My honest view after friendlies and 1st SL game.

Patten- next Hodgson ? Highly doubt it put a few balls down 3 years on big money time will tell.
Henry- way off the pace look like lost a lot of weight
Broughton- never got enough ball
Nero - caught out in defence
Gibson- our best player
Holdsworth- captain ? Spat dummy out few times? Another long big contract maybe mistake?
Smith- not good enough defencely
Neal and Jewitt not SL props
Goodwin - cheap shot end of
Adamson- good defender gives us nothing in attack
Sidlow- to soft not SL standard
Wild- did he play?

Ratchford needs to start
Parker- needs retire
Feka needs lose weight
Spencer needs stay in reserves not quite ready

Shaun McRae - needs hang his whistle up
Simms- needs leave
Alker- needs to work under a better coach don't think he's had the exposure as a player with good enough coaches
Vievers- defence coach ? Enough said
Fitness coach - fittest ever ? Not that old one.


Sorry wilky it's going be a long season again!!!!


Views?????

Ok lets all calm down a bit, it was a long drive home so i'm sure you have had a chance to think.
Yes it was very very poor. The Pack got beat up and gave up after an hour. Why they gave up so easily is beyond me, could it be a case of too many young guys, I don't know. All I know is this is not acceptable, I think I speak for most fans when I say that we saw this as a win. However, There were a few positives to take from it. Before the pack collapsed we looked good in attack, there were plenty of second options for attack and I thought we looked pretty dangerous with ball in hand. I don't think you can account for silly individual errors, such as Gibson dropping the ball from the kick off( For gods sake man your a pro you should be able to catch a kick off with no pressure on you), Parker needlessly losing the ball on the first drive in a set of six on their line( why he was given the ball in the first place is beyond me when we should have thrown it about and really gone for them).
I do however have serious issues with the defence out wide, Chris Nero played possible the worst game I have ever seen him play in SL, he was easily our worst player, slow up from the tackle, trotting back, I can only presume he is not 100% fit or ill, as this is not the Chris Nero I have watched over the years or in the pre-seasons. (and he jogged off the park pretty quick without thanking the supporters!)
Overall very poor D-
Patten- 6- one mistake where he dropped the ball and they scored from the next play, looked good in attack, offered a good second option in the line for holdworth, but not really a game for backs when your pack are getting bashed

Broughton-6- did all you could ask, took the ball up, but no really openings for him bar Matty 's break which would have been impressive

Nero-4- Very poor, slow up when tackles, missed a few, out of position a lot and looked well off the pace

Gibson-5- Dropped 2 simple balls, rush out of defence to much and only seemed to run into trouble instead of gaps

Henry-6- Started off slowly but got better as the game progressed and put in a shift

Smith-7- Kicked well, broke the line, was busy, hard to play behind a beaten pack

Reg-7- Good distribution, tried prompting but to no avail, attacked the line and scored a good try

Neal-6- avearge game, has good foot work but am not sure if he is a prop, got bullied a bit, would look much better 2nd row

Godwin-7- Thought he was good, quick play the ball, nice darts from dummy half, tackled well. Act of sheer thuggery at the end will cost him and us 3-4 matches i think

Jewitt-6- Did ok, nothing special, never really took us forward and always seemed to be on the back foot

Adamson-7.5- MOM for me, I know i've slagged him off before but he worked incredibly hard to day, even bust a tackle and gave a nice offload. if only they all put in this much effort

Sidlow-6.5- Did a tremendous amount of work, ok may have not have had the frills today but tackled like a trogen. But very little penetration

Wild-7- Ran Adamson close for MOM for me, who needs Swain? this guy did so much work, he was on his proverbial at the end, no wonder he slipped for their try. I think he will be a great asset.

Feka-5- nothing, not deep enough, dropped of tackles, to fat!!

Parker-5- seems to think he is some barnstorming prop when he is not, very poor journeyman

Steff-6- he is meant to have a similar role to sammut today, in that he can come off the bench and change games, impossible to do behind a beaten pack

Spencer-6.5- I know I gave him some stick the other day, but i thought he really stepped up today, nice footwork, hit gaps, made yards and put in a good stint tackling.

and here endeth the sermen

I'm curious as to what the other fans think? a good turn out today. Did anyone else think that the crusaders chant sounded like' sheep, sheep, sheep sha33ers? And full marks to our supporters they came out in numbers i thought and were really loud( as Usual)

Toby Adamson has more ability than half of that team put together, he should play next week.

That'll be the same toby Adamson who had a mare at Hudds last season and was getting slated by the fans? Potentially he's got good prospects, but he needs bringing it at the right time. And at the moment with a very light pack is not the time. He'll get bullied all over the pitch.

I would hardly call a one on one ball steel, taking the ball from Brett Hodgson in the middle of the field a mare for a debut, He made a defensive slip up but only because the ref said play the ball (not play on) then as he did giraffe boy stole it.
Anyway, a great prospect with some serious raw talent especially in attack and runs some great lines.