The original post is an excellent summary. Some people have too much expectation and seem to have forgotten where we have just come from. I am not happy that we seem to be losing quite regularly but know for sure that it is not lack of effort ( in some cases because of too much effort). I am just grateful to have a team to support this season and consider that being still in the 8 after the last few weeks is remarkable. Early season with a relatively full squad we were quite competative, now, as injuries start to bite our small squad is exposed. I am sure that things will improve as players come back from injury.

Good post.

I think most fans, to be fair, seem to know where we are, what the position is and are able to put some sort of a handle on roughly how long it's going to take us to get away from where we are. Though, that said, there are oddments who still appear to think we are still in 2003, with £millions in the bank, and a team of internationals on the field [and a couple more on the bench.

I think we maybe need a slice of luck to get us back on track, 'cos it's pretty certain that, like old adage says,"losing becomes a habit". Like another saying, though, "you make your own luck", and we need to start doing that asap; maybe starting with a new set of 'resolutions', like 'I will not put my hand on the ball, or on his back, when the tackled player is getting up'. That one alone will probably save us five, or more, penalties per game, and that's a potential 30 fewer tackles to make.

To be realistic though, I think our thin squad is starting to creak, as reading the coach's comments it seems that we have some blokes starting games who [ireally[/i could do with a weekend off. Things aren't going to get any easier.

I like the thought of this - it's the repeat sets that are costing us!

Don't get me wrong I did state that there is no excuse for the missed tackles and the errors/discipline. And I do think the likes of Walker need go but we have missed the size in the pack (as stated in the OP) and also our idea in attack has gone. We are okay scoring against the likes of Cas and Wakey but we have no idea when it comes to the Hull teams and the top half of the league :/ To be honest anything better than 10th is a massive achievement in my eyes.

TBF we beat HKR without too much bother earlier in the season. It's injuries and form loss that's taking it's toll now.

Had a fully fit pack then though. Last year if we got one or two (Manuokafoa and Scruton) injuries we could rely on Burgess, Hargreaves, Kopczak, Elima, Sibbit and at a push Joseph to cover. We pick up two injures (same players for example) we are left with Walker, Langley, Evans and Sidlow.

To be honest I struggled to remember a team look as uninterested as KR did at Odsal that day. But I think we are suffering now from "too" problems - too small a squad and too small a pack - size and numbers. At a pinch we could get away with our current backs if they were behind a pack which could assert itself.

Excellant original post and many sensible comments to follow it. Is it me, but the wheels seemed to come off after the Jay Willey affair. I wonder how much damage this has added to the obvious injuries and tiredness aspect of our losing form. As has been said to be in the the top 8 so far into the season with basically one hand tied behind our back is actually commendable.

We should never have gotten rid of Richie Hawkyard.

Who?

Don't think the Jay Willey thing has anything much to do with the current situation. The problems stem from the time it took to get the OK Bulls set up and the smaller budget at the beginning of the season. Even if Willey had come on board recently there'd be little her money would do at this late stage as all players are contracted.

Think it's more to do with the small squad. I hear there are a lot of players carrying knocks that would normally require a few weeks off or surgery but who are playing on because there's nobody else to come in, this is bound to affect performances. For instance Sammut has been wearing one of those plastic boots for some time due to an ankle problem and hasn't been able to train as much, he's not the only one. Also Jamie Foster's pectoral injury was serious and painful and he's going to take time to get back to full confidence in the tackle. That rather explains the bad tackling versus Hudders.

It's real backs to the wall stuff at the moment.