Shock Horror the Fickle Thread returns after a loss

Serious question, does anyone think Webster would make us any different ?

He'll probably make us over the celery cap

Very true, although, some people need to remember that we're not set up to be a team that blows others away, we're a grafting side. Last night they didn't seem to want to graft and we had our ar$es handed to us on a plate.
I would never call anybody fickle.


Yep, would agree with that.

I'm an Agar out man too. People keep quoting how top 6th is such an improvement on recent years. I would say that with the squad at his disposal over his seasons that the previous two finishes represent underperformance and that this year is par for the course. Wigan, Leeds, Saints, Warrington have better squads than us and will finish above us, our squad is fifth or sixth best. I feel that our talented players pull out perfromances to gain us results as opposed to our coach adding value.

For me we desperately need more pace and flair; only Tansey seems capable of creating anything and he's a liability at times. And we need a new coach; performances like yesteday are far too frequent in my opinion.

Completely disagree with that. On paper we have one of the biggest, most explosive pack of forwards in the comp, perfect for "blowing away" the opposition.

Trouble is it never happens. It's the game plan and style of play that are the issue, not the players IMO

I went out last night & just seen the score,dont think i will bother watching it! AGAR OOOT!!!

He did,the trouble was ,it was `
f*** `all.

Losing in the way we did last night isn't a surprise to most fans who have eyes and don't subscribe to FC tinted specs. Our performance against Bradford wasn't much different but Tansey stayed on the good side of the line and won us the game. Agar goes on about performances , ours are consistently poor but the really worrying thing is that there is just no sign of improvement or anything changing. We were last night a laughing stock on TV , well we would have been if Eddie and co hadn't been so bored that they couldn't force even a smile. They were taking the p1ss in the commentary , talking about proper teams , exciting games and our near neighbours being better than us. That's Stevo , the numbskull of Eddie and Stevo fame taking the p1ss out of our club. But he was right! They talked about wanting and expecting entertainment but we can't entertain because we haven't got the players , according to Agar we're having to do the best with what we have out on the pitch. Essentially we're missing Long as a playmaker ( entertainer) , that's it. Our pack should be able to cope without O'meley and Moa , hell Agar wouldn't even have Moa in the side not long ago. If this is what we're getting now then I can't see any reason at all why it will be different next year or the year after because there's no one coming through that can have any infuence on the way we play and Agar will still be here. I've said before 4th in the table or not, no one expects us to win anything this year. Most are surprised. No one expected winning anything or achieving 4th place at this stage but I fear that this will be as good as it gets for the next couple of years and we'll then once again be going through the clear out process and getting some short term solution in place which will once again hamper our ability to have a proper recruitment strategy.
Maybe "earmarking" the derby as a "game to win" was the problem last night? Maybe that's the strategy , beat KR and everything will be fine?

Excellent post Chris, agree with every word (sadly).

Can`t argue with any of that,as for Eddie and Stevo taking the pi$$, who can blame them?
The players were doing it to us.

.
That could be the crunch.

4th in the table is merely down to the order of the fixtures. We won't be 4th when everyone has played everyone.

On the playing fron the club is a shambles and is reaping the rewards of 3 successively worse coaching appointments since mcrae left. When he went we had a good side, playing attractive rugby with a conveyor belt of local talent coming through. Now we have an expensive yet poor side, no flair, no innovation, no direction, no pace, no backing up, hardly any young players coming through. The playing side of the club needs to be taken apart and put together again properly

Agree there Jake and the underlined bit comes from the top. They're taking the michael out of the loyal (possibly stupidly so) support. They have a good idea that 9000 or so will continue to buy season passes whatever so there's no urgency to sort things out.

Eddie and Stevo

Come on guys seriously.

Eddie does not have a clue about rugby league and it appears Stevo is just a soundbite machine these days, only Clarke seems to be able to call a game. last night for 10 minutes it was a complete stalemate, it was a case of who could win the arm wrestle and see which team would crack first, we did and subsequently lost the game. Anyone who watched SOO would have seen the same thing in the second half, Queensland were getting nowhere so kept driving it up kicking and waiting for the error. The difference is commentators like Gus, Sterlo etc can read a game called it exactly right. They enjoyed the game of chess as it unfolded. Eddie just sits there moaning like the fecking idiot he is, the fact he commentates on our game is bloody unbelievable, it's a joke.

On the game itself, watching it again I think Clarkey made some good points, we were hard done to and were very poor in the second half but not the first. People will blame Agar and that is their right but had Whiting had the ability to pass properley instead of throwing a stupid one arm pass we would have been 12 up. Had the Yeaman try stood, which it should have down and the least we should have had was another penalty and had Cooke's knock on been given then the game would have looked very different at half time. We were well in control until Ganson gave that ridiculous penalty at ptb and then the subsequent try to Cooke.

Second half we had nothing and were awful and the players and coaching staff need to look at themselves for that. Perhaps the derby was on their minds but it should not have been. No excuses for the 2nd half performance but we should have been going in 18-6 up at halftime, none of that was Agar's fault.

I don't think he is the right man for the job but blaming him for everything, as people are doing, is out of order imo.

agar obviously has problems motavating these professional sports men to play against teams like quins,salford,wakey! and imo thats a role of the coach to pick the correct players with the correct mind set
Do I expexct to win teams like these if where sooooo improved on last season YES!
Do I expect to blow these teams of the park with the squad we have (even with the b@ll spin on injuries we have. theres still plenty of un tapped talent and international and big game experience in that 17 man) YES!

Will we ever win anything of note while we employ cheap talentless tactically disabled options in important head coach roles NEVER !

TAXI FOR AGAR!

But we'll always get some bad calls and a bit of adversity, teams have to deal with it. We don't.
Talking about this game and SOO in the same breath is so ridiculous I can't believe you did it.
Regardless of all of that though where do you see us in say 2 years time? We haven't the scope to change the playing staff much , if we don't get some success or look like we may get some then we won't attract new players anyway and we appear to have no players in influential positions coming through. If we have to work with what we've got then we're relying on Agar's motivational skills , his ability to raise the skill standards from worse than schoolboy in some cases and to get these players to concentrate for the whole game like professionals should. I just don't see him being able to do any of that. Wigan were in a similar position (though they did have and still do have better quality youngsters coming through) and they went out and got a coach who they believed could change things. It was the only thing they could change and it's the only thing that we can change. Agar should be fighting for his contract renewal now not comfortably planning the next disasterous campaign.

Just seen that Burnett played for the under 20s, yet was 18th man for the firsts. What would have happened if someone had broken down in the warm up? Burnett would have to have backed up, although he may have played better than the ones out there. What is going on?????

Agar's rotation plan in that scenario was for Burnett to replace Briscoe on 28 minutes, come off for Dowes on 34 minutes then go back on to spell Fitz on 78 minutes.

Agar? plan?....what you on about?

Think she meant agar plank

True we do need to handle adversity better, no argument there. I was not comparing the skills levels etc I was making the point between commentators not the game, I can't believe you did not realise that! The aussies commentators will comment on the game and call what they are saying, whereas Eddie just moans like the clueless moron he is.

We don't have the chance to change the players much!!! Next season we lose Berro, Fitz, Lauaki, Long, that is a huge chunk of cap to play with and change the side.

I would agree that relying on Agar to get more from the players would be very worrying.

Agar shouldnt be sacked IMO, done much better this season, and without a decent halfback palying week in week out. I still wouldnt have given him a 2 year deal that was stupid, a one year deal should have been offered about a month ago IMO.

His recruitment needs to be very good for next year on a tight budget, a young halfback being the priorty.

That's 2012 not next season. Next season as far as I can see we face more of the same 2010 brand of rugby. Long will be a year older as will Fitz. Berrigan looks like he's going to take his option to stay but whether he'll improve is doubtful. Horne , well we were looking forward to his return last close season , not sure we'll be doing that with any real anticipation this year. It's what we've decided to do til 2012 , tread water , wait until this lot have gone. Bad recruitment strategy going back a few years have got us into this position but why we gave Agar a contract when we did in these circumstances is beyond me.

Pretty much everyone on the books was either signed or re signed by agar