Hope their not too painful and you get better soon, it won't have helped watching if they played pretty poorly.

you do realise that Brown and Mellor have played at this level as a half back pairing for 3 years at least? Brown is a former international player, some say he still should be.

then compare that to us, we had 2 centres and a hooker, 2 of whom are still learning the game, rotating at half back, after seeing our only recognised half back have to go off injured.
no who do you think is likely to create more given that?

right, well, i'm not too downhearted, i expected us to lose today, although not in that manner.
we were very very poor, as poor as i can remember in the last few years, but let's put it into pespective, we are nowhere near full strength, and we are having to have players playing in unfamiliar positions or a lack of experience, that doesn't excuse the silly errors we made today, but if we are still as poor when we get our main men back then i'll start to worry.
i don't think we can accuse the players of not trying, we were just out-everythinged today by a good side!
only positive is that we didn't give in and we played for the full 80, Foster's try, testament to that.

i would rather we have this at the start of the season rather than at the end that's for sure, and let's give Widnes some credit, they were very good at times, but also did the basics well for most of it.

i will be at Leeds giving the lads my support, as i'm sure after today they will want that support.

There was a lot wrong with this game. Worst performance for a long time.

Total lack of leadership and I'm really disappointed with Hinchliffe so far. He should be stepping up to show his qualities but he's just turning into a penalty machine.

And you do have to question PA's thinking when your half-back goes off, why do you throw on your LF to play right-edge and move Cudjoe to SO. Surely the easiest move is Leeming on and Hinchliffe to 7?

To be fair the last time brown played at international level, he most certainly didn't look like international level.

We didn't really get after their half backs at all and gave them far too much time.

on big problem, was bruno having to move to centre, we missed his workrate and defence in the middle, Widnes targeted that area and came up trumps.

i don't get the criticism for Hinchliffe either, i don't think he's been too bad at all.

Disappointed in the performance today, was a shocker no doubt but when most of our 1st team aren't playing it's always going to be a struggle no matter who the opposition. Unfortunately today we met a bloody good one !! they hammered us and i actually looked at the scoreboard expecting it to be close to 50 and was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't yet 40 !

Defensively we looked appalling today and Widnes took advantage and played us off the park, massive credit to them they looked very good!!

our edge defense was a real worry, Foster, as decent and experienced as he is seems to have no defensive reading skills and at least twice today seemed to go for a man then change his mind and go for another and the one he originally went for ended up scoring as no one was covering him.....Jerry was almost invisible at times in defence.

Losing yet another key player didn't help either and we desperately need some bodies back as games like this will do the young uns confidences no good at all.

agree with most of that Daz, the irony is that fans have been calling for the young lads to be thrown in etc, i'm not saying the young lads have or are doing anything wrong, but it kinda shows that you can't have too many at once, I actually thought Sam Wood was our best back today and Mason showed up well too, it was mainly the experienced heads that made the most errors today.

Niether do I Meast.

The problem with Hinchcliffe is that the rest of the team aren't on his wavelength at the moment.

There was one instance in the first half where he took a Rapira off load and got his arm free and was waiting for what seemed like an eternity for someone to back him up.

On another note Connor needs to stop believing the hype. Stop the petulance, start to take on the line, get his kicking game sorted and smarten up in defence.

Shocker today!!
The best team won. We were out played and out sung & supported.
Childs was inconsistent but can't be blamed for our p*ss poor all-round performance despite the best efforts once again of the young lads thrown in at the deep end - the stand out performance (if any) in my opinion by Sam Wood, who's showing signs of promise and potential.
My glass is still sort of half full!! No bad karma - or bad vibes yet. Keep the faith!!
(Or, as our lass says - give 'em a kick up the jacksy and a bit more leadership on the park and the senior players take a bit of notice from the efforts of the younger and what appeared to be more committed players on the pitch!!).

yep heard things about brough last week too had a fall out with anderson but ok now

dont get some people having a go at hinchcliffe, he looks to be trying damn hard to me on the field and he cant be the messiah and do it all on his own! feel sorry for him and rapira bet they are wondering what the hell they have come too!

echo what some others are saying too, some have been crying out to throw the youngsters in...well here you go....

we just have to be patient and wait till we get back some senior players from injury, till then we will continue to lose and the top 4 will be gone after 2 months of the season.

as fans all we can do is stick by the team and understand whats going on

exactly Brearley, patience, we can't expect this team to be ripping it up against, good experienced teams, they did OK and surprised everyone with the performance V Wigan, sadly Widnes were a lot better than Wigan were and we couldn't handle it.

if we are to throw the kids in, then the people who are clamouring for this, have to understand that the kids need to be given time, but sadly they won't.

People can shoot me down if they want, but last season papered over the cracks with the top 4 finish as I think we looked lethargical for a big part of that season. Yes we got wins, but rarely seemed to play at the intensity of the other top sides. Yesterday reminded me of the same, but without many of our senior players we couldn't get the points that we would have got last season.

We have Murphy at fullback- creates nothing
Larne at LF - creates nothing
Hinchcliffe at 9- gives us a quick ptb -but unlike when we have robbo or Woody there neither leeming or Hinchcliffe are creative players.
Our attack is non existent and our defence was all over due to Leroy/Jerry having a bad day and the rest of our line not knowing where they were supposed to be.

We had Connor - who's played two games at SL level in the halves and Ellis who went off.
Where were we supposed to create anything from that game????

Once Ellis left we were all over defensively and equally all over offensively- Leroy and Hinchcliffe were both trying to play at dummy half and getting in each other's way - that happened several times at the ptb.

it was the exact same team that started against wigan

we were beaten even before ellis went off injured

the attitude was wrong, same attitude as the fans with the quiet atmosphere

fans only seem to want to get up for wigan or leeds games nowadays ..on friday nights

Give the opposition some credit too, Widnes were far better than Wigan were.
but we were poor across the board, but like i've said let's have some patience and support the lads.

So Connor and ??????? Don't like the idea of Hinchcliffe- that won't create anything against Leeds.
Get Farrell in if brough or Woody are not fit. Yes another kid- but I'd rather play an unknown entity who at least is a real half back than another makeshift player filling in.
Bet robbo feels frustrated right now- he will want to help put things right!!!

I agree about the attitude not being the same, it took us 20 minutes to show anything but by then we were more or less out of it. Bit mystified at Patrick playing loose forward, maybe swap him and Ukuma round? Patrick is a runner not a ball player but the coaches know this so. must have a reason for playing him at LF. As has been said we have to stick by the team and when we get players back look to go on a winning run. I have advocated giving the kids a chance, but not as many as this at a time!! A steady introduction yes, but this is not the best way. Will be at Leeds, hoping for a performance........and two points!! And maybe the opposition, venue and atmosphere will give us the lift and get the players at it.
Also agree if we have half back fit let's play him.

You have to go back a fair while to the team where we had a ball player at LF! Kevin brown played there a few times under NB didnt he???
I'd rather play taai there though TBH- he's a stronger runner, larne is more elusive and has more pace so for me we'd be better off using him running out wide.

The way some people talk on here is mystifying sometimes, it's not like this situation was chosen and the team put out was the grand plan. We are putting out who we have available. We are unfortunately in the mire, we just have to get our heads down and get through it as best we can till players come back. We might have lost 3 but we haven't been hammered in every game. Like has been said patience.

Apart from Sam wood who are all the kids we are playing? Johnson mason and Roberts can't be classed as kids

And if you saw Farrell play for 19's on Saturday you wouldn't be calling for him to step up

Brown played there a bit but if I remember right he just played down one side...I like to see your creative players near the ball...this may sound a bit off the wall but I think when all are fit could Connor make a go of it. Seems a yard short on pace at half back but has ability with the ball and is a decent build...and I'm not sure they know where his position is yet! Obviously if the idea is to play a runner or tackling machine there it's a non starter.
As for the team selections at the moment I think we all realise how limited the options are and fully support whoever is out there, my query 're Patrick and Taai wasn't particularly a criticism just something that seemed could work better the other way round.

not so much kids, but just lack of experience at this level,
Mason, JJ, Connor, Leeming, Roberts are, in effect, still kids in experience terms and are still learning the game.
it's a good but vicious learning curve at the moment.

regards Farrell, i can't see it myself, even Thorman says he is miles away in terms of development, it would be unfair to throw him in in a game against Leeds, but, if there is no one else then who knows?