Yep agree mate. I just think it’s still too early to judge RS on this season - we’ve had a couple of wins and decent results, then a couple of ordinary performances and a bad one against Wire.

I’m not entirely convinced he’s got the squad right this year still, question for me is whether it’s close enough to find some form, or close enough to add 2-3 good players next year and bridge the gap.

I think we’re all sick of mediocrity on the pitch over a very long period of time… In fact at times mediocrity would have been a gift!

Deeply flawed way of defending, bored and dismayed seeing it every week.

Trigger needs to be pulled on Rohan.

Yeah agree on the squad. The balance doesn’t look right overall as it stands which is hugely frustrating. Smith has put this team together and needs to get a tune out of it. I think on paper it’s good enough (injuries permitting) to get top 4 but i have a suspicion we will fall well short

Kaeru - I was definitely on the side of understanding issues last year which made the whole season an almost impossible challenge. I don't think a lot of people understand how hard it was for Rohan to manage a squad through last season when he knew the squad was facing a major revamp in the off-season.

But we're near the bottom of the league in attacking sets, are struggling to score more than 2 tries a game, and play far too much of every game at the wrong end of the field. I'd say the issues are more fundamental than errors, its certainly not injuries either. With quite a different squad this list of issues is the same as last season.

On short kick-offs, I'd say that's just one example of something that distracts from the basics. Never mind the stats (which are highly debatable given that most teams only try them in dire circumstances near the end of a game, so there's a small and biased sample), it speaks of a mindset of hoping to get a cheap win of possession, rather than focusing on kicking deep and building pressure through defensive hard work. It also ignores issues such as the other team making a mistake direct from the kick off or in an early tackle - in any event near their own end. Short drop outs are different - there are valid reasons for trying them, which is why they've almost become standard.

I just don't understand why there's so much reluctance to acknowledge the fact that whether its passive defence or any other reason, we are losing the field position battle far too often to give us much of a chance. Playing at the wrong end of the field just invites defeat.

Games can't be won without the ball and field position. Regardless of how much possession we have, if we're playing most of the game in our own 30 we aren't going to score enough to win enough.

I think we’re disagreeing on the reasons why we are in our own red zone too much of the time rather than how bad it is to be there.

I don’t think our defence is as “passive” as is being made out, on the whole. I think it’s become a bandwagon. I think lots of fans have had enough of RS.

I’m not saying he will or should be coach into 2025 yet; but personally my mind isn’t made up on him. We changed McDemrott. We changed Furner. We changed Agar. Where has it got us? We just change the coach every year or two until magical things happen?

I think the squad is a hell of a lot closer to where it needs to be now than when RS took over. I can see us competing with the big boys IF (big if) we can find and attract 2-3 real high quality additions. I coukdn’t say that at any time in the last 7 years.

I agree with you Jim, but I think it's going to take the emergence of more young talent from within the club (not just signings) if we're really going to turn things around.

Too early to write off this season though.

Yep, you need at least a handful of your stars to be from your academy, preferably in the pivot positions, as they tend to cost less on the cap. I'm not really sure we can afford to bring in more stars from outside the club, unless players leave

Didn't sky say we were 300k under budget ?.

Either way, end of this season we should have the cap space from Olpherts,Fusitua and Donaldson plus any left from Myler and cap above if true.
Maybe even money from Martin if he wants to move.

More than enough for the three players we need ( of high quality, no projects) to balance the squad

Quote: Emagdnim13 "Didn't sky say we were 300k under budget ?. Either way, end of this season we should have the cap space from Olpherts,Fusitua and Donaldson plus any left from Myler and cap above if true. Maybe even money from Martin if he wants to move. More than enough for the three players we need ( of high quality, no projects) to balance the squad'" We have the joint 4th highest wage bill according to this graphic from sky. We're spending the same has Saints and Huddersfield, but less than Warrington, Catalans, and Wigan. https://twitter.com/johnnyddavidson/sta ... 5X3cw&s=19

Quote: Emagdnim13 "Didn't sky say we were 300k under budget ?. Either way, end of this season we should have the cap space from Olpherts,Fusitua and Donaldson plus any left from Myler and cap above if true. Maybe even money from Martin if he wants to move. More than enough for the three players we need ( of high quality, no projects) to balance the squad'" We have the joint 4th highest wage bill according to this graphic from sky. We're spending the same has Saints and Huddersfield, but less than Warrington, Catalans, and Wigan. https://twitter.com/johnnyddavidson/sta ... 5X3cw&s=19

Yes in theory but a lot then hangs on how good those ex academy lads actually are..

I don’t know if Rohan Smith has encouraged a “passive” style of defence and if he has actually coached systems to that effect. If he has he should be on his bike right now because it’s the daftest thing I’ve ever heard in my life and it’s clearly not working. I’m thinking we look passive because the players aren’t physically strong enough and lack endurance therefore they end up on the back foot getting steamrollered towards their own line. It’s the same when we are trying to get off our own line, like little boys in year 3 trying to compete and get past the bigger lads in year 5. I think if anything is being coached to be “passive” it’s our attacking strategy in the opponents half, and that’s what annoys me about Rohan Smith. The buck stops with him on that one, and that’s what annoys a lot of fans.