They didn't they were all on the I blame Patton bandwagon...

i also think Price will will approach the new season with a different mentality and playing style.... everyone knows that the league form wasn't good enough and the rugby on display was poor.... he knows we cant start this coming season like that if he is to remain in the job.... I would imagine he has been very busy this off season with how we will be tactically.

We did start well last year well and there are positives to take from that....We also saw that the players can perform under pressure in the cup final.

Alot more of the deadwood has been removed and replaced.... The squad is re-energised and the management will be absolutely clear on whats expected now... There are alot more positives than people think.

Toby King is OK, but he's just that....ok. For a team with title aspirations he's the player you would want as the back up, then you have strength in depth. He's not going to be a difference maker as a starter.

The worry for me is that he is the best of our current centres.

I think King could be in the same calibre as Chris Riley, who did well for us, but when he was here, he was the weakest of the regular starters in his position, as the others were Hicks/King/Monaghan. To be real title contenders I'd want us to have King as the 3rd or 4th best centre in the squad.

In the past we've had centres like Bateman, Davies, Kohe-Love, Hunte, Grose, Domic, Gleeson, Matt King, Bridge. We didn't win the title with any of them but they were streets ahead of the current crop.

3rd to 5th place beckons, then we can all agree it "wasn't acceptable given the ambitions of the club" and look forwards to 2021.

Don't make the mistake of confusing people saying Patton is not good enough (which he is not) with blaming him for the team performance.

Price is responsible for the team performance.

A weak pack is responsible for defeats not Patton who is good enough and behind a dominant pack was.

I can recall many world class half backs who have flogged a dead horse over the years and got nowhere near the success Patton had last season.

Price is responsible for the team selection.

Let's see who snaps Patton up for 2021 hey?

Fair point but he cops the blame for whatever happens..as some have pointed out we have a few weak links on the pitch and some off it..which I won't name but my jack Russell as a better rugby knowledge..

You didn’t name him Matty did you? :-0

It was after jack Hughes or Matty Russell...was gunna call him tom after our winger but that would be an insult to dog as he's far faster than him

King played well tonight and was more aggressive than i've seen him before. I've got no issues with him.

It's interesting how pressure on a position place gets a positive reaction.
I've always said competition for a jumper is healthy.

Reading Price’s comments from last night he should of gone elsewhere already. Don’t look like he will get many chances this season.

He got lucky last season with the misfortune to Kevin Brown.

We know he is behing Widdop but is he now behind Ratch in the halves?

Planning to watch a few Reserve games this season and went to Sale at the weekend as I was in the area. Very heavy underfoot especially in the second half so not an easy game to assess and certainly not many standouts. However, you would have thought Dec Patton would do well at this level but, goalkicking apart, he didn’t impress and is still delivering passes straight in to touch. Expect he will be out on loan sooner than later unless there are injuries to Widdop and Ratchford.
Kabula wasn’t impressive either and looked less than fit and quite cumbersome. On a positive note though Eribe Doro got through a mountain of work, did more minutes and is far more athletic. I think he is still only 19 and needs to fill out a bit more but could make it at 13 or prop. Josh Thewlis showed some class but conditions not really in his favour. Brand scored a try from a kick through and was pretty solid.

Given that Price put out our best team against Salford, I would expect that Patton won't feature against Wigan, either.

I'm not expecting Hughes, Widdop or Latu to play. Not sure what was up with Hill but Price was certain he would play. No doubt they'll think long and hard about Ashton as Wigan away as your SL debut is a biggie - but I think that he'll start. Burrell did enough to make the 17 so I think that it will be as per Salford but with Hill starting and a bench of Philbin, Akauola, Burrell and I'm going to say Walker. Mamao plus one other to make up the 19 (normally I would have said Widdop or Latu put in there to keep the opposition guessing - but that's very risky this season with the new ruling on late changes)

Positives from the opening weeks of the season:

- Didn't let heads drop when down to 12 men against Wigan
- Nilled the Saints
- Matty Ashton looks like a real find
- Currie showing positive signs of re-emergence
- Widdop getting back to fitness
- Ratchford signing a new contract

and we don’t lose by many

We’re effective at kicking penalties

The fans enjoy a moan and being miserable.

Price has gotten us to no worse than when TS left.

We got Hoover as our major sponsor, and not Dyson or Shark.

TS is an infinitely better coach than Price and his exit still leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. If we played HKR tomorrow, who you put your money on?

Exactly this, some of the rugby we played under smith was unbelievable! If we take our blinkered glasses off we as fans will admit at Wembley price got lucky with a number of things that culminated in us lifting the trophy and he still should’ve been axed because of our league form, the board needs to wake up and quickly realise it isn’t going to get any better.