Give over Pepsi Max. Our best players yesterday were Penky and Gleeson. Two of the new contract players.

I am not saying that this is THE reason why the first half was bad, but part of Pepsi's point was B. the ones without contracts are upset.

Well its the first game i have missed all season so i was asking the question thats all .
So come on what do think has caused the massive dip in form then ? or is it something that just happens ?


Thankyou for reading the rest of my post.

Tiredness; we have a small squad and it is hard having every team play against you like it’s a grand final. We don’t have the ability to rest key players (especially forwards) as much as in previous years, e.g. Larder looked knackered on Sunday. At this time last year we brought in Flanagan, perhaps another loan signing will give us a bit of freshness.

Good point but what about players in the squad that have hardly played this season ? The Bowmans & Wrenchy for example. I dont know the team from yesterday, were they playing?

We must stop 'sulking' and feeling sorry for ourselves after a defeat like we did again yesterday, the first half we did not work hard enough they were well worth a commanding lead although we should have taken our chances and had something on the scoreboard, I must say Roberts just is not a centre, no way.
As for the pack where were Neil Cherryholme and Dana Wilson yesterday?? Why persist with an out of form Dave Larder? We must strengthen the pack and soon a loanee and start looking for a stand off for next season NOW.
Our kicking game is nearly non existant or just plain poor, the one area where we are worse than last season following Hollys move, get somebody to take the responsibility Matt, Gateshead killed us first half with their kicks.

A big well done for coming back at them though, we must come out of the blocks quick on Friday and batter Leigh (sorry Leythers).
I trust this team ,we will, come on lads put yesterday firmly behind you, we have not become a bad team we just need to re focus and kick on.

The Bowmans should have gone out on loan this season to keep them sharp, there is nothing better than playing to keep "Match Fit", with a recall at any time clause. I'm sure they'll figure again against a crap team at home. Calland doesn't seem to play the lads against quality opposition.

Andy Bowman was poor yesterday, gave away at leat 3 penalties and did not make much impact tbh.

Underlining Jeffs comments about match fitness then.

Our fitness is not an issue, remember who was out on their feet last week and what was the score second half yesterday.
Our problem is no stand off and we are missing Matt James and need another second rower.

I was saying yesterday that I think the squad running at 23 is too small, It doesn't give us the chance to rest players the same as if we had another 5 or 6 squad players.

Quite a few other teams have brought players in mid season. Yet up to now this year we havn't (apart from Hemingway).

We have the same players, playing each week and fatigue must slowly be becoming an issue. When your top of the league (or near the top) everyone wants to beat you and will raise their game (even more so after the country mile comment) so every game is going to be a test. A few bigger squad would have taken a bit of the pressure off those playing every week

But those playing "every week" may get annoyed at "rotation football". When we're winning - it's difficult to keep everyone happy. When we lose then the coach can justify dropping some. Besides, we don't have enough dosh to support such a squad.

The issue of Fatigue is a bit of a cop out IMO.
The backs should never suffer from fatigue, simple.
The forwards that do the hard yards (apart form yesterday) will obviously tire during a game, therefore the bench is usually 3 forwards and a utility player (Roberts, Barker etc).
The props get spelled so play approx 40 minutes. If an athlete cannot recover from 40 minutes hard graft in 7 days the need to seriously think about whether they want to play rugby.

Its becomes a no win situation. Big squad means more expense, also if we are constantly winning there is no reason to change the starting line-up. And with no reserve grade that leads to under-cooked, unhappy players.
Small squad means no room to rotate or cover for injuries.

Yesterday we looked lazy and had zero aggression in the first half.
Is that fatigue or attitude? Or possibly a bad decision to have a very light bench and pack!!

I don't agree.

Widnes were 26 points down against Gateshead, but won 46 - 30

I agree with fax4life, we are short of a stand off and have been all year, we have a none existent kicking game and poor organisation. We are trying to make a hooker into a stand off and its just not working. Are we the only team in the league who doesnt have a halfback partnership?

We also far too often play players out of their natural postion, like roberts, he is never a centre and never will be, he never brings his winger into play as he is usually pinballing around.

I think the biggest problem is attitude, i did wince with regard to some of callands comments which has probarbly fueled up the opposition, however we are top of the league and therefore we are now a big scalp for other teams and the players have to cope with that responsbility.