Can't see many fans being at all happy if he got offered a new contract.

Wouldn't it be usual for a new contract to have been agreed by now? I mean, not long to go, and everyone makes plans, don't they?

As I said, I don't think much at all can be deduced from the Hull game due to squad illness, but in general, I reckon we now have the worst backline in Sheriffe, Nero, Sykes and reardon in SL by some way. Sheriffe has come on a bundle but that was starting from schiiiite, Nero I hoped would be very good as he was back to his best a lot of last year but he is not a factor, Sykes is a liability and Reardon is like a lost soul out on the wing. If Crossley eventually becomes an SL back it won't be this season so that's the reason why we aren't and won't be scoring many bunches of tries. Not sure what we could have done about it pre-season given financial straits though, but watching our backline "attack" is no fun at all.

agree

I don't know what the problem is there, He can and hopefully will play a lot betterNow that there is competition in the shape of Platt - one or other of them should reach a level of competence at centre I thought that was his best game so far this season

A win against Quins is now a must - everyone else is doing it!
It will give us 50% win ratio, 3/4 wins at home. Slightly better than last year which is the bare minimum for most fans.

Surely that depends on how we do this season?

I must have watched a different side to some people because far from being a liability, I think Sykes is having his best season for us. In fact alongside Sheriffe he's been our top back.

I'd be very tempted to try Platt and Reardon together next week and see how that goes. Perhaps having somebody with Platt's pace beside Reardon would allow them to switch between centre and wing during the game. I'd like to see Reardon play a bit of centre where he can make a bust and offload to his wing.

And I would still bring in Lesley! I'd have fancied him to score a try in a game like the one on Fri. We've missed having someone out wide who can score through brute force.

It's what I fully expect. After over 4 years in charge there will be a change. I'd be utterly amazed if he got a new deal.

I think after 4/5 years most teams tend to have made a change in coach anyway for whatever reason. It is the exception rather than the norm for a coach to stay much longer at one club alone.

Question is, what Coach can we attract with similar funds available. Will we make more resources available to that Head Coach for more backroom staff? I get the impression that McNamara takes on more workload then some coaches in SL who have more staff to delegate out to!

Well yes, but given how the previous 3 seasons have gone, plusthis season so far Macca would need an amazing run of results for a lot of fans to be be at all happy with him signing a new contract ( maybe a challenge cup win ).



I think Sykes is performing well too. His tackling has been very good.

Indeed. And there you have the crux of it. And until we get a very large financial monkey off our backs, that's likely to be the ongoing constraint.

Yup - him and Rikki easily our two most improved players, I'd say?

Can't be attributed to successful player coaching though, can it? Its only the ones who are underperforming that are down to the coaching?

Probably. Lee St Hilaire must be doing wonders.

Rikki's improvement has been huge. I've always thought Sykes was quite good if a little error prone. Scruton has improved too since coming to the club.

I reckon it must be Matt Orford...

A top 6 finish and a semi final would be enough to get him a new contract imo.

April Fools Day is a week on Thursday.

Let's get Scruton out of the way first. He has started the season like a house on fire, and looks a top forward, by any standard.

As I said and agree, Sheriffe has worked hard and is far better than he was. Giving him the benefit of the doubt this also means there is scope for continued improvement.

Sykes is, indeed quite good if error prone. Though again I accept he could improve his game still.

And that's my point. Without sitting down and analysing it, off the top of my head I doubt there are many SL backlines that I wouldn't swop for ours. "Quite good" doesn't hack it. They are overfaced by most opposition, frequently caught out on the flanks, often struggle to cope with kicks and bombs, and don't run out of defence to any great effect. And yes, Sheriffe once a flood has done some good runs out of defence, but I'm wanting a couple a natch at least and some decent hit-ups.

Reardon shouldn't be on the wing anyway - but that's another story - but for a man quite recently described (by Cullen) as the best kick returner in SL - WTF has happened to him? And how many times is he going to get suckered off his wing while his opposing winger walks in for a score?

I don't think they "are" the worst backs in SL, if they all played their best it might overall be a mid-table standard back division, but they are not, as a unit, consistently playing anything like. One might have a decent game but let down by the other three.

Thank fsck we have a very decent set of forwards, and some true potential at halfback.