even if we beat widnes next week nothing hides the fact we are a laughing stock of super league.

we are a guaranteed 2 points week in week out for other teams. we not even losing narrowly...

i have gone beyond demoralised, reckon they should be advertising samaritans on our threads....



oh well, onwards and downwards

Sub 2k crowd! That will be the protest....surely no need for juvenile antics of throwing towels.

I will be there as usual but can't say I'm looking forward to it now.

Powell has no charisma what so ever. You see him on the big screen picking his nose, not looking intersested at all. He may be like that all the time - how are our players supposed to be motavated with him. You see other coaches with so much passion when their team scores especially Tony Smith and Mike Rus.

No, that's a red herring. Wayne Bennett is the best or one of the best coaches in the world and he comes across as having had a charisma bypass.

I used the game as a stop off on my journey back south. Two hours at Woolley Edge Services would have been more exciting.

It’s not only us that appear to be a farce. The Digivan with the Scoreboard only arrived 20 minutes into the first half and then drove directly in front of the sponsors stand before reversing back and setting up in the corner. It eventually flickered into life.

And as a passing comment what on earth do billboards around the city with models on chairs have to do with scrap metal recycling?

The ground I don’t think I have been to since about 1986. Hopefully they will get good news on their planning application as only a complete rebuild of Belle Vue would sort out some of its problems. The sponsors stand was full which can only be good for the health of their club. It is an old traditional ground which has some charm but the terracing has a very low rake and is in very poor condition being uneven and crumbling. I stood on the end terrace which now has a steel roof and large posts that block out parts of the ground, not enough to avoid witnessing our performance though. And it was leaking slightly. £20 entrance, you just don’t realise how good value the Stoop is.

The Wakey fans were in good heart though whether the song about borrowing your Dad’s gun to shoot the Cas scum meets with a family friendly atmosphere is another matter.

The programme was a double header so Hull will get the same programme. Words of wisdom that Powell guided us to 12th place last year.

And the game. Well after six penalties in the first 10 minutes we were 6 points down. Their first try came off of 3 penalties two of which were on our line. The second try was worked to their right and I think O’Callaghan missed a one on one, though they had loaded that side. It only took six tackles to go the length of the field. Their third was Ali lumbering through most of our team. Dixon received a lovely head shot that even the Wakey fans thought left nothing to doubt. Didn’t appear to be put on report, not that we were then inspired to do anything.

I can’t believe that Powell blames the scrum and kick chase as the problem that put us under pressure. It was one of the few bits of variety we have produced all season. Throughout the game we were one man rugby. There is not any support or alternatives. We were dumped on our backsides a lot with them having two or three in strong tackles. We might have the same numbers but it never looks that effective. Towards the end of the first half we had a scrum in their twenty and there was no hurry at all. In contrast Wakey still looked like they had urgency to get on with the game when at 18- 0 they could have slowed it down a bit. Plus they appear, well everyone appears to do everything quicker than we do, particularly around the ruck.

No disrespect to Wakey but they were not that good. They didn’t have to be. We offered no real threat. It is five drives and kick to the corner. Lacking in ideas and variety, lacking in runners and options. It is easy meat for a defence. In contrast Wakey had runners and options which confused our team no end. They had a good few breaks but were unable to make a great deal with them. Perhaps the conditions slowed them down, could have been far worse if it had been dry. We had more urgency in the second half but all a bit late really. Robertson managed to get sin binned for trying to delay the ball. Dixon tried a quick tap and made good metres as they ambled back without looking but that gap was snuffed out. Wheeldon scored under the posts when we did have a bit of pressure but nowt else really created. Think we had two tries disallowed, one in the first half as it came forward off one of our players when the kick caused confusion which was correct and one that was probably for crossing but that was at the far end and I’d taken to watching the rain drip in through the roof to keep me occupied when we had the ball. I think we only had eight interchanges as that is the last one I recall and Caro didn’t come on.
So bottom of the table does not surprise me and I await the words of wisdom from the Coach for the next game.

That's a real good piece of writing, Southern Reiver, take a bow.

I particularly liked - '...but that was at the far end and I’d taken to watching the rain drip in through the roof to keep me occupied when we had the ball.'

Well done.