Be interesting to see how parcell is supported this year at 9. It seemed that BM just wanted to give him 10 mins breather though while this happened Keinhorst came on at centre, moon played hb briefly and burrow went to 9, you cant do that every game and i too found the interchanges frustrating.

Whilst Sutcliffe was poor I wouldn't slate him for the chance when he got tackled into to touch, as soon as he got it he could only head for the corner and I think you have credit Makinson for a really good stop. Not much Sutcliffe could do there and that one really has to go down as a good defensive effort (from Makinson not the centre who Watkins danced around)

Sooty was a shambles - not one grubber kick with all that possession on their line- does our coach know what a repeat set is? Last 10 minutes, he could not even get into position to put a descent bomb.
Not one new move or planned inside pass to a fast moving back. Saints were woeful in the first half & we managed 4 points - we should have been out of sight.
Still doesn`t know how to use his subs - 10 minutes for the kid .

Just to repeat what has already been said -

SAME COACH - SAME LACK OF IDEAS - HE HASN`T A F****KING CLUE.

I'd have Moon at 6 and Jimmy at centre. Use Burrow off the bench as 9 interchange.
How we could loan out Lilley is baffling.

I thought it was a decent enough game for round 1 tonight. The defending from Saints was very impressive, no one clocked off at all and you were coming up with some decent enough movement. There were a few sweeping moves across to Moon that would normally have paid off and plenty of off the cuff offloads that just didn't come off. I think comparing with the Leeds of old and and the Super League of old is silly. I think both teams will be in the mix this season, top 5 certainly.

Only strange one for you is sending Lilly out on loan to Bradford. Get him in the side if he's got a future, play Sutcliffe at 13.

Yes I agree that it was a fine cover tackle from Makinson but my point was that in addition to his shortcomings as an organising half back he is not fast enough to be considered a running 6. Had he looked around he would have been aware of the incoming Makinson and could perhaps have tried to step inside to try and keep the ball alive as he is not exactly a small fella.I am not sure if it was the last tackle but if it wasn't he should have made efforts to stay in play.

Wrt to kickable points why wasn't Burrow kicking as he did in Pre-Season v HKR also Sutty kicked well when asked during Pre-season and to say he would have missed them when all 3 were perfectly kickable for him especially just before HT is just guess work from your spreadsheet coaching manual.
Wrt Burrow his kicking was no better and if you think the bigger threat was on the left Moons individual strength aside what did he (Burrow) actually create?
As for signing an organising 6 that's down to GH and the Coach and i will continue to back Sutty at 6 as long as he has the right partner Burow wasn't tonight and last Year Mcguire was as Poor as Sutcliffe so who do you blame for that?

I will also add our discipline was poor tonight especially defending in their half even if Bentham was whistle happy that needs addressing asap.

We started off last year defensively solid but unable to score, and the return of McGuire made very little difference. We have to hope we are just rusty, but there can be no excuse for lack of structure in attack. We've had a proper preseason with very few players even on international duty. If things don't start looking up quickly the pressure to make changes will become immense.

As an aside BM's use of the bench has always been inexplicable. It was commented on when we were going well. It just stands out more as an question mark over his judgement when we're going badly.

No way, Warrington scored with their only 2 real chances and Widnes put 50 on us and Catalans 30

Well we certainly have different views on assessing players abilities that's for sure. You are constantly slagging McGuire and Burrow who like any player can have a bad game or lose form. But both these two have proven over many years they have the skills and class at halfback but Sutcliffe has at best shown promise without ever consistently proving he has the skills, speed of thought, organising ability to be considered a half back at SL level. So for you to stubbornly refuse to see this and still wish play him before Mags and Burrow is perverse. Perhaps I should loan you my coaching manual!

I meant in Game 1. This game was just like that game in a number of ways - notably poor attack from both sides. Widnes was a week before the WCC, and we did defend pretty well for most of the match vs the Cowboys. My worry is that last year we failed miserably to show any kind of defensive mettle once it became clear we'd struggle in attack, and I don't see how that will change if we can't start to score points.

Slagging Mags & Burrow?
Hmmm they were criticised where it was warranted & it in no way was a reflection on their careers or past performances & if you actually look back Sinfield did the organising with Mags/Burrow playing off the back of that whilst also not forgetting Burrows best performances have been at 9 or off the bench at 9 since 2008 so no thanks you stick to the spreadsheets.
As for "refusing" to see a lack of consistency in Sutty at 6 if he's not performed ive said as such just as i did earlier in the thread whereas you'd have us believe he was the worst player on the pitch & we'd have won comfortably without him yet you failed to even acknowledge Burrows short comings tonight nor the use of the bench & poor team discipline.

The massive and key difference tonight was we looked fit. So many times last year after 20 mins we looked gassed, that didn't look like the case at all tonight. We do look fit, that is encouraging.