Big gamble yesterday, playing injured players which clearly didn't pay off.

Was it worth the risk? Probably not, as we have probably aggravated injuries etc. Radford is a great coach, and is our future, but he got this wrong and he knows it.

Bit of a disaster of a day really. I think we are in for another hiding on Friday to be honest. While I'm sure the players will want to right wrongs, we simply don't have the bodies - even the ones playing are strapped up and fatigued. Season is over but at least we have managed to stay out of the bottom four and we've had chance to build some real experience within the fringes of our squad - which should help next year!

Yes he got it wrong and admitted it.
great coach? No
Would i want him to be sacked like Peter Gentle was? No
Radford has come a long way since his appointment but has to learn now that the game is changing.All the top 4 teams are full of pace and use the pace and ball movement in the backs to keep their forwards a lot fresher because they have to do less grunt upfield.
I will keep saying this but even with a fully fit squad we wont make the top four next season.
This is a team in decline.Yes they may compete in one offs like the C/C but we need a consistent team and we have seen over the last two seasons that we are not.

change the record its boring, consistent team, well 2 cc wins and 2 grand final semis after years of average is for me a vast improvement, this year injuries have done us and to be 5th is in the circumstances not to bad, team in decline well lets see,

Firstly bonaire, your posts rarely find any positive outcome for us, you must have missed the last two grand final semi finals, OK we came up just short but we were a game away on each year of turning out at Old Trafford.

So we will stick a couple of Challenge cup victories in the last two years instead Wire then the pies, victories at Wembley.

There are only two f######g trophies of any note to win, we’ve won one each in the last two years, how much consistency do you want?

As for your forecast of not making the four “again” baloney I say.

Wakefield needed a win.

We didn't (realistically we are not going to trouble the top 4 come the end of the 8's).

Wakey were pumped for this game

We weren't.

We took a gamble on 4 or 5 players injury wise with 5 or 6 others playing because of others injuries. The gamble backfired and the replacements were exposed once again.

We got gupt and deserved it.

It doesn't happen that often, take it on the chin and console yourself to know we simply cannot play that poorly in our next game!

At least the team showed pride in the shirt coming back strongly in the last 10 minutes.

He's right we are not a consistent team as some of our blow outs against weaker teams only demonstrate.
Last year we only made the 4 because Wakey did us a favour and beat Wigan otherwise we'd have missed out.
Yes 2 CC wins have been fantastic but again we have raised our performances for those games.
As for those 2 GF semis again with a consistent performance we'd have been finalists no doubt as we only turned up in the 2nd half of both games.
Are we a team in decline? I'm not sure yet but we are an ageing team with no genuine pace.
Our improvement over the last 2 seasons has been evident but we were dross for the seasons before.

Am I happy with 5th even with injuries, not really. I'd have been content with 5th if the gap to 4th was not so big.
Yes injuries have definitely played a part but daft losses away to Salford, Cats, Hudds and at home to Wigan have been our real undoing which again comes down to consistency and mental attitude. Something of which we struggle with.
Crack those and we would be top 4 for sure.

Ageing team, not really sure that is accurate?

Apart from Mini, all of our players are under 32, if say our strongest 17 is one of the youngest in the league.

After that it's hard to argue with the rest

Maybe a bit off with the ageing then but I was thinking of Mini and Washy and a few of the others over 30 now.

fair points but over the last 2 years we have been consistant over the whole year, this year we cert havnt but there are reasons, defo we have lost games we shouldn't have, hopefully for everybody next year we will be a bit more lucky and I still feel if we can get most of our team on the park we will be ok,

Wrong. We finished three points clear of fifth placed Wakefield and four clear of Wigan who were sixth.

I am just realistic
The club and the coach cant just sit back because we won 2 challenge cups.
If you think the squad is good enough for a top 4 position next season then thats your opinion.
I dont and regretfully think with this squad we are in decline and should have strengthened the squad particularly in the second row and front row by not renewing contracts for Minichello,Washbrook and several of the younger reserve players.
I realise its difficult finding suitable replacements players but its the same for all clubs.
Consistency is not just winning 2 C/C its going through the league season without losing so many games to what we consider to be inferior clubs which is what we have done.

I still think full strength we have easily a top 4 side, add in Watts and i think we could win the GF.

Think we need another forward, backs are good enough if we play the right style like we did against St George

Yep.

Don't get the negative posts to be honest. We've seen some great games in the last two or three years. We were unbeaten at KCOM until the Wigan game. We have a great squad of players, and a coach whom is widely respected.

We've had a nightmare in the last few months with injuries. We've quite simply run out of bodies and energy. I don't know if you can analyse it much more than that to be honest.

It’s good to see that you still have a sense of humour, after such a big defeat

This season seems similar to Wigan’s last year . Loads of injuries but still pushing for top 4 . Until Wigan got hammered last game at wakey . Even Leeds got at least one hammering at cas and look what they ended up doing . Ok Sunday wasn’t ideal but it happens . Maybe we were due a bad / rubbish season . There’s only 2 trophy’s to play for ,and been realistic there’s 6 teams looking to win them . Looking forward to next season ,I always say it’s nice to add at least 1maybe 2 good additions . Not sure about the lad from London but losing Bowden all season and watts hasn’t helped us this season , but would still like another prop . Ok masi and the rest will improve with a fitter squad but pea is another year older . But if the players aren’t out there , and we’re better with injuries I don’t see why we won’t be challenging next year .

Seriously you're not. Top 8 yes but this season not top four even with a full squad imho.

We have never had our first 17 on the pitch for even one game this year so nobody can know for sure

I have to agree with Vastman. Ellis, Watts and in my opinion mainly Fonua were pretty much irreplaceable in the current market. Ellis was like some kind of magic medallion that made every player play a little better. Mahe was a genuine matchwinner and Watts was when we lost him, our form forward. Mini, Manu and Fetuli are only getting slower and the kids haven't kicked on quite as much as I'd have liked. I still think we have a very good team, and I don't demand silverware as a fan, I'm happy with a good team that can compete. However I do think it's misguided to see us as GF potential currently. Still...I'm more than happy with what Pearson and Radford are trying to achieve and if it takes another few seasons it won't daunt me. We don't have any right to success after all!

Shaul
Faraimo
Griffin
Connor
Talanoa
Kelly
Sneyd
Taylor
Houghton
Bowden
Manu
Minichello
Westerman

Tuimevave
Hadley
Green
Matongo

That, in my opnion is our strongest team with the current squad. This is a match for all other SL teams with the exception of St Helens

Agreed about Ellis, he was a genuine warrior for us. But replacing someone like that is virtually impossible. Personally I think it the wrong decision to keep both Manu and Mini (+ some of the fringe players), when keeping one would then release cap space for a distructive runner like Pauli Pauli for Wakey.

IMO if Faraimo had not been red carded twice and had been available for more games then peoples opinion of him would be higher. With ball in hand he is a more aggressive runner than Fonua (my opinion).

Watts is big miss, especially when his replacement (through no fault of his own) in Westerman has missed a decent chuck of the season with injury.

I think Bureta has been a great signing. I don't think he's the same quality as Mahe, but probably the best we could get.

I think we are weaker than 2017, but more luck with injuries and we would have finished in the top 4.

We miss Ellis and Watts, shame Westy got injured and he improved us a lot.

Mahe was great in spells a true match winner, really impressed with Farimano though, probably more consistent than Mahe, just needs to stop getting sent off

Full strength we are as good as Wigan, Warrington and cas IMO