weren't there the same limitations on the team last season??? or the season before ... yet we still more than competed and narrowly lost against a super duper league team in the challenge cup. inexperienced as a group?, yet most have come through the academy together

RFL have confirmed refunds in next few days and rightly so for that coverage. Even when it played the 2nd half it seemed jittery. Or was that just how we played?!

I suspect the budget has been further tightened and this has lead to the playing roster this year.

Loads predicted a sherlacking at Fev rovers and it happened. This week was much of the same and the Fax game will be another heavily loss (due to the reasons i gave).

Tbh If most of these came through the academy together, then we should expect a better product on the field, dont you think?

Unless, you can give a better explaination why this and last weeks performace was so bad?

Very hard to find anything positive about todays debacle. Maybe that Jowitt looked sharp even playing out of his normal position

Any reasons for optimism?

We’ve been second best (by far) the last 2 games not just in quality but in effort, fitness, experience and pretty much everything else.

The lack of fight isn’t something I’ve associated with a John Kear side before. Who was firing them up and asking for a bit of pride when we were conceding back to back? The camera angle didn’t show the countless huddles behind the sticks but the captain also has questions to answer when half of the team don’t look bothered.

if you are finger pointing at me to give an explanation I cant ... *see accurate location and sig and has been for over a decade*

I would love to know how much we're paying Brough. I see he's already up to his usual tricks and was shown a yellow card today.
Our squad just looks really unbalanced. Alarm bells should have been ringing when Peltier left for a league 1 club and then Kirk did the same thing. Pay peanuts and you get monkeys.

Peltier left because we couldn’t commit to sign him due to the transfer ban in 2019 at the end of the Chambers shambles that ended up with us having to sell 5 players to HKR to survive

No idea why Kirk left as in our choice or his but even on today’s performance he would still be behind the props we currently have, you can’t keep everyone

My concerns about players not being fit and Kear's concerns about complacency and not respecting the opposition are obviously well founded.

That side wasn't far off full strength. They'll get relegated on this form.

Perhaps league 1 is where we belong.

We lost
We wasn’t on it today
We move on
End of

The next game needs to see us drop Brown. Move Hamlett into the centres where he was brilliant in the first friendly. Lilley back. And to be fair, include Walker, he hasn’t put a foot wrong, can take a few in the tackle. Drop Rooks as well. Turnstile. My team for next game:

Pickersgill
Sanderson
Hamlett
Oakes
Wallis/DFJ
Lilley
Brough
Crossley
Doyle
Walker
Murphy
Gallagher
B. Evans

Jowitt
Nzoungou
Scurr
Fleming

EDIT - Or Berry for Jowitt to have a proper hooker on the bench.

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... l-display/ Doesn't seem like the coach is making excuses!

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... l-display/ Doesn't seem like the coach is making excuses!

Walker hasn't put a foot wrong

He's been training with us for a year apparently and barely lasted 10 mins vs Fev before he was blowing out if his backside.

Think fundamental things are wrong. Attitude seems to be that it's OK to just go through the motions. Warning signs have been there since the Keighley friendly and even Kear admits that so not sure why he didn't see this coming. Other clubs are going to be looking forward to playing us now. Can't see us turning it around quickly as they simply aren't fit enough to compete. What a mess.