Do you recall Powell talking about it in the pre-season interview last year? He told the squad that the fans think the pack was inadequate and got the response from Philbin that it wasn't. I think "Challenge accepted" was the response.

Powell's first mistake going into 2022 with that pack. Made a bad situation worse.

I hope you are right and that we will be 8 from 8. Unchartered territory.

Criticism is warranted if you can see the team as not tried, like to think most fans can see when the effort is there or not. To quote from an episode of Top Gear do they think our eyes are painted on. I can accept defeat if they have give it all but just loss to better team on the day it’s all you can ask and want of any team.

There will always be people that don’t like the team getting any criticism at all, ok fair enough but when they start attacking those that don’t like what they have seen I find that annoying, just agree to disagree and leave it there.

I just can't see this team getting a hiding, we will lose of course but it's the manner of the loss that would cause consternation. Even the odd capitulation can happen to the best of teams but as long as we're going in the right direction the vast majority of fans would be happy.

I’m less confident about this week at home to Hull than I am about Cats. We are weakened and coming off a big win. Hull are desperate not to have another loss, but they also have nothing to lose since they’re playing the top team. I’m predicting a narrow loss or at best a narrow victory.

If we can get Kasiano, McGuire and Clark back for Cats I feel we can come away with a victory.

Yes, the playing group was toxic, but for many of our fans the solution to sorting that was sacking Powell, so yes, some of the problem was clueless fans.

Go and read the 'Powell Out' thread - it's a very interesting &,at times, hilarious read.

To say that many fans were willing to give Powell a chance is false - at times on here, it was perilous to raise your head above the parapet if you dared show support for him.

It's just human nature, I think, Fez. When you look back on past matchday threads (not just Wire, but any team probably), I suspect that in games that were lost, the threads will run several pages longer than those for when games were won. People post for different reasons and spleen-venting is one of them. It's not my own style, as I tend to avoid posting in the heat of anger or disappointment, but each to their own. I think of these forums as being like a virtual pub, and just like in a real pub, you get lots of different characters at the bar, with many ways of expressing themselves. All are entitled to their opinion, and we learn through experience which ones we value.

thats why i challenged whoever it was the other day re the non replacement of mikaele (can't remember who it was at the moment, but i was a bit surprised/disapointed as i had them down as a reasonable poster in my rolodex of users)

Are rolodex still a thing.

While posters are looming at 7-7, I’m looking at 10-10.

how do you retain your information that's to important to remember?

On my iPad or PC.

pfft, they'll never catch on, a fad

It's a little-known fact but FMC actually writes his posts on parchment, which he ties to the leg of a carrier pigeon. The bird then flies to a secret lair, where expendable minions upload the posts onto RL Fans. It's a complex system, admittedly, but it works.

That was probably me. I'm not really interested whether other posters find my posts surprising or disappointing. I try to be reasonable and think that [iIF[/i the club has been aware of this for nearly two months they should have been looking for a replacement, either a like for like, or preferably (for me) a second rower or centre. If the news has been sprung on them relatively recently then it's fair for the club to start that work in earnest and be given time to find that replacement. The market won't be easy at the moment but that doesn't mean a useful player can't be found especially as Mikaele holds down a quota place.

Although the start to 2023 is far better than I expected and far better than last year I still have my reservations. History tells me to not get too excited. Watching the team this year I have flashbacks to watching the team with Sandow in it in 2016. We all know that we won the first 7 games but have a guess who we lost our first game to, yep that's right Hull FC. So after winning the first 7 we then only won one of the next 4. Very similar fixtures.
2016 will not go down as a memorable season as we fell at the final hurdle in both comps but when you look at the results even after Sandows injury and going off the rails we were still a decent team.
We look to have a far better squad than in 2016 but it just shows how you can look unbeatable one minute then something happens and the wheel nuts get a bit loose and then you lose that invincibility.
It might not happen but I am preparing myself for a wobble at some point.
We have passed all the tests so far.
But the one we have not had to deal with is falling in love with ourselves and thinking we are bigger than the Beatles.

As far as I can recall The Beatles never finished higher than 4th in the table, plus there was that shock semifinal defeat to Freddie and the Dreamers in the Challenge Cup.

And Ringo had 5 good games and then started to believe he was a starr and it all fell apart.

To be fair, The Beatles claimed they were bigger than Jesus, and some would argue they were right. Jesus turned the odd bottle of water to wine but more often than not would end up delivering a few loaves of bread and a couple of fishes. And that’s just not enough for a 5000-strong, success-hungry crowd.