Do think the poor perfomance on Friday will help motivate the team into pulling off a victory this Friday. For some reason I still thing a decent cup run is on the books as we kind of look like a team of one off big game players and I fully expect to see Anderson have a blinding game this week as cup success is something he's known for a very long time.

DJ was picked for Captain after being the standout player last season. I think he was expected to become Dunneman Mk2. It seems however that DJ is actually quite a fragile person who's ability is dramatically reduced or improved by his state of mind. Some of his tweeting sort of indicate that to me especially when I think he is "low". You can also easily see it on his body language on numerous occasions since he first arrived here. Infact he's reminded me of a teenager on a few occasions as he's stomped of the pitch almost petulantly.
Maybe the expectation of being captain is also bearing heavily on him. More so as the backroom staff have diminished and I would expect the captain has been expected to use his influence even more. That's alot of pressure for someone to handle.

I think with that in mind the captain needs to be changed to either Matty Smith or Luke Patten.

To MR. I don't think that now is the time to give it to Adamson. The lad is struggling to keep his head above the water level at the moment. The burden of all that weighted expectation may just drown him. One for the future, yes, but he needs to get his own house in order first IMO.

It does seem obvious as an outsider that you lack leadership.

Fitzgibbon has been a rock for us and without him I dont think we would have made it out of the slump we found ourselves in a couple of months ago. When things arent going your way you need someone like that. Your side has alot of talent but their heads seem to drop easily. Over the last two years Fitz has at times practically grabbed hold of the other 16 guys by the stuff of the neck and dragged them over the finish line.

Holdsworth doesn't turn into a bad player overnight but his recent performances haven't been up to the standard of last season.

He may find it easier if he had someone to help take some of the burden, taking the captaincy from him maybe worsen his game. How about appointing a club captain, someone the players can look to for help and guidance.

I have been impressed with Stephen Wild so far and he would certainly help out on the field leaving DJ to do what comes naturally to him.

Adamson is only just starting to show what he can do.too soon for the Captain's job

I was there Fiday night and the worst player on the park was Anderson.....he missed tackle after tackle another example of a player content to collect a wage

Oh, for the record, as far as I know, Holdsworth is a stand-off.

Smith is a scrum-half.

If you are referring the the Hull Game , the game was lost well before Holdsworth had any positive or detrimental effect.
Smith let the kick off bounce, Cashmere couldn't control the result and stepped out of play.
Patten knocked on from a simple enough kick return .
Ratchford failed to control a basic pass.
all resulted in gifting Hull possession in our 40 and wayward defence and no team work meant Hull found a way over the line easily, too easily .

Holdsworth's play in the last few games is reminiscent of last season when he was carrying his shoulder injuries. ( he is trying the direct key passes and kicks but avoiding taking the line on and heavy hits ). I reckon he is still injured. I have yet to see the Holdsworth I saw in those first few games 2010 playing at Loose forward.

Sneyd despite some oustanding form recently was out of the 17. Stupid
And we had the truely bizzare senario of Vinne Anderson ( A player who has struggled to find fitness this season with back problems) being sent in as acting hooker gingerly and slowly bending down to distribute , When will we see Gareth Owen ?

You know, when I learned we signed Bailey and Anderson, I could not hesitate re a season ticket. I almost booked Wembley and Old Trafford.

Oh the lessons life throws at us.

ummm ... not the safest bet

"the safest bet" is hindsight

The wizard is a class at imo, to me since luke pattern has arrived his performances have dipped a little, i dont know why this is perhaps he is awe of him a little? or he has become targeted a lot more in the defensive line trying to tire him out so he isnt as effective in attack? or is he carryinga little injury? or as Fungus said is the capancy weighing heavy on his shoulders.
I Dont think his switch to scrum half has been a total success eather, he seems to be stuck around the ruck a lot more with drop of passes and has a lot less space to make the magic happen.

im sure he will turn it around, he is a class above most of what is around him and the cream always rises to the top

If you look at most of our highlights on SLTV, Holdsworth is involved, and most times, directly assists the scoring of our tries. It's worth considering that a large part of a main ball distributors game relies directly on team mates to perform runs/dummy runs/2nd phase. If the team is struggling in this area it makes pivots and decision-makers like Holdsworth and Smith look like they are off their game.

Guys have bad games and good games, and I find it amazing that fans always seem to think a looming disaster is about to happen just because an important player has an off day.

DJ is either good or bad, and not a lot in between. because he is supposed to be the playmaker, we have become predictable to the opposition so DJ becomes targetted and he stops trying to make breaks himself. The best kicker we have by far is Stefan Ratchford--- remember the bombs against Wigan, and he can kick the farthest but is never used. I would play Matty Smith at srcrum half, Stefan at Stand Off and DJ in the centre where he would get more room to operate, we need more playmakers, and more speed from acting half back-- danny houghton made so many yards last week. I think we have some good players but we lack creativity, and we need to have more set plays than just bringing the General in all the time as every coach in super league knows what we will do.