So, I don't really agree with a lot of the comments about the forwards being dominated. I thought a lot of the forwards stood up well.
In particular, Scott Anderson made 32 tackles (equal highest with Kirmond), and missed none!
He didn't make as much ground as some of the other forwards with 11 carries but he tends to do that first charge when the defense is set. He gave one penalty away (I think for holding down) and no errors.

This kind of work goes un-noticed but anyone topping the tackle count in that heat with none missed deserves credit.

I think he has been a very solid player for us and has been a good import and I would like to see him stay beyond this season.

I was bigging him up before the game yesterday - love his aggressive style running and work ethic.....but yesterday I thought he was really poor!

Funny how us fans see the game!

Naturally I can do better slumped in a stadium seat with a beer and a pukka pie of course!

I think I'm finally calming down from yesterday....roll on this Sunday

!!!

I'm with you there Mary. Tough day for Wakefield fans in that stadium yesterday,

Worth saying that I moved over to where the Cas fans were sat when Sts and Warrington were playing and there was a young guy near me in a Trinity shirt. Some guys who knew him in cas shirts spotted him leaving with his girl friend and gave him some jovial grief. He went down to talk to them and stood all the grief with a brave face.
True supporter that guy. he has my respect.

You don't agree that the forwards were dominated? Wow. Now I know you see everything through red, white & blue glasses and the club can do no wrong in your eyes but that comment is ridiculous. Our forwards, bar possibly Moore & Kirmond at a push, were a distant second in the collision. Just making the tackle doesn't mean you dominated it and as you point out the meter making was poor. The fact that Darryl Clark ran rings round us off the back of the Cas pack tells you all need to know. Scruton, Anderson, Washbrook, Fairbank, Smith & Ryan were below par in contact. That is not to say they were not trying, some obviously were, but their performances were not good enough.

On Anderson he is a solid prop that gets through the hard work. But he needs others to be the meter eaters as with the ball in hand he is nothing more than a reliable trundler. He's worth his place though.

I agree with you that our forwards were dominated from the 1st minute to the last, with the exception of Kormo who, despite his injury, broke their line more that any other Wakefield player.
The litmus test is to ask, which Wakefield player was good enough to be in the Cas team and it's a very short list indeed.

That is not the point at all.

Our forwards made ground against theirs.
What made the difference was we couldn't stop their off load and their halfbacks were better than ours when they got the ball.

You see black and white details. That's fine. But it isn't as simple as we lost, so forwards must have been dominated.

Like i've said, I haven't seen it on tv yet so I reserve the right to change my mind, but when we had the ball we made yardage up field, and often better than they did.

What they did better than us was hunt in packs in defence, and were very good at it, and very fast hands in attack compared to us.
They didn't blast down the middle they created gaps or ran round us.
Not the same at all.

Watch the Clarke break that lead to the Tansey try. Anderson was at marker, he didn't make a missed tackle because he did not attempt at tackle, he just watched Clarke run straight past him. Ryan then tried to chase him and had a despairing dive at his ankles.

Ryan will get a missed tackle on his stats for trying to defend. Anderson that did sweet FA and will not get a negative mark.

Disagree strongly with that. They CAN do, but not yesterday. We hit the line, were stopped and dominated in the tackle, resulting in slow PTB's and lateral movement.

Poor show from just about all involved, not helped by a few bumps and bruises picked up along the way.

The players attitude needs to be much much stronger - whether that is down to the players, coaches or both ???????

Sorry but i really can't agree with that at all and the metre stats of their forwards compared to ours backs up the fact that they dominated us up front. It seemed that way watching and the facts back it up, their 8 forwards made nearly 150 more metres than our eight. They were able to go round us based on them been too strong for us in the middle in the first instance. The Cas pack just looked fitter, faster, stronger and , most worryinngly, hungrier than us i'm afraid.

Fair enough but as he topped the tackle count, I reckon he did his stint.

I do take the point about missed tackles requiring an attempt. Kirmond missed 4 tackles but sometimes he ran past another player to try and make the tackle.

Well I'll take your points of view on this and watch the game on tv tonight.
Clearly depending on where you are sat and who you focus on you can get a different view at the game.

I'd better hold my view for now, though I've clearly formed some opinion already so not whether I'll view it quite as bad as some did.

That's the problem with stats . Take riley (who was my mom) he chased back full length of field and made a dive as player was scoring. Bet that was missed tackle

Thought Riley had a good game and almost caught Shenton but as you say would have counted as a miss.

Another one of your shockers dear me.

Yeah pipe down will ya.

I'm not sure what the "stats" say but if they shine any kind of positive light on any aspect of that "performance" then they are very misleading. Our forwards were inept. And that is being polite. Time and time again they received the ball on a standing start and trundled the ball upto the Cas defensive line with less aggression than my gran walks to the butcher on a saturday morning. The reason Cas dominated the middle is because their forwards RAN onto the ball at speed and they fought like hell for a quick play of the ball. This sucked more of our defenders in and left space to exploit out wide and it also meant Daryl Clark had a field day around the ruck. Our intensity was really poor. I wouldn't have been that disappointed had it come a few weeks ago but I really thought we'd turned a corner after the last two efforts.

Richie Moore, Jarrod Sammut and Chris Riley can hold their heads up high. A few others like Walshaw and Sykes put in effort but the forwards in parricular were absolutely dire. Get Sammut and Godinet in at the halves with Wildie/McShane interchanging, sack Mathers off and slot Owen in at fullback. Reece Lyne, Riley, Johnson and Briscoe can battle it out for the wings. Although, letting Fox go is questionable given the lack of quality on the wings. Fox would still be a better choice for wing than those choices.

It will be interesting to see what kind of response we get next Sunday against Warrington. We need Tautai and Annakin back. Max Jowitt could even be an option at fullback with Owen a wing option. Either which way get the halves sorted and give the forwards a kick up the because they are not a bad set of forwards which indicates to me it is a fitness/attitude problem. Let's be realistic, Cas haven't got a star studded pack but they taught our pack a lesson in attitude and aggression. They didn't even do anything outstanding but they worked their socks off and ran hard; it gave the likes of Sneyd and Clark a field day when kicking and attacking.

Tell you where I was sat pop tart ,sofa right in front of tele saw every thing from every angle close up the lot, and I'm afraid the most leniant and gentile person would not be swayed by your views we were rubbish mate and our forwards accept for kirmond and Moore were completely dominated like you say watch it tonight but please be prepared to give an honest opinion I want no ringing your mate scarlet and asking what should I post ok

it seemed we were only prepared to put two men into the tackle which meant loads of times cas players were "held" still on their feet, this meant they were playing the ball quickly while we were still setting up at marker. by the time big players like Anderson and co got into position Clarke had already gone. it needs three players in the tackle these days to put the player on the ground and take control of the ruck area.

We were miles away yesterday, and looked very lazy in defence compared to the Hull game, when I thought they scrambled and defended for their lives. Very strange.

also, half backs are generally fairly weak tacklers and we had a lot of half backs on the field. which does not help.

You should know I don't follow the crowd for the easy route. I'll call it how I see it.

Well I'll tell you. I watched it, in detail and wrote down details.
Anderson had a great game in defence. His only mistake was not getting back in position when Clarke broke away but he'd made the tackle previously and the player walked past him to put him off side.
I only saw 2 tackles where he was 3rd man in.

In his two stints he worked his off.

So did Scruton who hardly had a break for whole game.

Moore was very energetic when he came on and dominated the tackle in most of his runs.

Smith was poor. Little impact with ball and weak in defence. Fairbank was weaker. Missed some significant ones.
Kirmond was all over the place and only forward with ability to bust. We missed him when he went off.
Washbrook was ok in defence but nothing in attack.
Ryan was weak with ball and went off not to return.

Godinet needs to be on longer. He added a lot of zip.
Sykes was poor. Passing was painfully slow which cost us in attack.
Siejka wasn't bad with ball in hand but hardly any of his kicks came off.

Sammut returned the ball really well. Always a threat. Not bad in defence either.

Collis I thought was poor. Apart from catching a high ball he did nothing and missed some tackles.
Walshaw in comparison was excellent.
Riley was the only player to break a tackle and did well in second half..
Mathers was not nearly as bad as some say.
His missed tackle on Carney actually let him run into three tacklers and went through them. They were worse than Mathers. (Smith, Fairbank and Sammut)

Not one sixth play worked.
We gave them easy ball at times and most tries came from mistakes.

Not irrecoverable but I'd drop Sykes, Collis, Fairbank, Smith back at prop or dropped.
Possibly give Siejka another go with Godinet at scrum half. Depends what Owen looks like at fullback. If so Sammut to stand off. Ryan back at centre assuming fit.
Raleigh in at prop if fit.

For Cas, they got some lucky breaks. Couple of decisions but nothing major.
Huby and Lynch were good for them. Clarke and Sneyd were excellent. They were key difference

Sammut & Moore in my eyes were prepared to put their body on the line.

The rest were not interested.

I thought Riley was excellent. Lots of effort, enthusiasm and endeavour.......a loan signing from Warrington.

Says it all really.

Easy - Danny Kirmond. I would swap him for Weller Hauraki anyday.

Excellent post mate. I agree with this. Moore was pick of the forwards once again. I thought Riley tried his heart out for a loan player. Fox on the wing would have been a far better choice than Mathers? What grounds is Mathers been picked on here? Kirmond worked very hard why bring him back on when the game was gone, had a possible fracture for god sake. Sammut and Godinet halfs its not rocket science. Seaker not done it for me he looks ok but ok will not win us games.