Thoughts?

At 24-6 we should never have lost that game but when we needed to play safe rugby, looking for repeat sets in their 20 we started playing basketball. They identified Ainscough and Bailey as their targets and played nice basic sets, centred up, pushing right and then a big left shift where we couldn't cope with Luke Dorn.

It was more down to the 90% plus completion rate in the first half turning into a lot lot less in the second half, we gave far too much easy possesion in the second half away

How many 1st teamers were Quins missing compared to you lot? End of the day you were guilty of complacency, nothing more, nothing less & it bit you on the backside. Hope you haven't peeked too early....

Why complacency?? Why not just a bad day at the office like every other team!

"It's very disappointing. We've been working very hard at our defence but tonight it definitely let us down. We've definitely got to be better than that.

"It could be attitude or concentration. There were periods tonight when we switched off and the opposition came back and got us.

"I knew they were going to turn up and play very well because they've turned the corner and credit to them. They played very well. Unfortunately, we didn't turn up in that second half and do the job that we can do."

Sounds like complacency to your coach too...

Injuries had nothing to do with last night. We were arrogant and complacent at the start of the 2nd half but in the end Quins just deserved to beat us. We turned ourselves back on before it was too late but we couldn't stick in the game because Quins outplayed us and fair play to them.

We'll be back and at the end of the day the worst position we can be in at the end of this weekend is 2 points clear at the top of superleague so things really could be worse.

Injuries is a very important factor to who will win super league, Leeds have had their fair share for first two month of the year but look strong now. Even though you've been top all year and playing well I still think if Leeds hit the play offs with fit squad they will be team to beat, no matter what postion they finish.

At saints we've had our share just as Leeds, now looks like it might be your turn. Injuries are part of the game and saints have done pretty well IMO as we've had bad luck so far but as any coach will tell you, who ever makes play offs with fit squad will be the team to beat.

Ps - that team was more than good enough to beat quins last night.

The team last night was good enough to beat Quins, as showed by the first half performance, and so injuries would just be a convenient excuse. The plain fact is that the players switched off mentally and started doing things out of character like stupid offloads to a Quins players on several occasions when we were camped out in their 20. This gave them valuable ball which to their credit they exploited well. There was also perhaps just a little complacency in defence. It doesn't take much of a difference when you are playing against a good fast attacking team like Quins were last night. Take nothing away from Quins who played well which was no surprise to me because I have seen them improve week by week even though they haven't been getting the results.

Correct, and it was mostly the more experienced players at fault, not the youngsters.

Just to let you all know, i was being sarcastic. But we should become like the whinos and blame the next few games on a few injuries if it all goes pear shaped!

TBH - I said to one of the stewards (who was wailing about "but we had 6/7 players out...." to anyone who would listen) that I sincerely hoped that Madge would NOT trot out excuses about injuries.

The half-time lead showed what we SHOULD have done to Quins - Smashed them by 30+.

Unfortunately, this seems to be becoming something of a pattern. Get up on a team, then slack off.

It bit us at Bradford. It bit us again last night.

And as for the (several) people that I heard saying "Maybe this is the best thing for them....... Give them a kick up the backside....." - SHUT UP !!!!!!!!!!

Let's get this straight right now - Losing is NEVER good. It is NEVER to be treated as "a kick up the backside", and I am absolutely certain that under Madge and Waney, it will NEVER be acceptable.

Mate - It's never too early for a peek.

Clearly it wasn't.

I can honestly say that I thought we were in for a tough game when I saw the teams before the game and how many key players that Quins now have back, compared to the patched up team (particularly in the backs) that we put out. I was then surprised at the flattering 24-6 half time score that we put up, and less so that we clearly ran out of steam in the second half and were steam rolled.

The credit has to go to Quins for their performance, I was surprised how well they played and they absolutely deserved the victory in the end. Nevertheless I wasn't disappointed with the effort put in by the Wigan lads - things they tried just didn't come off and they were unbalanced defensively by players shuffled out of position meaning in the end they were just well beaten on the night.

Over the course of a season these types of performances happen - an unfancied team hits form and takes advantage of catching the other team on a bad day.

Given the number of people who've recently claimed that Wigan have the best juniors and biggest squad in SL those avenues of excuse appear to be closed off.

Excellent post and accurate summing up of the situation in general. Again I do think we "overplayed" as we have done for the last three games. The senior players need to take stock of their decision making last night. For some reason we have gone to playing "giddy" rugby, I can't imagine that this was Maguires instruction.

Must go reserve team rugby at Orrell calls.

Aye but we didn't really make use of those youngsters, we played a load of players out of position to avoid giving two debuts.

Don't let a few ott ramblings from the SKY team confuse you how the Rhinos fans have reacted to our injuries.
In fact just becasue it's been mentioned i think you'll find that 99% of the posts after defeat have been praising the opposition as much as discussing our shortfalls.
Also just because posters mention the fact that certain players are missing it doesn't automatically make it an "excuse" for defeat just adding weight to a debate about where the squad are at that time.

For those saying injuries had no effect last night, wake up! Are you saying players of the quality of Roberts, Gleeson, Goulding, Coley, Leuluai et al make no difference to a team? If that's the case why sign them?

No, it wasn't an excuse. Quinns beat the best team we could put out on the day fair and square. But there's a mile of difference between 'excuse' and 'reason'. Anyone who can't see the difference needs the help of a dictionary.

The injuries were one of several reasons why we lost last nights game. Not the only one by any means but to completely discount them is ludicrous. That being the case you won't be bothered whether Gleeson, Coley, Goulding or Leuluai are back next week or not will you as it clearly makes no difference! As for Roberts..why bother? We obviously don't need him.

Spot on. If all the players were as hungry as Farrell and Walker last night we wouldnt of lost. Body language was terrible last night Bertie big bollo*cks in the extreme. Im sure its playing on the players minds though so it might work into a positive (i hope

)

Sky often overhype things. Ive heard Hemmings mention Leeds injuries more than any other people put together!

Can't really agree with that - can't recall the body language being any different from normal and didn't believe there was a lack of effort from anybody out there.

Lack of concentration, lack of ability for the position they were playing (i.e, Bailey) and lack of match sharpness maybe.

Get him sacked!
Would much rather have Barry and Tez!

It was a poor defence display last night, nothing more nothing less. To say it was because missing players is rubbish as most the players that are not normally in the team played ok, Liam Farrell had a real game until cramped up. We knew aiscough would be weak in defence yet noone aided him on the right, lets hope the team learns by the basic mistakes, also we got caught out too many times by breaks and no cover getting back,

To anyone who was at the game it was surely obvious we missed Gleeson and a half back.

You mention no one helped Ainscough, well Gleeson would have. In any case the problem on the right was mainly Bailey who was rubbish in defence. So I don't see how it can be rubbish to point to these players absence as a reason (not excuse) for why certain aspects of the teams game were poorer than usual. It's just common sense.

I think Phuzzy got it spot on with his post.

Dave

Thanks Dave. I think that makes a grand total of two of us!

Apparently the common consensus is that it doesn't matter which players take the field. As long as they're wearing a Cherry and White shirt they are all of exactly the same standard. Makes you wonder why we ever bother signing anyone really.