should be asking imo is whether mcbanana really is the "best young english coach" he's being labelled as.
I personally think the writing was on the wall when he was championing the signings of sheriffe,platt(3 yrs

) and ben jeffries etc.
IF you lose Sam B you'll need to spend big to challenge again.

Had we not won those games, two of those four would have finished above us. For just about all of the season they were above us. And Hudds well above us.

Unusually for you, a slightly disingenuous argument there.

I actually think Platt will come good.

Indeed. Its a shame when some people seem already to have made their minds up about next year.

I also see your point of view but how long do we wait, if we have another season like this next year then god knows what state we will be in.

At the moment the club is in freefall and I doubt a couple of new signings will make a difference with the same coach, we've tried that already.

You are right we don't know what's going to happen next year but I have seen no reason to beieve it will be any different, I do however hope I am wrong.

You're no alone, he seems to of settled again and hopefully he'll have a good season next year.

Believe me, I agree with what you say but what option do we have? All we can do is keep supporting.

I don't think we are in freefall, we are having a bad time of it for sure but it won't last forever. I do think we need a good start next year though. (Although Hull had a great start and look where they ended up...)

How long till next season?

TBH, part of me is glad we didn't make the play-offs. If we had, it may have been used to paper the cracks of this season. As it is, if we don't start next year with a bang I can't see mcnamara being coach beyond May

Mixed feelings really

I [ihope[/i that the last five games have given the team a confidence that can be taken forward into 2010. But, as other people have said, the wins only started coming when we were extremely unlikely to make the 8, and in truth we'd have long been out contention if not for the total collapse of teams.

I think there is good grounds for optimism with the likes of Scruton, Langley, Platt and Nero showing good form lately, as well as the development of Halley, Whitehead and Donaldson over the second half of the season. So with good recruitment there is every reason to be more optimistic about 2010

Having said all that, there are still huge question marks over the quality of the coaching, tactics and motivational skills of our coaching team. Obviously Steve Mac will be here at the start of next season, but I think the make up of the coaching team needs to be addressed and announced as soon as possible. We also need some sort of statement about whether Burgess is going or staying - Mondays Awards Evening would be an obvious good opportunity.

Above all, I hope that the playing squad sit down in front of their Sky TV to watch the play offs and realise that they could and should have been involved. Forget Catalans winning last night, the real reason we didn't make the Top 8 was our abysmal performances in that middle part of the season. Hopefully they will sit there and realise that their abject performances against Celtic, Castleford (x2), Salford etc cost them the prospect of a decent Play Off surge.

Apart from any feelings of having let themselves down, they've let us supporters down.

So, let me get this straight. WITH Sam B., we really challenged this year, right? Not that I want him to go, but at least try to work out the simple points.

Not at all but IF he stays the rebuild wouldn't be as big because you nearly made the 8 whereas without him you'll need to spend hell of a lot more.

Hang on. Lousy season, yes, but when did we last have a lousy season? We have no right to be top four.


You could say that if we had lost the last 5 to go with what has gone before. I wouldn't agree but you could at least have had a point. However how is a team that has won its last 5 "in freefall"? Have you got a bag on your head?

No, its not though. Is it?

Go talk to Hull or Quins - THAT is "freefall".

We had all the signs of being in freefall for much of the season, especially in the third quarter of the season when we were worse than freefalling. The absolute nadir for me was that unacceptable loss to a poor Quins side at Odsal. But, had we but known it at the time, that WAS the nadir. Winning 5 from 5 (or 6 from 7) shows that the fall was arrested and - for now at least - the recovery started.

What matters now is whether the recovering trend will continue into next season, or whether we will experience a "double-dip". Seems quite a few on here are assuming the latter - although against the trend of results. I don't see now how anyone - unless with an already-closed mind - can see what next season will bring, until we see the 2010 lot out on the park, and playing in earnest.

I think you are one with a bag over your head, another blinkered fan taken in by five wins against bottom of the table teams. Let me make it simple for you:

2007 - 3rd
2008 - 5th
2009 - 9th

[size=200FREEFALL[/size

Please god stop it, my sides are aching

Yes, I really do think that he has learned a lot about being a coach this season. I think in the past six weeks he's learned how to motivate his players and I believe it will carry through to next season.




See above.



To preform with the same amount of passion and agression as we have seen on the decent run. If we show these then we will go along way to getting back into the playoffs.

Since when were Hudds a bottom of the table team?

Hull and Quins were above us until this run of wins. NOT "bottom of the table teams".

We still finished above Wire.

Whilst no-one should be getting excited about us being out of the woods now - its clearly too early to see yet - equally, its disingenuous to discount the recent improvement because it does not suit the argument!

Nail. Head. Hit.

Spot on.

Don't you know, they will always be a bottom of the table team because - well they just are


Nooooo, we [ican't [/ihave done. Didn't they appoint the guru of coaching gurus who showed us all how it should be done? Least that's the conversation I remember having on here. ('Oh but they won the cup so thats OK

)


Improvement? We're "in freefall" aren't we?

My mistake, I forgot one of the teams was Huddersfield.

It is not an arguement, it is a fact. Whether we started the season well then it went down hill like Hull or we started the season poorly and finished well like we did it really doesn't matter. The only point that matters is that our finishing positions are getting worse, it's simple as that.

"The only point that matters"?



I mean, if that's your personal view fair enough, but it's frankly ludicrous. There's a million points "that matter".

I beg to differ. as Henry Ford said, history is more or less bunk. The 2009 season is history now - few will lament its passing. I'd rather look to the future, which has yet to be written and which does not have to be more of the same, than to the past.

If this was the economy and the great recession you were looking at, applying your logic things will just get worse and worse. Yet the most recent data suggest that we may have hit the bottom a few weeks ago and are now - slowly - hauling ourselves back up out of the pit. The present "green shoots" could prove to be a false dawn and we could well yet see a double-dip. Indeed, in terms of unemployment we surely will. But at least the economy looks to be trending the right way at last, and commentators (and me) whilst still very concerned are less pessimistic than they were a few months ago.

I suggest we may have a parallel here with the situation at the Bulls - too early to tell if the corner has really and sustainably been turned, but recent indications more positive than negative?

The encouraging bit is we showed the ability to win a tight game whereas earlier in the season if we'd have gone from 18-6 up to 18 all you know we'd have collapsed. That's signs of progress but only starting from a very low base.

Halley, Kopczak and Donaldson are all showing signs of being very useful. We now know Sykes best position isn't centre or fullback, Platt's starting to look like he can play rugby and Deacon's showing he still has some ability even if he hasn't always showed it this season. So we appear to have cover for all positions but what we lack is top class in a couple of positions. I'd hope for at least 2 from scrum half, stand off and centre.
Add 2 grand final winners in Hall and L'Estrange and in my opinion the only confirmed out we'll miss is Morrison I'd say at the start of next year we can put out a better side than we could this.