Two consecutive third place finishes isn’t bad , name the forwards you would sign .

Not finished third through pack dominance though have we,been weak there for a long time.To answer your question very quickly off top of my head.Springer and Grady should have been retained.Walshaw at Batley and Walker at Widnes if overseas is out of budget.Thinking outside the box,how about trying Gannon and Kavanagh in the centres,both have pace and would beef up the team.

I think the decision on recruiting smaller mobile props coincided with the 6 again rule , I liked springer but apparently had an attitude problem he was lazy in defence ( he was at fault when Moore should have scored against fev , specifically targeting him not getting back quick enough ) there’s only a few big props around, I like the London prop forgot his name now .

Early turnaround against the same opponents is the perfect game to see how we really match up.

You need a better plan than playing a dust-track 13 on a paddyfield.

However we match up next week the 2 points are gone.

Exactly so we move on.

Or the players don’t execute the gameplan .

I wasn't there so won't have as good a view of the game as those that were - but looking at the highlights Keyes looked to have a couple of opportunities to pass for walk in tries - those are taken and no-one is probably complaining about the forwards. While I was sorry to see Springer go I can understand Grix's reasoning , sure we would have wanted to hang onto Grady but he wanted a club closer to home. As for Walker - even the Bulls were delighted to see him go. We will hopefully play a lot more games on decent fast pitches than current bogs over the course of the season and I'm still hopeful that the team we have is more than capable of doing well when we get them. The only forward we have that is more the traditional "winter rugby" type is Maher - who so far looks a waste of space.

There’s no doubt the pack could do with strengthening but we all know it’s easier said than done either with retentions as with Springer who refused to play the role he was asked to do which forced the move and Shane Grady as you say that wanted to move on before it got too late and finish his career with his former club.

Maher being brought in was exactly for the winter rugby type pitches, perhaps a bit harsh to say he’s a waste of space as being a bigger unit his plodding style clearly stands out against the more mobile of his team mates who’s own failings are just as evident whether he plays or not.

Away from the pack, most if not all the key moments on Sunday (the good and the bad) involved the backs and halves, they made the breaks and got the points and they made the errors and poor decisions and that’s the main reason we lost.

For me that was a poor game with both sides making plenty of errors but credit to Barrow they in the second half showed more composer then us with the ball kicking well and they took there chances well. We made enough breaks Joe and Louis in particular to win that game with a bit to spare but for some reason the ball was just thrown anywhere and the chances blown time and again. Once those chances have gone to waste and our attacking play pretty much fell apart we do not have a plan b by that i mean when our attack is going well no problems but in a game like yesterdays when we couldn't get going as a team with the ball we do not have a set of forwards who can grab a game by the scruff of the neck and grind a scruffy win out and that as been a problem for a number of years. As we all know games like yesterdays are quite common for us at the start of the season and with our pack we will drop points which doesn't stop you getting in the playoffs as long as you can go on long winning runs later in the year but it does stop you going any higher then that. The decision to play Maher for the first 15 minutes and then not use him again is beyond me and why wait while the last 20 to bring Gannon on. From what i have heard the reason Doro is not playing is simon is not happy with is defence he likes the way he carry's the ball but without he is not happy. I will not name names but i have been told we are speaking to centre and the only clue i will give is he currently playing in france and if it comes off he would join once there season finishes. All in all i would expect a big response from us in the cup next week it doesn't get you the 2 points back but it would show that yesterday hurt the players too.

Pretty much in agreement there.It's a team game though and different players bring different attributes.Forwards who can add punch and offload maybe allowed a bit of slack in defence as there are plenty who offer little more than 5 yard plods and a reasonable defence to cover them.
I thought Doro went very well in the shay mud last season.Not sure why anyone would call Mahar a heavy ground forward...

The clubs don’t have the finances and even if they did there’s not enough players of sufficient quality to have a fully winter team and a fully dry weather team especially at Championship level.

They try and get the balance right but because there’s more “dust-track” games than the “paddy field” it’s weighted towards summer rather than winter.

In the league apart from Fev everyone’s results are all over the place and even including Fev the form is as well, that’s just where the standards are at and why the best thought out game plan is rarely fully executed on the pitch.

After 7 rounds last season we only had 6 points se we are better placed than 12 months ago. We had lost to Batley, Fev, Widnes and Leigh. Beaten Sheffield, Barrow and Whiteheaven.
Just put this on for comparison no real reason It just seems a bit quite. I wonder when the exciting news is coming we were promised last week.

I've been wondering about that news also! Regarding comparisons with last year, with like for like games, we have lost at Widnes and Barrow as opposed to wins there last time. In that respect we are already four points down on last terms tally. icon_eek.gif