Accept all that. But when did you last see dummy runners, either one up or two? Even Swinton were doing that. On fitness, I have heard it forever about this lack of a pre-season. But these are full time players, what have they been doing all week, every week, surely the answer is building up fitness. They must (?) have an advantage over part timers training on a Tuesday and Thursday night. Has that been evident?

If some players can't be bothered I'd say it doesn't matter if they're fulltime or not. Support running and dummy running comes from enthusiasm to actually back up your teammate. Same thing applies in defence. I think some players are basically lazy or lack the moral fibre to get stuck in. We've got a side that has a losing culture and it's being further ingrained during this disastrous season. It's no wonder the younger players want to move - they're only going to do damage to their careers by playing in a side with players that aren't bothered. The sooner this ordeal is over the better. But that begs the question will 2018 be any better? From the lack of information coming out who knows?

Toovey's coaching is a moot point which doesn't have any bearing on the debacle I watched yesterday.
It was patently obvious that the team as a whole did not have the talent, heart, willpower, and (most of all) pride, to capitalise on the good start which they made through Batley's very poor opening 10 minutes.
The team yesterday can be broken down into individuals who all fall into one or more of the following categories: lacking talent - current 3/4 line is a good example ; lacking motivation (for various reasons - pick your own, plenty to choose from); on loan - disinterested - Cameron Smith is a prime candidate ; unfit or past it - some high earners here; immature newbies - these make up too high a % of the overall team.
That leaves only a very small handful of players from the starting 17 who could realistically offer a challenge to a half decent part-time team.
We weren't playing the likes of Swinton or Oldham yesterday, we played enthusiastic, well-seasoned opponents and our team frailties were exposed to their full extent.
Even the NRL's finest couldn't coach this lot to any meaningful success.

Batley are full of seasoned campaigners playing in a settled side that knows how to win. They may be having a poorer season this year in comparison to last but compared to us they're miles ahead.

I don't know if anyone else has heard the same, but rumour has it that John Bastian will be in charge of the first team next year with Toovey going home.
It'd be a good appointment IMO. I know that people want him to continue his excellent work with the academy, but since the squad will probably be made up of a few of those lads, it seems like a natural progression for him. Plus I'm sure he has ambitions to take a head coaching role up again.

I'm a big fan of John. If this is true I hope the club doesn't expect him to do two jobs. In his favour is his ability to inspire people, and he knows the game inside out. Against him is his previous record. I remember it didn't work out for him as a head coach at Fev a few years back. I think Leigh Beattie is the hands on coach of the U19s with Mark Dunning assisting. John's always there too but I'm sure when it comes to on field matters Leigh is in charge of the team.

I'd prefer someone from outside the club really who can really start afresh with the 1st team. Let John continue to do what he's excelled at in the past - running the whole youth setup. Without knowing much more it's hard to comment. This rumour sounds like a penny pinching option to me - unless they bring in a replacement head of youth. But why replace the best in the business in that position?

Spot on Bullseye. I couldn't agree more.

So it seems to be there has been no major positive having toovey. We couldn't have done any worse with a cheaper option..

Well we did win a few games prior to Easter. So it could have been worse in that we may never have won those games, but I agree there's been no major positive. I think that it was probably unwise to think there would be given the cards stacked against us. I hope that whoever comes in and takes over is the best choice for the job and not the cheapest.

Yesterdays result was probable as soon as the squad was announced, the loss of Sironen the reason for the score line, not the result. The surprising thing was the first ten minutes, and with some of these players in the squad then it would have been a lot closer. Indeed, most of a back line.

Missing from selection:

Colton Roche
Jon Magrin

Oscar Thomas
Joe Keyes
Dane Chisholm
Ashley Gibson
Willie Tonga
Ros Oakes
Ethan Ryan
Johnny Campbell
Oscar Thomas

If the Bastian rumour is correct it fits the long term strategy. The key role will be the announced assistant coach, who I hope will have experience of our level and what it takes to get wins, to complement Bastians skills at developing talent. It would also give a good statement of intent to our home grown talent.

Lee Greenwood would be the ideal candidate IMO, but would he be happy as the number 2? Maybe if the job was full time?

If Toovey's off, then if it was up to me, Glenn Morrison would be at the top of my list.

Glenn Morrison struggled badly at Dewsbury over the last couple of years. I know a lot of lads that have played under him that don't rate him very highly and he's always appeared to have Jimmy Lowes syndrome when it came to picking his favourite players regardless of form.