I guess you didn't watch Wakefield's dire attempt, absolutely stuffed by an average side, whereas Huddersfield are a very good team.

Well "unacceptable", for one. I hate that being trotted out. If it could be unacceptable, that would be great. We could refuse to accept it, so the match would have to be replayed. However in real life your "unacceptable" mantra is just a meaningless cliche. We lost and we played poorly for large parts. Accept it, it [iisn't[/i unacceptable, it happened, it cannot be unaccepted, it's simply history now.

Improvement needed? We are truly fortunate to be provided with this insight. You are definitely right on this point. It hadn't occurred to anyone else. No, really.

I never said the squad was not "thin". I said it failed with the basics. That is nothing to do with Sky money. Unless of course you are trying to suggest that a wee bit of coin from Murdoch and his mob would suddenly turn Whitehead into a tackling machine and ensure Sammut could catch the ball more frequently?

I ACCEPT (there - your favourite word) that the less funding leads to less quality in the side (fact) but it does not excuse the inability to do the basics correctly. (excuse)

It was a crap performance. But there are reasons behind it. We're capable of better as results have shown. We need our best 17 fit and in form to compete with the top teams. We are 7th and are still getting results against the teams below us. This is good considering the weaker squad we have this year compared with last year.

I think you might be running into the same problem we had last year.

A lightweight pack which when fit and fresh can tackle and work hard and looks exciting when on the front foot.
But when injuries bite and forwards become fatigued and battle weary they cannot keep up the intensity.

Last year we looked great for a dozen games but then just got overpowered in the forwards and really struggled.
The worst thing was that then everyone got on the players backs which made it worse when it was not really their fault.

That is why Anderson went out and bought Koppy, Taai, Mullally and Fielden.

I think some of our fans need to manage their expectations a bit. We can't simply just go out and buy 4 top forwards. We knew our squad was light at the beginning of the season but there was nothing we could do about it so a rough patch like our current one was always on the cards.

There's no lack of effort on the part of the players so I hope people don't get on their backs too much. There are some individuals that can undoubtedly improve but I think our bad performances are mainly down to the effect of injury.

Who said anywhere that we should? The only mention I recall was by DG.

I think it is fair to say that we DO accept that our quality is not as good as it could be. It is also fair to say that the inability to do the very basics by our side at the moment is a major concern.

That's who I was addressing Eddie! But for the record I do think you and others need to reign in the criticism a tad. There's lots of effort out there, it's just not going in the right directions for a number of reasons (injuries to key players, inexperience etc) and it's disappointing but it's not like the bad old days of McBanana yet.



In terms of current quality on the field we can improve but I think that'll come when we get the likes of Kearney, Manoakafoa, Gale and Bateman back from injury and some others into some form. It is a problem but I'm not majorly concerned. Unlike you I probably expected a period like this given the small squad we have in comparison with last year.

Course you should have started it Eddie, I'd have been amazed if you, or someone else, amongst those those who think the year is just one long summer with never a dark cloud to spoil the view, hadn't done so. Though, I have to laugh at you, above many, complaining that [iothers[/i can't see the wood for the trees - jesus wept

This was your quote. Apologies if I mis-read it. It looked like you were going on about OUR fans clambouring for new props.

No, but could have separated those two sentences into 2 paragraphs. Fancy helping me draft my annual report to the Board of Directors here at my work?