Quote ="vastman"Good post, steady though people will accuse you of being me just like poor old FC
Anyway as I noted on another thread I'm baffled and don't really have a theory.
However, what you say is pretty much where I am. It's ok people blaming Josh Wood or Bill or Lino but the truth is these players can only be at their best when playing behind a competitive pack and not just for 50 mins but for the full 80.
The pack is soft but frustratingly it's not always the same culprits at the same time. I can't pin down any real villains. You could argue that Green and Tangata arent making yards but they were never likely to, these are straight up and down players, nothing fancy and it goes on.
as you say it's the collective and the most important collective is the pack.
Ashurst is the perfect example and I noticed it post Covid 2020. Why is he not playing his natural game? Sure he did used to cop some unfortunate passes from Miller but that's part of the game. It can't be a lack of bravery as now he seems to hunt out big players to clobber him.
It's like many of the pack is refusing to play their natural games. Odd and Ill say it again I'm baffled because if anyone seriously thinks that's what Chester is telling them to do needs their bumps feeling.'"
I’ve been accused of and called worse things so I’ll take being called a Vastman pseudonym
Yeah, I can’t quite fathom it all out to be honest. The last time we worked as a collective was after the Daily Star drama. In 2021 we seem to have reverted back to where were last year before those 3 wins.
I think there are individuals you can pick out and I’d say we are weak in the front row. However, like you say they don’t all have a drop in performance at once. I honestly feel like we are seeing the breakdown of aging players. Most of them are only 31/32 which doesn’t sound that old but when you look at the number of injuries they have had I feel like that may have brought the aging process on a bit earlier. If you know what I mean?
My biggest criticism of Chester at the moment is him picking players out of position when we do have alternatives. Playing both J.Wood/Crowther is stunting our attack as both do the same job really in that they tighten up defence. Randell used to do the same job but his passing from the floor was good and he did know when to run and get a quick roll on. With Kyle Wood out I can’t see why we don’t give Harry Bowes a whirl from the bench. He his a hooker after all and if we are worried about his defence why not just bring him on for a 25/30 min period with his main instruction being to get the team moving forward with more urgency.
As you say though it’s all just speculation and theories on our part. Just frustrating to watch at the moment
