11,000+ isnt a bad crowd for a game against Catalans considering the team we had on the park last night.

Off the top of my head

Brough
Dobson
Chase
Smith
Green

On TV though it looks really empty even with 11,000!

I'm not of the mind of Saddened (not many are). The chairman deserves more respect than being told by a nobody to step down, after bankrolling all our losses.

But I would say that recruitment needs to have a good review. In the end no one knows who has the say over recruitment. But it needs reviewing as to the process over the last 5 years.

If someone came out and said, actually we have been opperating below cap and it was to save money. Then I think fans would adjust expectations. But with big name signings for wrong positions or positions not needed. That's the crux of the issue.

I still maintain that you throw our best pack out there, then tight games like last night would have a different result.

It's hard to stop every thread turning into a halfback thread as that is where recruitment and retention errors are majorly exposed. No other SL club opperates with a 2nd rower and fullback at half.

Seriously stones and glasshouses really spring to mind.

Me and saddened have been banging on about poor recruitment and retention for years yet people bagged us. All we got was how good are youth is, we don't need to sign players as we have ready made replacements in the youth.

Not many have lived up to those fans expectations

There were freebies in the East Stand though.

I'm not going to argue that. But I would also say that the major issue in the halfbacks is not down to expansion in youth (which to be fair has to happen because of the squad rules), it's buying the wrong players for the wrong position.

Perry - good purchase, but shocking result
Laffranchi - good 2nd rower, but no intention to play 2nd row??
Lance - utility fb, in a critical half role.

Whilst Lomax may not be the 7, he could have done a better job at 6 with a dobson alongside him. Same goes for Gaskell, Wheeler etc. None of them got a chance to develop as they where either played with each other, or with Lance which was just as bad as none of them had experience.

I truely thought Lance was coming to replace Wello at FB. It just seams slightly crazy, none of those are poor signings in themselves, just in that they where not needed or played out of position.

Most of our youth products have been wingers and 2nd rowers and we've always had that factory churning out those type of players who fill gaps for a few years.

I said from the day we was rumoured to sign lance that he's coming to play stand off. He said in the Aussie press he was playing stand off and had played at 6 early in his career. Royce said he was playing in the halves and we gave him the 6 shirt!

That was a truly shocking signing and like I said at the time, it will set us back 3/4 years.

I can't disagree.

On the plus side, apart from Sia and Walmsley who we've mentioned, Swift looks very good.

Do you think I'm happy with our attendances? No! as I said last week our chairman Hughes has pumped that much money into the club, until a club has it's own ground it will always be a problem, but land in London is not cheap.

The statement about last night that even with 11,000 attendance the ground looked half empty, that is just fact! not criticism, but no for the second time a snide response! I was one who thought 18,000 was too small and would have gone for 20,000/22,000 but it shows the right choice was made for now.

The stadium is the right size and felt great last night in normal weather

Beaten by a better team. I thought once our team got going they were their match. Just too late.

Calatans are a top team in SL, not sure what people think really, we definately need better players in certain positions but knee jerk reactions are the downfall of poor card players.

I think you summed up the problem in your first paragraph, which had nothing to do with 'knee jerk reactions' but much more to do with honest appraisals.

We were lethargic in the first half, for whatever reason. In the second we got going. So why did we not get going in the first half? We tend not to get going in first halves, have you not noticed? That is a problem, and a recurring one, no matter who is the personnel. It is a coaching issue because it keeps happening. Until it stops happening and we actually play with commitment and enthusiasm for the full 80 minutes then the performance will be unacceptable to some, regardless of whether we field a full first choice team or 17 under 20s.