How then did we stay on your line for so much of the 2nd half if our pack was never on top? You may have made more yards with your forwards but we maintained pressure on your line for long periods of time. Yes your defence was superb and yes our attack and finishing moves lacked creativity but, your pack did not keep us as a team contained as many expected.

How did you stay on our line? I reckon it was to do with us handing you the ball on the 2nd and 3rd tackles in our own half on at least 3 occasions. I would expect any team in this league to make the oppositions line when they have the ball 30 yards out. Anyway all in all it was a pretty good game and one that was worthy of a tv slot unlike the one before. I for one will not be dissapointed if we get to see at least rounds 4 5 and 6 because im pretty sure that will mean we have made at least one final because even though we are favorites ive just got a sneaky suspicion that we are very capable of blowing it ala last season.

OK - a couple of points. We did have a fifteen minute spell when our pack was on top. Fax tired, a problem for them.

BUT, as many have said, Gannon is not a piledriving type of forward, so we can't criticise him for something he isn't (ithought he played well actually). What many have been saying is we do need one, preferably two prop forwards, that are that type (one on the bench, one to start) to complement Gannon's style. Morrison, at prop, is a similar type of player.


Oh and for goodness sake, let's get some support players round him!

But Fax deserved their win for what bustinyaballs said - more balanced line-up.

Calm down pal, it's a game. Our pack bossed yours...fact, yeah flynn made a good break, he's going to be a good little player.

So you should make at least one final, your the only fulltime team (i think!).

We've been to no finals in the past 2 years....hopefully that'll change this year!

100% agree with you there
definatly another player like ostick
strong hard runner
but hopefully can last longer than Fellous


he got shattered after 1 run

How many of Halifax's tries were through great play? I made it:

1st try a missed tackle and a scamper to the line
2nd try a dive on a loose ball
3rd try a dive over from dummy half
4th try a dive over from dummy half

Hardly sounds like we were ripped to shreds and couldn't cope with Halifax's dazzling attack.


I think we all agree that Halifax looked a lot better than us in the 1st half. They were quicker at the play the ball and just overall looked more enthusiastic and more dangerous. However, if you look at the errors made by us in that 1st half, I'm very surprised Halifax didn't score more than they did. I mean we kicked off into touch twice - the 1st one leading to the territory and possesion for Fax to score their 1st try - How many times were Widnes gifted opportunities to attack through Fax kicking into touch. Widnes gifted Fax a try by dropping the ball on the floor over the line - how many times did Fax let Widnes just plonk the ball on the line for a score? 3 out of the 4 tries Fax scored were directly from either an error or a missed tackle by us. I know you can always use ifs, buts and maybe's, but what would have happened if Widnes hadn't made those errors? Fax did make a lot of errors in the 2nd half, but none that directly led to a try.

Although I was majorly disappointed at half time, it was more through frustration at the errors than anything else - and the 2nd half performance shows that Fax aren't quite the all conquering team that everyone should be scared of. Sure they are favourites and rightly so based on the games so far, but I would hope that a more professional display from Widnes when we play Fax again and there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to get the win.

Dont believe the whole of the 1st team squad are full time. At least 3 work in the community department, Michael Ostick is only part time as I think TKL is

Lets be honest, when we have Fletcher and Morrison back i believe we have the strongest pack in the division.

Morrison
Smith
Gannon
Fletcher
Doran
Patterson/Duffy?

Two tries from duffy half and a dive on a loose ball is nothing to get hyped up about. We scored two tries from very well timed kicks, Paddy Flynn ripped you open in the middle(what a player hes going to be) and we camped on your line most of the second half.

Vikingman, I'm with you, not worried.

I dont get too worried about how the tries are scored, the team has to be there to score them, so Fax did well to be there to score them, after all you were camped on our line for most of the second half, so you should have scored more there and if your scores were from "well timed kicks" it shows that you could not get past our defence.

Like you I am not worried about the quality of either team, as both will improve as the season goes on and the grounds firm up.

I still think that it will be your team and mine in the grand final and we will no doubt have played each other a few times by then, so we will get many more chances to guage who is the better side.

Agreed with you here. Your fans and our fans will both pick up on improvements in various departments as the season prgresses.