In true Giants fans style the season is off to a flying start....blame and double standards abound!
We have a pile of injuries, must be somebody's fault, let's ignore all the injury types and blame the conditioning team!
There's a clamour to bring players in, the club take a punt on giving Jamie Foster a TRIAL and this is immediately criticised...give it a chance it may or may not come off but at least they are doing something and he has experience.
I'm sure they are looking for others but at this point it won't be easy.
Often criticised for not giving the kids a chance, now complaints because we are playing kids and not experienced stand ins
Scott Grix place is constantly questioned and is slated but now he's injured he is suddenly a big miss!
Same applies to a large degree with Robbo ..
Patrick is slated after ONE game back for a dropped ball under pressure in torrential rain and a slightly low pass....Jerry drops a dolly of a pass first tackle under posts...no comment made
If there's a stadium cat it had better beware it will be to blame soon!
We have a tough few weeks ahead with injuries, as others have had, surely its time to get behind the team, whoever plays .. time to stop looking for scapegoats and excuses and get on with it, it's all part of sport with no guarantees.
And please look at what all players do ... mistakes are not confined to the same one or two.
Whatever the team we put out on Friday I do believe we can win!!!

IF we lose on friday then anyone who criticises wants to give their heads a massive shake and bang it against a very hard brick wall.

looking at that squad, we have no right to get anywhere near Wigan, so let's get behind the lads who do play and back the boys for 80 minutes!

Not sure what is the most annoying the pitchforkers or the holier than thou types.

You cannot lump every issue in together because you will so readily miss the point.

Some of us said at the END of last season that our squad was not big enough or had the quality to move forward from where we were.

Some of us said that there have been concerns about club recruitment and retention for a long time EG giving contracts to players who had their best years behind them,

Some of us said that we needed more quality in the team. Not last week but last year.

Some of us said we should go for Hampshire. Apparently he was offered to us but we said he had to play at Full back and he wanted to be in the halves so now he is at Cas.

We have a mixture of an ageing squad with lots of raw youngsters we do not seem to have enough in the middle whi h is why when players get injured we now struggle to get them together.

My criticism about foster is not that about his quality or lack of it but the fact that i think our club mangers are so daft they would give him a long contract out of desperation.

The issues are about the management of the club which IMHO leaves something to be desired.

All the holier than thou types seem to ignore this and any criticism of the club is just pigeon holed and ignored.

Maybe we could try and get Hampshire on loan then as he was surplus to requirements for cas last week?

It's true Hampshire was offered to you, but it was himself what declined the move because your coach wanted him to play at FB, which as Rocky said I might as well stop at Wigan and play full back as go there.

i agree with Durham why the hell the didn't try and sign Jones a second row who can play is beyond me .but we are where we are the one thing i have noticed over the years when a club has a injury list like this is that more players get injured before players return. maybe this happens because players who would normal be rested due to the normal strains of the game just have to play on. we can just hope that the cavalry turns up in time to get us into the top 8

As long as we don't panic that's the main thing...

how do we know he didn't try and sign Jones?

total rugby league news meast reported before he went to Salford that we where not intrested

could just be the "official" word, could also mean the player wasn't interested in us.

anyway, like i said, no one could have known 2 weeks ago how bad things would get.

Yes they could.!!!!!!









If you have a very small squad to start with and some players who have medical problems and are carrying knocks like a half back who has been struggling for a couple of seasons with a hip problem and can only play with injections. Some teams might say actually he is a risk we should replace him at The Giants we say Give him a two year extension !!!!!! it is not rocket science to think if we have a few injuries we might struggle. Particularly if you look at the squad and say

IF we lost two backs who would we bring in ?

That is called risk management/ planning/ etc.

Look at the first team squad. Look at the number of experienced players and think if they got injured how many of the youngsters could step up and play week in and week out, how many can we rely on in a big game. We had a really small squad .

I admit the ferres saga left us in the doo dah but Robbo has himself said he has been struggling for two years. Anderson and Thewlis must have known that last season ,

I don't know why you bother Durham, you've stopped attending games and you don't have a good word to say about the players, the coaching staff, the directors or other fans of the club
Perhaps you should start supporting another team.....

Sad isnt it that that mismanagement by the club and some of their patronising supporters can conspire to put fans off who have been following the club for 40 years.

Particularly when pointing out the deficits of the club is seen as being negative.

Still i am sure you will be happy when we are in the championship with 3000 at games feeling all nostalgic about the good days with your superior smug face on .

I look forward to attending the game on Friday though

Sorry, Daz, but after being fed up with certain comments on here for the past few months, I shall have to comment on your post.

I suppose I shall be shouted down, but I do think that you are looking through clear glasses at the truth.

Well said.

Ah, total rugby league news. The Daily Mail of Rugby League. It must be true.

Some of us get fed up with holier than thou garbage.

Think I'll disappear for another few weeks now. I simply can't abide the negativity and holier than thou comments spouted on here.

At no point do I have a "holier than though" attitude, but I do have my own opinions and while I do question some decisions both regarding the team and off the field I have got fed up of seeing constant criticism, and prefer to back the team and hope that off the field progress is made. I try to be realistic and understand concerns about the depth of squad, BUT, if we signed 3 or 4 established players and the kids didn't get game time......wait for the howls of derision! It's called a no win situation! Unfortunately on here it seems that having an opinion that doesn't agree with certain others means petty insults come along.
I watch games as a fan and always back the team and like everyone I have my favourites, but I am not blind to weaknesses and watch games without being ready to blame an individual for everything
As for the management I have thoughts
on that, but I have no insider knowledge and trust that things are being done for the long term progression and existence of the club....as we all know more support would be a help!
I will be there on Friday knowing it would be an against the odds win, but I believe it can be done if everybody steps up and we are aggressive because Wigan will be!
It's very easy to criticise, we all do at times and sometimes with justification, but we also need to be realistic and look at things with an open mind.

Don't get me wrong. I've been waiting for the season to start again since October and I can't wait for the games every week.

It's obvious that injuries are part of the game, and while the extent can't be foreseen. I agree with Durham that contingencies should be in place for the current circumstances. Given that we are 4/5 first team players down on this time last year, we were always light.

There is no need to slag each other off about it all though. We are our own worst enemy with this one. It's not scapegoating if we find fault, its opinion, similar to the opinions of those who think otherwise. Whos to say which is right or wrong.

Ultimately we are all on the forums for our love of our club. Regardless of what is happening on or off the field, the majority of us will stick with them through thick and thin. Let's not let our opinions divide us - we have few enough numbers as it is without driving each other away!!!

I have my views on this that stem from a "lotta years"
A lot on here have had a crack at picking Andersons team for him and suggest ???? at centre and ??? on the wing and ??? at half back and move??? to..................etc etc ....

Personally I dont agree
If a half back gets injured -replace him with a half back
If its a centre -replace him with a centre
Cobbling up a team where all are considered multipositional sets a problem in itself as the shape and understanding between the squad flies straight out the window
They have a week of training to get an understanding ? No way!

All the problem (for us and other teams faced with the same situation ) stems from SuperLeague clubs abolishing the "A" team arrangement
We used to be able to watch RL at Fartown every week - skint or not -as it was 1st team away -A team home,... and vice versa

Consequently there was cover for every !st team member by a player who played in that position for the A team
They had played and trained to the same tactics and plans and though perhaps lower in ability slotted/blended in without affecting the whole team and its players It also provided them the opportunity to show how they could perform alongside more experienced first teamers

Not now
We see sometimes 2or3 players injured and we assume theyre all utility players and its like a game of chess where we can have a multitude of options . That even happens during a game
In my view --It Doesnt Work
I remember seeing a current player who was a centre being groomed for a winger and then switched to 2nd row or maybe loose forward
The poor lad -despite being a damn good prospect for future honours - looked like a rabbit in the headlights at one particular game Totally lost!.

In addition it IS a big jump from Academy to Superleague and theres no mid point for the progression of players
And from that stems some of the holier than thou arguments

Do we play the youngsters / or are they not yet ready / too early / dont encourage `em etc
Bottom line to me IF you introduce a youngster into the SuperLeague melting pot -at least pay him the respect of playing him in his regular position and then gauge his performance accordingly
Dont throw him in just anywhere . with other players who are "out of position"

Ive always thought that Jerry would make a good stand............OOOPS better shut up!

its a money thing to run a A team you need 40 players plus and then the Academy the key is how you spend your money. the only thing we know was Mason was on 100k no idea how much of the 1.8 million we spent last year or planed to spend this year . The suspicion is as a club we may be over paying players .