Before anyone starts chopping away, yes we are only 2 games into the season but I thought following last nights match I would ask what everyone else thought or thinks thus far this year.
On last nights performance I have to say we do look bigger and much much fitter than ever before to be honest however I do have one or two issues following the opening two matches.
1, we seem to still lack a thought process in the middle with ball in hand and seem to run down dark alleys a lot with no real rugby brain kicking in yet!
2, the kicking game is better but still way behind where we should be and we seem to gift 90% of our kicks directly to the opposition full back , more fly hacking than head up and placing it seems at times.
3, our ability to stop the offload is abysmal and possibly due to the one out tackling / grabbing we seem to do a lot of !!
4, our kick chase is still very very poor and I am waiting for Calderwood to get back into his "in yer face" kick chasing he was famous for, this poor kick chase is allowing teams to run the ball back far too far hence we spend a lot of time in our own half defending instead of playing in their 20!!

players thus far!!
Byrne ... Been a rock and looks solid would be hard to move him in present form to be fair.
Calderwood.. looks fit but seems a bit lost.
G Horne ... started same as he finished last year 100%
Yeaman.. nothing special yet...
Briscoe.. Looks like a seasoned pro and he will learn from mistakes.
R Horne.. excellent but still doing too much on his own.
Thorman.. great in patches but disapears at times
dowes .. outstanding and powerful a revelation thus far!!
Berrigan... 110% as always
Cussack .. really stepped up to the plate, looks agressive, hungry and really taken the place of Carvell and my best player thus far this season.
Tickle.. 110% again
Burnett.. what a prospect for the future, outstanding and brave.
radford.. playing the best footie of his life so far and shut up all the knockers in just two games...
Houghton.. doesnt look fit to me yet.
Thackery .. not sure but not impressed so far
Manu.. simply not fulfilling his potential in my opinion ..
Washbrook.. so far this season i have no comment just average.

again I know its very early in the season and match fitness still has to come into play and team set plays have to settle but I think we look mid table to top 6 to be honest so far , we lack a something i just cant put my finger on , maybe Sam when he arrives and a fit Paul King will bring that , but we do have to learn to stop that offload as better sides than Celtic will hurt us badly

so far the difference for me is their attitude, they really do look interested!!

aagreed i was harsh by not putting positives which are too many to list but like you say we do look fitter, faster, and more enthusiatic than last year
maybe the PS syndrome has gone

I'd agree with most of that and also add that our marker defence seems to still be poor on the evidence of last night.


Again, I agree with most of that except...

Byrne - Looks solid in defense but offers very little going forward. Kick returns are poor.

Calderwood - Suffering the same problem all our wingers do. No service. Was given one decent opportunity yesterday and scored. We need to wise up and use him properly.

G Horne - Solid defence but didn't really notice him in attack.


Agree 100%. We're not a bad side, but we're not going to strike fear into many this season.

2 OUT OF 2 AND NOT PLAYING THAT WELL LETS HOPE THAT WHEN WE DO CLICK WE CAN STILL WIN. A NUMBER OF TIMES LAST SEASON WE PLAYED WELL BUT STILL LOST

LETS HOPE THE HALF BACK COMBO WORKS AS THIS IS WERE WE NEED THE GUIDANCE, WE CANNOT PLAY DOWN THE MIDDLE RUGBY AGAINST BIGGER TEAMS .

STILL HAPPIER THOUGH

yes still very early, two for two love it !
But catalans will be the start of the tough challenges. maybe as the season go's on we can muster up and plug some of the errors already shown, which you already have mentioned!

Maybe a fully fit return of messers Whiting, Raynor, Tony, King, and dare i mention an arrival of (crocker) or do we give up the dream now!

We have yet to see how Sam Moe? is to fit in somewhere mid season i would think ! as you say to many possitives to mention just yet.
But all in all a far better start then last season!
I for one am a very happy F.C supporter.




onwards and upwards. !

Biggest change for me is attitude.
How often last season would we have come back fro a 10 point deficit.
Also having a pair of half backs and an experienced hooker helps

Fitness looks better

2 half backs

But most of all attitude..

we look a hell of alot fitter

were not playing one man rugby

and our attitude has improved alot

well done to agar and sharp on a job well done so far

We still don't seem to play an expansive enough game, its all about forwards, if we are to have any success we must start to get our outside backs involved more and also be more clinical when on top.

were getting there slighty week by week

i think we will shock alot of people this season

On what I saw last week and what I heard on the radio last night (RH, as KCFM was garbage), the forwards are doing a good job but the half backs need to show a sense of urgency about their play with a bit more spontaneity, wich will spur on the threequarters hopefully.
Next weeks game is a whole new ball game with the Dragons, we really do have to be seriously strong in defence, as with last nights showing they were like rolling thunder in the second half against Wire, ok wire defence was .

Thought our kicking game was poor tonight to be honest, not until late in the second half did we put a couple of kicks in that actually turned them round. all other kicks seemed to go straight to a man. When we push the ball wide we look dangerous, but for me we don,t go wide often enough, suppose i should be use to this by now being a hull supporter.
Although i don,t think we played that well last night 2 points is 2 points and probably 2 points we would have lost last year, We were on a hiding to nothing last night Celtic were always going to come out and give it everything on their first home game and they will probably surprise a few teams if they perform like they did last night for the rest of the season.

We did a lot of that last night. When we DID get some width we looked much more dangerous.

We did score a couple of cracking tries, mind.

Pre season all the talk was of our pack not being up to much so it's good to see our pack winning us games. I think when Raynor returns we will be a lot more handy in the backs with him and Briscoe on the wings.

Yup, fitness as well as us looking bigger and tougher.

Calderwood?

I think is far inferior to Raynor or Briscoe. Raynor and Briscoe are dangerous even without service from their .

So we're going to drop a current England international winger based on 2 performances?

I don't know if we will or not but I certainly hope so. With a fit Raynor, G.Horne, Yeamo, Calderwood and Briscoe I think Agar would have to drop Calderwood.

Think when Raynor comes back Briscoe will either get a well deserved break from the first team or he will move to the centres. Cant see Calderwood being dropped. (he hasnt been poor IMO and will only get better)

I think Briscoe has been our best threequarter and at his age, he's got the most potential to improve. When Raynor's fit Calderwood is not an England winger meaning he will be the same as G.Horne and Yeamo as ex England Internationals. Out of interest, which one would you leave out?

Personally i would leave G Horne out and shift Briscoe to the centre. G Horne could then be used off the bench in the back row.

Either.

Calderwood is a threat if we use him right. He was offered a single opportunity last night and scored. He nearly made another try for Tickle as well - in fact, if his centre had been on the ball we would have scored...

The style of rugby is the same as it was under sharpe. 2 scoots from acting 1/2 from the winger and centre, followed by a couple of forward drives and a (poor) kick. Nothing has changed in terms of the game plan. Worrying thing for me is that on the occassions we do try and spread the ball the passing is so ponderous that we're easy to defend against. A lack of variation and dummy runners just compounds the problem. Berrigan seems to be the only player we have who can attack the line and put a man through a gap. Thorman doesn't have the organisational skills we need