I agree but I'm not sure how such an optimistic view will go done on this forum.

With 5 mins on the clock?
It's good Clark looks so convincing to have fooled the ref and you.
It's simply game management pal.
When your team is down to 12 vs 13, make opportunity to take on oxygen wherever you can.

I’m feeling much more positive about the season. Have to agree with the general consensus though - Mitch Brown deserves a run ahead of Russell. Sport can be cruel and as much as he trys he is a liability at the moment.

There is no doubt that there has been a major revamp of how we defend. We are hanging back/sagging at times rather than rushing up when under pressure. Definite shift. The players must have had to really think to buy into this.

It's about time our 9 played 80 mins.
Long may it continue.

Can't believe he didn't see Bentham, I suspect a ban is heading his way soon.

Obviously it seems a bit unusual to not play Smith but ... if your best hooker is OK leave him on. If we'd have lost a half-back or the hooker he'd have played big minutes. If we were behind ... he could be on. Unusual but I see no problems.

I'm sure lots of us have played for years and not touched a ref. This maniac has hit the same referee twice within a year. I'm afraid the defence of "his head was up watching a ball" ... is no defence. Ban him.

Which also played testament to our fitness... Price wasn’t worried even with one less sub and 12 men on the field. We do look a different side this year, even if our attack is frankly shambolic. With more possession and territory and a fit Roberts on dry pitches, I think we will come good. Not good enough to win anything but good enough to set us up for a serious push in 2019. Our best bet this year is a lucky cup run, and peaking at the business end.

How far is Akauola off now.

Think Price said one to two weeks more. I think we need Roberts more.

Considering how little Crosby has played over the past 12 months, I thought he was great tonight.

Dennis Betts says we won by a forward pass, guess that was Ratchfords try.

Well if whispering Dennis said it then it must be true! LoL .....how sour are those grapes Dennis? Did he mention the disallowed Hughes try because of Smellies foul play?

Doubt it, was dubious to say the least that, we were the better side and at 24 4 it would have been very rosy. Glad we won anyway.

I thought Ratch, Clarke, Currie, Hughes, Atkins and Crosby had good games today. Discipline and errors in the last 20 minutes, but a win is a win. Price will be a relieved man.

Can't play the ball at a crucial time in his own 20.

Much better performance, obviously some thought has gone into training & probably the decision to leave Clark on for 80 minutes was a measure of our desperation to win.Errors & discipline still needs to be worked on though ,we could have been out of sight for half time.

Please find & ban the d**kheads with the smoke bombs.

Better. Brilliant in patches and when we started cocking up with the ball we were able to rely on our defence to weather those periods. Ratch was much improved, his defence in particular. We had two tries disallowed, one of which was certain bullsh*t reasoning and the other was arguably momentum. So we'd have been out of sight if they'd stuck.

Hughes, Atkins, Currie, Ratch, Crosby - all very good.
The rest were solid to positive.
Except Russell. Poor guy.

I couldn’t disagree more. Yes there was the odd mistake but he ran the ball better and harder than anyone in the team last night. He had more of an impact on the game than Lineham and the props need to take a leaf out of his book on the intensity of his drives. Yes he knocked one on in the first half and misplayed one in the second half. But he wasn’t going round moaning at the ref every two minutes like Hill and didn’t get himself sin binned like Cooper did which could have cost us the game. Russell was the one who put his hand up time and time again and drove us away from our line.

I thought we were generally poor with the ball. Bar the odd moment like the Currie pass to Ratchford we were pretty stale to watch. And very scrappy. Getting bored of Hill moaning at the ref (just play the game Chris) and some of our passing at centre left a lot to be desired. But we played with much higher intensity which was good to see.

Defensively we were excellent.

Russell made a few errors but he also made a lot of metres, including a clean break from a standing start near the end where we were pinned down in our own end. The criticism of him is borderline hysteria.

We had two tries wrongly disallowed: one on the left when Currie was called for a forward pass that wasn't, and the utterly mystifying one where we got penalised because Inu slapped Currie. If either of those had been awarded we would have wrapped the game up more comfortably.

I was pleased with the performance but, until we get some creativity, we are going to struggle to produce the 4-5 tries you need to beat the best sides.

Russell’s strength is in kick returns and broken play, and he’s very good at it. I just feel that his negatives need a bit of work and it’s worth trying Brown there, who has a better all-round game, is more versatile across the back line, but admittedly is not as explosive. M Brown looked good in the pre-season games both on the wing and filling in at centre.

Ratchford was very clever at Fullback last night. I’m not convinced how he’d go at first receiver in the halves as he’s struggled to take responsibility there in the past. However that was the Smith era and Price might inspire him to better things. We’ll see when Brown retires at the end of the season.

Russell did a huge amount of work. Possibly as a result of using a 2 man bench for a lot of the match. The pub error I would put down to being knackered. Still he is this seasons scapegoat and will get no credit in some quarters. I do wonder. Which other winger that is in the squad is a better option (based on evidence rather than “abR” ...anyone but Russell). Brown not even in the squad and seem to recall Price has coached him previously.

"Cometh forward the front row!"

Cooper probably had one of his best games as a Wire. He looked a presence, bigger.
Hill didn't give away a cheap penalty tonight.
Crosby was solid in defence and invited 3 men to stop him as he took the ball in.
Clark did 80 minutes...at friggin last, I'm not a fan of TS mandatory 20 mins rest. If he shows signs of fatigued then yes, but to sub off SL's highest paid 9 for nothing other than fatigue or poor play is a waste of money.

The pack guys together made every back look great bar one, who was guilty of trying too hard and doing stuff he didn't have too, I don't need to mention him there's enough doing already. I'll give him a break as he didn't contribute to a loss....Plenty room for improvement in the backs if this front row holds out for sure, and will back rowers confidence too...Like Hughes, who got flak off so many people, he didn't have to try to do everything where the front row lacked and look calamitous.

FOR 2/3 YEARS WE'VE SAID OVER AND OVER THE PACK IS TOO LIGHT not enough biff, I for one have been saying it til I'm sick of saying it.
...the board have listened where TS didn't...we get BBM fit a Akauola up to match fitness for Westwood then it finally 'won't be our year'!

We're ready for Wigan now...a small improvement on vs Widnes will be enough for a home win. Wire was better than the scoreline suggests too. I'm happy.

COYW.