Quote ="Colly2"I thought we looked a well-coached outfit against uninspired opposition.
Was especially impressed with the wider defence. I think Clubb defending at right centre resolves most of his frailties at 3rd and 4th man in where he can mis-read the play horribly. Burnett-Howell-Randall-Melling were asked more questions down the left and looked great on their side of the defence. Having watched the Leigh and Catalans games, I think the big worry for our defence is down the middle channel: Wilkes, Ward and especially Kouparitsas have poor footwork/lateral movement. That said, Ellis and Bailey looked strong for smallish forwards in the middle third.
With ball in hand, I thought we looked pretty smart, if conservative. Contrary to everyone else it seems, I thought our last tackle options were fantastic - the kicking game was great, both for field position and attacking wise. We really didn't have many tackles in the oppo's half and so I can accept that people were frustrated not to see Gale and Dorn get the ball in their hands very much after the first 15 minutes. But that's not their fault.
I don't think our performance will have scared anyone but I'd go with the same starting 13 next week. Like Kelvin's Ferret said, I think that if Randall is a 7 he needs to direct play more - he tends to start games demanding the ball at first receiver and then he drifts out of the action. For this reason, I'd go for Mellor on the bench and, to start with, give the youngster 10-15 mins at either side of half-time, allowing Ellis and Randall to share 9 before finishing the game with Randall at 7 and Ellis at 9. For me, this would have the added bonus of keeping Kouparitsas well away from the DH role.
I think Purdham and Burnett gave us 160 minutes - which is a great sign because both these fellas will create space for others. Bailey looked like he had great hands and he looks like he reads the game quickly too - was impressed. Kouparitsas is getting hammered - and, true enough, he was poor at Leigh and Cardiff - but I'd like to see him come on for Bailey at 13. He's not a DH, and his defence in the middle is a concern, but he might go better as a backrower.
Our options at prop remain limited. Plenty of effort but a lack of size re. Ward, Ambler, Bryan. I'm hoping Krasniqi or Thomas will have a breakthrough year.
Finally, do we need all of Pryce, Calderwood and Latus? Two of these can go now in my (heartless) IMO.'"
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