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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 [i:3jhsj5j0others[/i:3jhsj5j0 can't see the wood for the trees - jesus wept

,don't let anything positive ever spoil that dark dismal world, eh?



What I'm trying to say, is that we [i:3jhsj5j0can[/i without it being some kind of disaster. You do remember the club went belly up less than a year ago? We actually used to get the same kind of posts when we had a star studded line up, back in the early to middle noughties, there was less excuse back then for 'poor' performances then though.

But he is not one of "our" fans.

So?

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?

Oooooft. Sounds dire. Lead on MacDuff and I'll follow.

Just watched the tries from Sunday on super league full time,I'm speechless about that defence

It's Sky money to blame though Roger. Had we got our full money we would have made those tackles in defence.

First time I have seen the tries from Sunday,so apologies for joining the debate/ argument couple of days late.That defence was nothing to do with lack of sky money,all them players apart from Ben Evans were super league players before the Bulls were robbed of half of their sky money

There was more turnstiles in that defence than there is on the rooley ave end of the ground

The voice of reason strikes again.

Thank you Edward

Rather than money being the problem, I think the fact that we couldn't put a squad together until Sept was more of an issue.

We played 3 props. 1 experienced, 2 inexperienced and on loan. 1 only been training with us for 11 days.

2 back row guys covered the other prop rotation slot.

Markers & middle defence were one problem.

Brough with time & space was the other.

We just do not have the squad (due to time rather than money) to cope with the loss of 2/3 of our experienced props.

I accept that a lightweight pack is going to struggle at times, especially making the hard yards, but a lot of the tries conceded were purely down to lack of commitment to make the tackle, which is mental rather than physical.

Do you want a cuddle bullseye

That's a reasonable assessment of the playing problems imo.

On the field, this season is just as much about time as money since even if we had had more cash, the opportunity to spend wasn't there, though there are things other than players to spend money on. The money angle comes more to the fore next season though as far as the players are concerned, when we haven't sufficient funds to make significant improvements. FC has already ruled out 'marquee' signings for next season so, whilst hopefully we'll get a few new faces, they certainly won't be big money new faces.

Naturally that won't prevent me from demanding success and castigating everyone involved when we don't win the league!

Missed tackles:
Walker:51
Whitehead :51
Addy: 49
Top 3 in SL

Errors:
Sammut:39 - highest in SL
Whitehead:22 - 8th highest in S

If we want to be a strong side we can't be having this & I think Huddersfield put us in our place this weekend. Need a massive improvement for KR who I think are our biggest rivals for 8th

If you have a squad which is both small in numbers and size and then couple that to several injuries then a consequence is underperforming players don't get dropped and told to work on their game. I think in the top teams anyone featuring in the above stats would certainly find their names off the 1st team list. I thought Whitehead looked very promising a few years ago but you don't want a player near the top of the missed tackle and error list. With stats like Walker, Whitehead and Addy's it is almost the same as standing to one side and pointing the opposition to the line. I am old enough to remember the gasps of astonishment go round the ground when Sir Keith missed a tackle, and I doubt he missed 51 tackles in his whole career let alone half a season.
Bring back the tackle bags!

Whitehead's had an issue with missed tackles for some seasons now. I wonder if he'll ever sort it out and become a better player or whether he's just happy with where he is. Hope it's not the latter. The errors are a concern too.

Walker's played a lot of rugby this season in the backrow, he started off very well but he looks very much in need of a rest. I'd suggest that he would've had one by now if we hadn't such a small squad.

Addy's another one that needs to work on his defence. His attacking play, particularly his kicking has come on very well but his defence isn't good enough even if it is on a par with Whitehead who gets less flak than Addy from some quarters.

Sammut's one of those players who can brilliant or awful in the blink of an eye. To be able to withstand the brain farts he makes we need the rest of the team to be more disciplined in attack and defence.

I too remember Sir Keith. He'd have shaken his head at the "attempts" Jamie Foster made at the weekend. Obviously there's another man that could work on his tackling technique one on one.

Yeah, agree KR are our biggest rivals for a playoff berth. I think a few would have been 'rested' by now, but when it's "if you're fit, you're playing" it's always going to be difficult, I guess.

Although the stats shame Addy, Elliott & Chev, you have to point fingers at Olbison lately too. He was to blame for at least one of Huddersfield's tries with a missed tackle that he really should have made, and before that, his last game I think was at Odsal against Leeds, where he was also at fault for at least one of those tries too.

Usually a solid hand and was looking in great form this year, but his last couple of matches he's been poor in defence.

Something I've wondered for a while is what the tackle statistic actually is?. The missed tackle on is obvious but is tackle the total number of completed tackles or number of attempted tackles?. Players mentioned are top of missed tackle stat but they are also high up in tackle stat. Is it a case of there missing a lot of tackle because their also completing/attempting more tackles than other players. It would be interesting to to see a figure for missed tackles as a percentage of attempted tackles and compare it to other players in team who dont get criticised but maybe dont make as many tackles/attempts either.

Danny Addy has made more tackles than any other half back in the league and is 3rd in the Bulls list despite playing stand off.

Whitehead is 2nd in the Bulls list having made 160 more tackles than Matt Diskin.

The Bulls do not have a single forward in the top 20 tacklers in SL so far this season.

This is about much more than the individual players.

Sammut is Binary,no in between which is ok when you are winning but stands out a mile when you are playing good sides and getting hammered.To be fair to Whitehead he does try and release the ball which,when things are not going well,can UP the mistakes ratio,which distorts the stats somewhat.I think Sir Keith could still tackle better than the vast majority of our backs even at his age--lol.To me though what is needed more than anything else is a LEADER at half back,a Talisman/a match winner.How we afford one I don't know,but there is one player who could turn out to be such a gem and the first time I saw him I knew.His name

ESCARE of Catalan.
They'll be queuing in the isles to sign him for next season and if they could also get Dixon from London then we would have genuine pace in the team to burn and something to excite us all.Coz when the weather improves and the grounds become harder you need genuine PACE,we ain't got any at the moment and is why teams with pace will crucify us.