We really need to start a game with more intensity and effeciency, we,ve had too many games now were we are sloppy in defence and attack with lots of occasions we don,t complete our first set. It makes you wonder games after the Easter Program how it effects teams more with respect to energy levels and how they can mentally adjust to it.

Its noticable for a couple of games now that we are not wrapping the ball up in the tackle, offloading in the middle is putting pressure on our outside backs as the ball goes out wide, teams know this tactic works against saints.

If KC can get the "team up" the way he did in the 2nd half against Leeds, then he should be doing this at the very start of the game instead of the risk of catch up rugby.

We will get through it. We have limped through a tough run of games.

Once Walsh is back properly and Percival returns I think we will be ok. But I do worry about full back. KC's big test is resolving that issue IMO.

I agree. It's something that I am concerned about now. We need some consistency in that area. He needs to either:

1. Bring a fullback in (my preference)
2. Play Hohaia there.
3. Play Makinson there and play a young lad like Fleming on the wing.

Whichever option he takes, I don't think chopping and changing is going to help anyone. If we can't bring anyone in then we need to decide on Hohaia or Makinson and give them a good run of games to hopefully find some consistency before the business end of the season.

We spoke to him, but his demands were higher than we wanted to pay ...

That is unfortunate. Do we know when Wellens is back?

Personally, I'd play Bailey at full back. why weaken other positions? Makinson is a great threat on the right, it makes no sense to lose a strike player to compensate for our fullback woes.

Bailey looked a bit lost on the wing but he's bound to be more confident in his genuine position.

I would be tempted to play our young FB at FB. Not hurting other teams when they do it. Fed up of us playing square pegs in round holes.

He'd just come out of hospital apparently.
Long picked the team tactics etc and I think it showed.

One thing I have noticed is that we aren't attacking off the shoulder of the prop as much as we did at the start of the season. Perhaps Long & Keiron don't want to show their hand too soon on this because it really was a devastating tactic. Better still, the kids seem even better at it than the seniors. Greenwood's ability to appear on the shoulder of a fellow forward - and, more importantly, in space - is positively freakish. Richards made bank in similar fashion in the Grand Final. He was churning up the yards.

This is where I think Keiron will have learned a lot from Nathan Brown last year. Around the mid-point of the season we visibly played within ourselves - giving very little away. It was only with around five or six games remaining that we cranked the pace and moves up two or three notches.

Don't get me wrong - it would be great to be in Leeds' current position. But I doubt Nathan Brown would give the matter even a moment's thought. If ever a coach planned to win the war rather than the battle - Brown was he last year. Tactically and strategically he couldn't have planned it better.

We,ve lost our second rows linking outside with the centres, last year it was Sol and Manu, at the start of the season it was Greenwood and Vea.
LMS is trying to do the job but most of the time he goes to the floor, Jones struggles to make ground because of this sitation and has terrible offensive stats going forward.
Hepefully things improve with Percy in the backline, KC needs needs to work out which is best for Makinson and the team, on the wing or full back.

Neither Jones nor LMS are being helped constantly being juggled around (or in Jones' case, in or out the side).

I have a lot of time for both players. LMS is playing the best rugby of his career - under extremely challenging circumstances. For all the stick Jones takes people need to remember that he's still very young. Ironically, I think he's a victim of his own physique. It's very rare to see players emerge from the juniors with the size and shape Jones' possesses. What's more - he's been thrown into all kinds of tough situations - especially defending in undoubtedly the hardest position in the game - centre. I think a lot of people look at him and think he's a lot older than he really is.

All I know is that - providing he's handled correctly - Jones will be an absolute beast around the age of 24 or 25. I'm thinking along the lines of Westwood. When he hits an opponent they really do stay hit. He has this weird style - it's almost like being hugged by an enormous grizzly bear. He absolutely poleaxed a couple of Pies in the final. He's got good hands and whilst he's not quick - like Louis - he is very fast off the mark with surprisingly good footwork.

I tend to agree with that on Jones. When he was playing centre regularly, he was very high up on our list of clean breaks and tackle busts. However, because he CAN hack it in the back row, he's been lobbed in there and expected to excel.

When do we expect Vea to be back? Was scheduled to be out for 10 weeks wasn't he?