which 5 because after that trash yesterday i can not see the bulls winning any, another point when the players go training can we get them at the same training ground with decent coach....oh and another point is it me or the ball comes out of the tackle a lot more these days is it due to short sleeved shirts? maybe try long sleeves for a couple of games and see if we gain any advantage

"The usual"? Who are they, where are they, and in the unlikely event that "they" did - why would "they" not be "entitled" to say whatever they wanted? Er, just like you?

Are you saying only paying fans are "entitled"? Sorry ME - broadybull has disqualified you. I know, but what can I do?

Erm, how so? It was rubbish and deserves to be slated.




There was considerably more than that yesterday. You could have driven a bus through our defence yesterday. The lack of technique in defence was disgraceful yesterday, hardly just down to one man.



From where exactly? I can see maybe 4 - Widnes, Wakefield Cas and London. The rest look like defeats at the moment.

In a way I am still a paying fan. I spend money each year on new kit and merchandise directly through the club and contribute is some way via my Sky Subscription.

I am geographically challenged of course but, after that yesterday maybe that ain't a bad thing.

Worst team of the weekend embarrassingly poor.

Giants are a top side and we gave them too much through missed tackles and dropped ball to even come close.

Should have guessed one of the usual suspects would start a thread like this. That said it wasn't a good show was it. We were pretty poor all round with far too many errors, not enough incisiveness in attack, silly pens given away and despite an apparent 90% tackle success rate, there seemed to be more misses than that to me..

To take a broader picture though; Hudds are decent side [Second on the ladder doesn't lie and are at a very different place in their development curve to us, and we had a few out in pivotal positions [scrum half and full back and we've carried a 'thin' squad all season, so given the position we're at [from the re-formation, not league position I'm disappointed with the showing, as I always am when we lose, but far from dismayed - I, for one, in the words of the song, never expected this season to be a rose garden [nor the next, given limited funding again.

We are currently 7th. My feeling before the season was, with a bit of luck with injuries, that we were a 7th or 8th position team, so we're on track even though we've hardly escaped the injury blight. So it's onwards and [hopefully upwards in the long term.

Over half way through the fixture list and we STILL cough up possession in critical areas. Too much dropped ball even for a championship side.

Shouldn't I have? After all, given your first paragraph pretty much agrees with my opening post it kinda suggests that you agree with me about the performance does it not? As for the "usual suspects"? Dpo you mean the people who CAN actually see the wood for the trees rather than try to dismiss it as some sort of "bad day at the office?"

Also, this Sky funding issue is now the most over-used excuse on RL Fans. We must be near the top of TT's Whinge Watch league now. YES, it is unfortunate, but it is not an excuse for what was on show yesterday. The lack of quality in a squad is expected, the failings at the absolute basics yesterday is nothing to do with the lack of Sky money. These are professional players who failed at the basics, the simple stuff. Like catching the ball for instance. I can obviously expect defeats, but not in the manner that we saw yesterday. Huddersfield are a decent side, but we made them look like world beaters yesterday. The most disappointing aspect of all is that they simply did not have to try. It really was that easy.

As for expectations? As you well know I have said all season that we will be fighting with the two Hull clubs to complete the eight. Despite their current failings, Saints will make it and now Hull FC seem to be getting a bit of a roll on. It is now any one from us and Hull KR and as it stands, we are second favourites. Biggest game of the season next week and we simply need a massive improvement.

great result



sammut had an off day and brough was awesome, only even going to be one result when that happens.

The sky money excuse doesn't wash here.

Yes we have a smaller squad, but it was Franny who said he wouldn't buy players who weren't up to the task or who didn't buy into what he was trying to achieve.

Any player who is playing at SL standard should not be missing that many tackles and coughing up possession so easily. There are a number of players who must be pi$sed off at themselves yesterday. I imagine the coach and the players won't be looking for excuses.

Exactly. It is a convenient excuse for too many.

Who did we have missing yesterday? Kearney, Gale, Manase, Sidlow, Bateman and Platt, they might not be world beaters but we need them playing. If we get them back we might win 5 and draw 1. If not we'll be lucky to win 3. Cummins needs to get them working on defense.

Knee Jerk reaction from the usual knees, one bad game due to the usual dip in form from a skinny squad suffering injuries to their better players, if anyone thought the season was going to be one of ups and hardly any downs, better get a reality check real quick! Maccas last season is a case in point, but with Franny not leaving halfway through the Squad will get the results required for the playoffs!

How is it an excuse? Evans, Fairbank and Blythe are all on loan otherwise we'd have struggled to put 17 on the pitch.

This is how good our squad is and you're shouting a a dog for peeing on the carpet.

One bad game? Seriously. We have had several bad games in a row now (Salford excepted).

Anyway - that was not bad. It was atrocious.

Hardly knee-jerk at all. I said it was unacceptable and improvement was needed. What part of this was wrong? It was basic errors. Pathetic simple stuff.

I guess you didn't watch Wakefield's dire attempt, absolutely stuffed by an average side, whereas Huddersfield are a very good team.

Well "unacceptable", for one. I hate that being trotted out. If it could be unacceptable, that would be great. We could refuse to accept it, so the match would have to be replayed. However in real life your "unacceptable" mantra is just a meaningless cliche. We lost and we played poorly for large parts. Accept it, it [iisn't[/i unacceptable, it happened, it cannot be unaccepted, it's simply history now.

Improvement needed? We are truly fortunate to be provided with this insight. You are definitely right on this point. It hadn't occurred to anyone else. No, really.

Clearly Blotto for one given his views. Oh, and all those using Sky money as an excuse.

The obvious main reason our squad is quite as thin on the ground as it is, is of course the lack of half the distribution for 2 consecutive years. It isn't an "excuse", it is what they call a "simple fact", with its foundation in basic arithmetic.

I never said the squad was not "thin". I said it failed with the basics. That is nothing to do with Sky money. Unless of course you are trying to suggest that a wee bit of coin from Murdoch and his mob would suddenly turn Whitehead into a tackling machine and ensure Sammut could catch the ball more frequently?

I ACCEPT (there - your favourite word) that the less funding leads to less quality in the side (fact) but it does not excuse the inability to do the basics correctly. (excuse)

It was a crap performance. But there are reasons behind it. We're capable of better as results have shown. We need our best 17 fit and in form to compete with the top teams. We are 7th and are still getting results against the teams below us. This is good considering the weaker squad we have this year compared with last year.

I think you might be running into the same problem we had last year.

A lightweight pack which when fit and fresh can tackle and work hard and looks exciting when on the front foot.
But when injuries bite and forwards become fatigued and battle weary they cannot keep up the intensity.

Last year we looked great for a dozen games but then just got overpowered in the forwards and really struggled.
The worst thing was that then everyone got on the players backs which made it worse when it was not really their fault.

That is why Anderson went out and bought Koppy, Taai, Mullally and Fielden.

I think some of our fans need to manage their expectations a bit. We can't simply just go out and buy 4 top forwards. We knew our squad was light at the beginning of the season but there was nothing we could do about it so a rough patch like our current one was always on the cards.

There's no lack of effort on the part of the players so I hope people don't get on their backs too much. There are some individuals that can undoubtedly improve but I think our bad performances are mainly down to the effect of injury.

Who said anywhere that we should? The only mention I recall was by DG.

I think it is fair to say that we DO accept that our quality is not as good as it could be. It is also fair to say that the inability to do the very basics by our side at the moment is a major concern.

That's who I was addressing Eddie! But for the record I do think you and others need to reign in the criticism a tad. There's lots of effort out there, it's just not going in the right directions for a number of reasons (injuries to key players, inexperience etc) and it's disappointing but it's not like the bad old days of McBanana yet.



In terms of current quality on the field we can improve but I think that'll come when we get the likes of Kearney, Manoakafoa, Gale and Bateman back from injury and some others into some form. It is a problem but I'm not majorly concerned. Unlike you I probably expected a period like this given the small squad we have in comparison with last year.