same thing in this game as well, i know other people have mentioned currie's lack of effort on goal line defence, but in most cases you can see the pair of them, sort of just there in the back ground on a lot of tries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2il9psYquw

same thing in this game as well, i know other people have mentioned currie's lack of effort on goal line defence, but in most cases you can see the pair of them, sort of just there in the back ground on a lot of tries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2il9psYquw

Quote ="Fantastic Mr Cat"on one side possibly, have a look at this set of 'highlights' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv41WfDrg7Y look at the salford tries and the lack of involvement from currie and holmes in most of them'" The striking thing for me in this is how blatantly obvious is that the players aren’t trying to do the same thing. Look at the Cross try scored at 24-8, critics will blame Currie on this for leaving Ratchford exposed, but if you look back further, there is an intention from Currie and Walker to get off the line and cut down space/time, which isn’t matched by Bullock or Harrison. Bullock is a yard or two behind Walker’s position, meaning Walker can’t move off and slide until the hall has passed him. Currie sinks in to take the ‘lead’ who should be Walker’s man which leaves the space outside him, which Ratchford is slow to close down, so he has to hold off and buy time, resulting in a passive legs tackle and ultimately allowed to offload. Similarly, the next try, Matautia has gone up fast, Holmes hasn’t, huge gap behind Matautia for a walk in. There isn’t necessarily a right answer (in my opinion) about whether to shoot out or slide on your try line, but you all need to do the same thing.

Quote ="Fantastic Mr Cat"on one side possibly, have a look at this set of 'highlights' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv41WfDrg7Y look at the salford tries and the lack of involvement from currie and holmes in most of them'" The striking thing for me in this is how blatantly obvious is that the players aren’t trying to do the same thing. Look at the Cross try scored at 24-8, critics will blame Currie on this for leaving Ratchford exposed, but if you look back further, there is an intention from Currie and Walker to get off the line and cut down space/time, which isn’t matched by Bullock or Harrison. Bullock is a yard or two behind Walker’s position, meaning Walker can’t move off and slide until the hall has passed him. Currie sinks in to take the ‘lead’ who should be Walker’s man which leaves the space outside him, which Ratchford is slow to close down, so he has to hold off and buy time, resulting in a passive legs tackle and ultimately allowed to offload. Similarly, the next try, Matautia has gone up fast, Holmes hasn’t, huge gap behind Matautia for a walk in. There isn’t necessarily a right answer (in my opinion) about whether to shoot out or slide on your try line, but you all need to do the same thing.

This is why I am sceptical of Powell. Fair enough blame 1st May, blame out of contract players, blame culture, blame whatever, but surely there is no excuse for not looking drilled defensively in the basics?

And this is also why he only has 6 games IMO and blooding youngsters in them wouldn’t mitigate an excuse. The reason being I expect to see an enthusiastic and coherent defence from the get go and seeing one or two youngsters make individual defensive mistakes would have no bearing on the overall picture….as it didn’t last season.

I actually think 1 game would be enough to see if he has even tried to address those issues.

Currently I am mainly wearing… the pack will be a completely different outfit next season. The 2 Aussies come with quite a pedigree and while that is no guarantee, I’m hoping that they bring a professional attitude which rubs off. Sparking fresh enthusiasm in players like Currie and Clark.

The professional attitude should come from within the core of the club and be ingrained. Like I should imagine it is at Saints, Leeds, Wigan etc.

As it stands you are saying our fortunes are dependent on 2 aussies at the twilight of their careers.

That’s not what I said. I expressed my hopes. As for the “core” of the club, assuming DP was accurate then close to half the squad has changed. There is no “core”, unlike Saints and Wigan who have kept a stable squad.
I’m not sure why me expressing what I hope the new signings will bring could be considered controversial?

Never said it was controversial, I was just countering with my thoughts the professionalism should be ingrained in the club and not subject to the whim of a few overseas signings - but I share your hopes too.

However, as a thought exercise, if you imagine Wigan, Saints and Warrington all started with a squad size of 0 now and had to rebuild, who would you bet to be the first to win a GF again? Warrington?

I am putting forward the argument that there is something in the fabric of the club, staff, ethos that demands success and standards and that lies outside of the playing roster.

I’m not worried about Clark or Currie. The thing with players like that, they can be 10/10 at their best, and their worst is (objectively) 6/10. To get them into 9’s and 10’s, they need momentum and space.

What we need to is move the gap from the worst to best up, but players like Holmes, Matautia, Ratchford, Bullock, Wardle, Mikaele and Harrison haven’t demonstrated that they have a 10 in their nal. Or a 9. A plucky 8 maybe, and Ratchford might get a nostalgic 7 with extra credit for goal kicking. All while their worst games being absolute horror shows.

If you look at the best teams, Saints of late, the Leeds team, Saints of 2006 ish… even those on squad filler salaries, just making up the numbers, they were all 6/10 every week at worst. Ablett and LMS for example, neither are world beaters, but they just crack on and do their job, nothing more nothing less. We need to be more robust with with what we want from them, solid defensively, don’t turn the ball over, get out of the way when we’ve got field position and momentum…

I admit to being swayed by the DP interview. Most impressed by the way he didn’t once cite disruption from injuries. Half a squad off contract at the same time does sound bonkers, I wonder what the thinking was behind that.
As for Currie, he was way off his best last season.

We would have to ask Price / Fitzy for the thinking behind that.

The upside is that we are not lumbered with poor quality players for seasons to come, save for King.

Currie 6/10 at worst??? I didn't see Currie hit the dizzy heights of 6/10 once last season. Powell did not blame injuries, just every other reason he could muster up....including fans. I get the contract situation to a degree but I'm afraid that is HIS job as a coach to work around that and from what I hear he simply doesn't have the people skills to do it. He should've used the contract situation as a motivational tool not as an excuse for not being able to coach a cohesive defensive structure.

I agree.

I was not impressed at all by that interview. Slumped back in his chair for the most part regurgitating the same excuse, defensive and, at times, frankly struggling to articulate. This "building relationship with the fans" is a distraction. Start winning 75%+ of games and the fans will be on side. Concentrate on that.

I no longer believe this is a genius coaching set up given an impossible task of building a team from feckless renegades. Sure we had problems but he had all season to fix them and didnt. He has the resources, facilities and board support that other coaches must envy.

But i'm not calling for his exit as, in truth, I'm not that bothered as we wont win a GF either way.

Instead I will wait until the time where all the excuses have been worn out and then some. It won't be quick and it won't be pretty.

The thing with Currie is expectation higher than most. Compared to Holmes (not a barometer of success, granted) and a random example of Chris McQueen, Currie made 1864 meters, against 1245 for Holmes and 1599 for McQueen. More then double the offloads of each, comparable tackle busts, 37/40/32 respectively. 3 assists, against 2 each.

Meters made and average gain, something that he would actually get a lot of criticism of, he out performs a lot of rivals, including Joe Bachelor, John Bateman. I think we just hold Currie to a level where we see him in space, making breaks and scoring tries.

Good stats. How does his tackles made and tackles missed stack up?

Currie - 670 - 51 (7.6%)
Holmes - 834 - 57 (6.8%)
McQueen - 712 - 56 (7.8%)

Caveat that with Holmes spent a lot of time in the middle at the back end of the season, whereas the other two were genuine edge players.

Thanks, interesting.

How about Currie vs the top 2nd rowers such as the likes of Farrell, Bateman etc.

I just don't get it - you look in those highlight reels and you come to the conclusion he has stunk this season. Especially defending his line.

Bear in mind, McQueen made the dream team. So, opinion polls have him as top two. He did score a lot of tries, which separates him from Currie.

Bateman. 1711 meters, 7.31 average gain. 546 tackles, 28 missed (5.12%)

Farrell. 2417, 8.42. 626 - 42 (6.7%).

Statistically, Farrell is light years ahead. But Currie is STATISTICALLY in the mix with the rest. But, there’s more to the game than numbers.

My point is, if Currie had a better highlight reel this season, getting the ball in space, there’s no reason why he wouldn’t be in the mix with Bateman, McQueen as those at the top of their position. He’s been 6 out of 10, steady but not game breaking.

If you compare him with Shaun Lane and Viliame Kikau, then Wires71 might get the answer he wants.

I'm not after any answer really, just interested to see if the stats bear out his poor season.

Anyhow ... will he get an extension in 2023?

Don’t get me wrong, I was disappointed with Currie last year. He can do more, and we should expect more. This is not a one man fan club.

But, just on the highlights that I looked at on this tread, the Salford game, you can see the merit of his game. Look at the Ratchford try in isolation, pause at 1:04, Currie offers genuine width and a threat, he’s 10 yards in with a winger and centre outside of him. Cross and Croft’s first movement is to shift right, to try and get in front of him, which leave Ratchford with a one on one with the fullback, 10 yards out.

With respect, if that was Logan Swann out there (for example), I doubt Cross or Croft would be as anxious, and Swann doesn’t have the pace or craft to make the break or find the right pass or kick to turn it into points. Currie does. The issue, we don’t get anywhere near enough momentum or “good ball” to create these chances for him, nor does he create them himself often enough.

An extension will depend on if he can turn it on behind a bigger pack and turn theory into results.

It's Currie ' s defence that has been poor in my opinion.

I guess to be fair to Currie, the last few seasons under Price's style didn't play to Currie's strengths. I wonder if the team as a whole can sort it's defence, with a much more penetrative pack and a classic Powell attack, then might we see the Currie of old? That's a big 'if' though. We'd need to suddenly become a confident attacking side, and for Currie to put his knee anxiety to one side.

Next year is a clean sheet for everybody though, so let's see. If he can't rise to the challenge, he's not a problem for 2024.

I’m not saying you’re wrong, but what are have you based your assessment on?

A professional attitude which rubs off - suit you sir!