I agree with a few of the comments on here and to be honest I'm trying to restrain my opinions as I don't want to be accused of swinging an axe



I like most of our fans from what I am hearing and reading are a little worried about what lies ahead this season and I hate to keep going on about it but I have a feeling that after most of the progress that was made last season I have a feeling we might be stepping back to a few seasons ago. I will be very interested to see in the league express in the moring the line ups of some of the championship clubs that have played today after seeing some of the results. Workington and Whitehaven got off to good starts along with Hunslet. I have also just read that Carl Pryce has signed for Dewsburry. When you look at some of the other clubs even the ones that haven't linked up with SL clubs they have really strengthened their squads.

Listening to Marchy in his video we have a lot of our regulars out for a minimum of 4 weeks but he still doesn't seem worried and has mentioned again that we have a big enough squad to cope with it but as I have mentioned in another post I'm not sure some of the lads we have can handle this level of rugby just yet, it takes time buthey I'm no coach and not pretending to be so we have to trust in Marchy. I'm sure they will re-group this week and get ready for our first home game against Whitehaven but I have to say I'm not confident about a win in that game either. I think our best chance of win in these first fixtures is swinton (no disrespect).

Maybe we're all worrying over nothing and we see a different cougars next week. COME ON COUGARS

I've read and digested all the coments.

I attended the Batley game today and to say I was appauled is an understatement. It did show we are not good enough.

Paul March does need time. But may I state one statistic, so far.

I know we have played freindlies, but.

Points for 87 Points against 172 !!!!!!!

I'll aways be there, but come on I'll / we'll not endure easily many more games like that.

Very, very disappointing this afternoon. We were almost as poor in attack as we were in defence and that's saying something. Some woeful tackling from our lads, and they were wholly unable to cope with the way the Bulldogs were throwing the ball about - which is what I'd hoped I'd see the Cougars doing. But no, there were shades of some of last season's play with our lads just taking the ball and running into a load of Batley defenders. No invention, no trickery - it was all slow to the point of being telegraphed and the Dogs lapped it up all afternoon. Much work to be done. The video won't make enjoyable viewing.

I thought watching the game that Chandler was our Stand out player.
I also thought young Josh Lynum played better and tackled better than more experienced players.

Also the injuries include, Olly Pursglove, Killer, Craig Moss, Gav Duffy, Rawlins and also the new lad who broke his leg at Barrow after shining in his two games. Matt Daley.

By comparison JK had a problem of too many players to choose from today.

I think that even JD would have struggled to muster a win today with this many injuries impeding his selection.

Stand out on not good day at the office was the debut of josh Lynham who worked his backside off after coming on from the bench and gave a few of our more senior players a lesson in effort and enthusiasm

I wonder what the stats for the game looked like.

The amount of passes that went to ground from us.
The amount of missed tackles.

And the biggest worry for me. I wonder how many yards we made in the tackle compared to Batley. They seemed to be going forward in the tackle and we either went backwards of were stopped.

All across the field they made much more yardage than use.

One thing we can take from yesterday. Is watch a vid of the game and copy the way they controlled the tackle. They used the wrestle much better than we did thus slowing our play of the ball down.

I can only echo what has been previously said, yesterday was hands down one of the worst performances I have seen from a Cougar side.

The lack of enthusiasm in defence was alarming, refusal to track back, letting attackers waltz past to get onto kicks, prop forwards side stepping their way past our static defenders. It was shocking from start to finish.

Only positive for me was the new scrum half, Leatherbarrow, already showed more promise than Obst did in the whole of last season. Decent kickoffs which got us the ball back 3 times and always wanted the ball.

Does anyone know if Richard Jones is still on the books? First part of last season he was one of the stand out players.

Richard went to Gloucester I think.

The people who say this is the worst ever have obviously forgotten our 2010 visit to the Mount.

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"Only positive for me was the new scrum half, Leatherbarrow, already showed more promise than Obst did in the whole of last season. Decent kickoffs which got us the ball back 3 times and always wanted the ball."

Not sure how you highlight the above so just copied and pasted it.

Whoever has posted that comment is a idiot.
Our new No7 is far too young to comand the same respect as Sam Obst.
He has come to us to gain experience thats why he's not at Wigan.
How many 20 y/o half backs are running round Super league?
You can not buy Sam Obsts experience and respect on and off the pitch
Last year we had Demetriou, Obst, Korkidas and Tadulala.
All these players comand respect in training, changing rooms and matches.
We do not have this anymore and have replaced them with journey men and possibles.
Maybe when your knocking Obst just think that maybe the players round him are not up to his normal standard of play.
Because he's done it year in, year out at the top level.

Couldnt agree more Claytoa. Leatherbarrow was by far the best player on the pitch for us. As for Mr Hicks comments i think maybe its you thats the idiot. Obst did nothing last year. He looked like an average chapionship player. Why does it matter how old a player is if he plays well on the pitch?? All Obst ever used to do was moan when things went wrong when the majority of time it was his fault. What a waste of money he was in a divison which we couldnt get relegated or promoted. So what was the point?? As for off the pitch the crowds havnt increased and the expeiience hasnt got better. Maybe it was Obst been to good for the other players but what is the point in having a player like that if he dosnt fit in teams play?? End of the day we put a lot of money into these Champagne players and not one of them has done anything to change anything at Cougar park. The crowd is the same!!! Get young players involvedbecause thats the future. Look at Wigans side tonight. 9 players are from Wigan who came through thier jounior set up. Explain that one Mr Hicks.

From your comments i wouldnt want to explain anything to you as you dont seen to know anything about rugby.
But i will leave you with this one.
Youth is fine but you need experience to be successful. Why are Warrington still playing with Morley (35), Briers (34), Brett Hodgson (35), Monaghan (32), Carvell (32),
One question i will ask, have you ever played the game. If the answer is yes. When you were in a hard game who did you look to and who did you listen to.

I probably know a lot more about Rugby than a lot of people down at the club and yes i have played the game. You may look up to certain older players. But this is not the case all of the time. You have singled out one team which has a lot of elder players. What about Sam Tomkins. Players and rugby league as a whole look up to him. Is he old??? I think the comment is ridiculous about his age. Why would it matter if he has put a mom performence in? We have other older players that we can look up to. Shickkle, March, Buster is young but been at the club a long time. Do you think the players last year looked upto Obst?? A player that they knew wouldnt be there the next season. I dont think so. It was just JD keeping his mates happy. Like ive said a waste of money which has got us no where on the field on no where off the field.

As for the question about who i looked too in a hard game. It would be the big personality players. Some old and some young. Why does age make a difference?

I also think that Obst wasnt very good last year. To say he was a player with all that experience he sure as hell didn't bring it onto the park week in week out.

People clearly have different opinions about Obst, but one thing you cannot knock was his defensive effort. On current form, some of the current squad could do with taking a leaf out of his book

Very true. But the position he played. He should have been remembered, for his attacking and organising skills. And he wont be.



Fair comment.

There was me thinking he was the top try scorer.

All I was saying was we all know how good Sam Obst is because we have seen him in action against us for Whitehaven and almost single handedly tear teams apart in Super League. However he showed nothing of this at Cougars, never seemed up for it, never looked to break the line, he just looked like a guy going through the motions. To say how good he was he didnt put the effort in to reflect that.

Where as Leatherbarrow seemed to me like a breath of fresh air, always wanted the ball, was always looking to make something happen, got us the ball back 3 times from clever kick offs.

Maybe young and hungry is the way forward as opposed to an aussie has been looking for one last pay day. As captain cougar said there are still enough old heads around to offer him guidance. How old were Tomkins, McGuire, Burrow, Eastmond when they made an impact in Super League???

I personally was an Obst fan. I rated him before he came to Cougars and thought he did a decent enough job for us. I can understand where people are coming from though. I thought he'd offer us more, but clearly found the transition from full time rugby difficult. I also felt the Jones partnership didn't work for whatever reason. I guess that's sport sometimes partnerships just don't prosper.

From his defensive work I think it was clear he was interested and put his body on the line week in week out. I don't known the figures, but would assume Obst didn't come for that much money.

If it has come to praising the defensive effort of the person playing in the most creative position on the field I think I can rest my case.

Like I say he was top try scorer. Can't please some people

Scrum halfs shouldnt have to defend like that. Ever thought if the players round him did more in defence he would have more energy in attack. As for Leatherbarrow forcing 3 drop outs in 80 minutes i expect more from a half back. Im not knocking the kid what i did say was that he's come to us to gain experience so he's learning all the time. Another thing i did say was how many 20 y/o half backs are running round super league.

I hope the coach has had them in the tackle bags this week, awful in defence last week.

When i think back to the game the Jones try been ruled out and Batley scoring from the next set was a game changer, you just never know. I still think it was an awful decision.