After the first 25mins thought we played alright, last season we'd have lost by 80. We will get better and reckon Catalans will be one of the top teams this season they looked class. Smith said at start of season it will be 4-5 games before he know what we've got. It's looking middle 8s but I still think we've got makings of a decent team so you never know, but we need to start matches from the first minute.

I left the ground frustrated today...
The first 20 mins was a combination of poor tackling, poor handling, and our ability to cane ourselves on the penality count...
This changed when Tupou came on, and we changed as a team... Maybe there is a role for him as captain and maybe get him on from the start as we need a leader on he pitch.(although brian smith knows better than I)..
I'd also like to see Scott Moore back in at hooker, give us a bit more steel in defence
I think in private Mr smith will be handing out some bollackings on the tackling front first thing Monday morning.
The frustration comes from the fact that we clawed our way back into that game and maybe could of won it had we not been pulled back for the forward pass that Johnstone took..but the damage was already done in the first half.. I hope we are learning from all this... As soon as we stop at least the penalties we keep conceding we might start giving ourselves a chance to win some games..at the moment we seem to be making life hard for ourselves

When Anthony Tupou came on we looked a completely different team to the one that started the game. Unfortunately we were already 26 points behind. He looks a genuine class player and I'm sure he will improve even more when the drier weather comes.

Tom Johnstone had a cracking game. A well taken try, good defence and almost scored two tries of the season with his solo attempts from the kick off and penalty kick return. Today will have boosted his confidence no end.

The gulf in half backs showed today. I don't think Myler or Carney got their shirts dirty but still managed to run the show.

David Taylor was just freakish today!

I note one or two are calling for Smith's head! If he was coaching them to give away soft penalties, drop the ball in critical positions, miss tackles etc then I would back the call but he isn't is he?
Face it, two thirds of players we regard as our first team would not get into any other SL team and that to me is the problem.

But smith has brought in most of this squad, mostly his Ozzie journey men and players he never saw play prior to their arrival. Sorry but the buck stops with him

I've no doubt the buck will stop with him.
As for the players brought in do you not think money played a little part in the type of player we could sign? (A. Tupou apart who must wander where the hell he has come!)

Smith didn't sign Scott Anderson or Nick Scruton...he did sign Tupou, Arona and England who played well today...

I felt Hall was weak in defence and attack today. He did some flashy stuff but he's a loose canon and I don't like him in the centre. I think I'd play him on the wing now.
They targeted Finn a little bit and he let a few go through too. Can't blame him alone as they were tough to stop for anyone.

Clearly Johnstone was pure gold today.
Tupou made a difference to us when he came on.
I like Sio but I think Howarth is proving the more valuable player. If Moore has any form on return Sio will make way.
I'd like to see the whole game video as the tries were score left right and middle so it's hard to blame any one part of the defence.

Attack I liked. Defence has to improve drastically.

I believe only one Catalan score came down the Hall Johnson wing, and it was that side where we looked the most dangerous. I would ask why you believe Hall was weak on defence and attack. I look forward to the stats on the game to access if you are correct or just prejudiced.

From what I saw it was Arundel and Reece that was the weak side not moving up sometimes and giving Catalan momentum. When we started to ship the ball wide even if hall didn't make a clean break he made 40 meters on several occasions. Throwing the ball wide was the only tactic that would work against such a big pack. We did this for 20 mins and Catalan couldn't handle it. We went back to down the middle and struggled. Smith should have said want no more than 2 straight drives out of a six second half.

The tries were split, two on the left, four down the middle and two on the right.
I did say they were spread and not all on one player, but the two on Hall's side were between him and his inside man not Johnstone and not a finger was even near the player.

In attack Hall made some good runs but on more than one occasion kicked through when I'm not sure it was on, though I haven't rewatched it so could be wrong, but it was most irritating to see passes miss Johnstone when he should be getting try assist passes. Especially the behind the back one. It just needed a good centres pass.

Said the same about "the round the back pass". he had enough time to give a regular pass, which would have been a certain score.
It was the first 20/25 minutes that killed us and I looked typical of our efforts f the last 2 season.

Everyone knew that the Dragons would hit us hard from the off and we simply couldn't live with them but, we were so lethargic and that isn't good enough.

Enthusiasm and willingness to play for the team are minimum requirements and these were missing from too many players.
We looked like a team that had seen the size of the opposition and didn't want to know.

You often see that in kids rugby but, it was disappointing and unacceptable from a professional RL team.

Scrutton off and Toupu on made a huge difference but, we'd got too much of a mountain to climb

Thought Hall looked good in the centre, with the limited ball he got.
Johnstone will score plenty of tries, if Hall stays as his centre.
As for Hall's frail defence, that's nothing new but didn't look out of place with the majority yesterday.
A.Tupou arrival on the pitch changed everything, he did more in his first 10 mins than the rest of the team did in a he first 20 mins.
Thought the back two of Molloy and Ashurst were none existent.
After yesterday A.Tupou should start, with Anakin replacing him off the bench.
Pop Tart has mentioned that Carney was like an advert for Daz, they has a simple commit the man and pass the ball game, whereas we didn't have any sort of passing game.

I would persevere with Hall. I think he is the only creative back we have on the books. Give him and Johnstone longer to form a partnership -it won't happen overnight.

I have seen some guttless useless Aussies and NZ over the years at Wakefield and Scott Anderson & Miller are right up there with Brent Todd & Ray Bexendale I would not pay them in washers Scruton has it in him but the desire and heart is lacking drop the pair of them
BJB only here for the money looked a good player in a world class Leeds side say no more

Reece Lyne is an enigma. On some occasions he looks strong, fast and up for the fight, the rest of the time he looks like he's never seen a rugby ball in his life. Yesterday was the latter and there were a couple of instances where he appeared to be moving in slow motion.

I thought it was one of BJBs best games yesterday.
Shows how people see things differently at the same fame.

I've been a big fan of Anderson but I'm losing fail. He isn't gutless but he is less effective than he used to be.

You really are foolish. BS does not have a magic wand, he's done well to turn the squad around to where it is. You were at the match? You did hear Catalans team sheet? You are on planet earth?

The buck stops at the players, and to be fair they are doing their best - simple fact is that most are not good enough.

Also where is the extra half back Carter promised - got a feeling that he's scrimping on the one position he can't scrimp on.

I hear through the grapevine that Smith is not happy about this as he was promised the resources and they have not been delivered.

Does anyone here seriously think it was Smith intention to go through a full season with 1 half back and Miller?

Stop talking sense!

As bad as we were in that first 25 mins, a real turning point for me was when Tupou got the ball knocked out of his hands in the 2nd half. We were on a roll and looking good. Bentham gave us the scrum and we could have continued. Linesman stepped in, ref reversed his decision and a minute later Myler went through 4 to score.
If we could have kept the pressure on then we had them slightly rattled.

Oops - sorry I got it wrong again!

We said the same at the time the linesman intervened. At 22-26 we also got pulled back for a forward pass when Johnstone was put clear. Then the head shot on the 4th tackle of a set by Scruton.
All these events in the space of about 5 minutes just gave Catalans a leg up when they were rocking.

Gave ourselves far, far too much to do. I under estimated Catalans wildly. Thought if we could live with them and keep the score down going into the second half we'd stand a chance but wasn't happening yesterday. Won't blame the officials as they were no worse than usual but a decision I will look at again on TV gave momentum back to them when our tails were up.

Didn't think BJB, Hall or Finn did a lot wrong yesterday and are undeserving of the vitriol received since yesterday. Thought Scruton was poor and have done for a while, I'd certainly be looking at replacing him. Anderson to a lesser extent - I don't think he's been the same since his shoulder injury. Don't doubt for a minute that either of these two lacks heart or courage but we could be doing better in this area.

Johnstone was outstanding, I hope he takes some belief forward and we see repeat performances. Antony Tupou not far behind him for MoM.

I've accepted middle 8 is our likely fate but will reserve judgment on progress until after the midway point of the season.

Think Scruton was subbed immediately after that, after not long going back on.
Was very disappointed with most of the pack yesterday. Scruton, Anderson, England, Simon were mainly ineffective although Simon gave it a good go in his second stint.
Having said that when stood side by side, we looked like an U18's side playing an open age team. They were massive!!