It was the last game of the Season, before your home crowd and we were expecting a good performance. How can you expect a supporter who went to that game for the first time to feel. Would he /she think about going again... I think not! It is not just about winning it is about the playing of the game, and entertaining your audience.

As your posts often demonstrate you're clearly a glass half empty person. But what the club actually sold was, if you want a side capable of competing for a return to SL then you have to pay for it. We're in the £1M game which getting back into the real world was the most likely route for a return to SL. So you could argue that the club and the coaching staff have delivered what most fans would ask as a minimum of the 'exorbitant prices' to fund the squad spend.

The selling of season tickets next year could be tricky because I still think too many of our supporters saw this season as a one off before we return to SL. Personally I always thought it a tough ask but I am confident that this side can beat Wakefield next week if they perform like they can. Yesterday wasn't pretty and whilst not acceptable I can understand why a performance like that happened. Some of the players in that shirt won't be here next year and a few probably knew they weren't going to get a look in next week either. You'd hope they'd have a little more professional pride but as Jimmy has said it makes his job a little easier now for next week.

I think you alluded to the real problem we had yesterday in the second sentence, about Lowesy not playing these lads all season. He [ishould[/i have played them more through the season imo, one or two at a time, both to give the 'regular' starters both a break and a bit of recovery time and, of course, to give these 'reserves' some game time. If he'd done that, instead of, after spending most of the season sitting on their backsides, just slinging them all in, en masse, they would have been nearer to being properly match fit and have played a bit better,and looked a little bit more like a.....well, like a team, so yeah, I guess I'm taking my bonus!!

At the end of the day though, Jimmy was tasked with bringing the side into the final play-off and he's done that - job done.

I am beginning to believe that half the people on here are either totally bonkers or else trolling.

Look, as a general point all the stuff about VFM, entertainment etc. is valid and yes you could rightly have a whinge at those on the field in the second half who badly let us and themselves down, but that was NOT the fault of Green and it was NOT the fault of Lowes.

Regardless of whether it had been , I find it mind-boggling that here we are on the eve of arguably THE MOST CRITICAL GAME in the history of the club, yet some people are whingeing about a poor performance in 40 minutes of a dead rubber. Several players let us and themselves down, yes we all saw that, it happens and it needs no underlining as we're not blind, but in th circumstances how many flying foulkes do i give? Not many, tbh.

What I am most looking for is for the team against Wakey to play with the determination, energy and resolve that they did against Salford and at Leigh. Then maybe, just maybe, if things go our way ... and even if it doesn't happen, if they do that, then I will go home happy enough. Either way, the dead rubber before the big game was, to anyone who thinks about it, just an unwanted meaningless fixture that we had to fulfil before getting down to very serious business. As it happens they played crap in the second half but just cos they did - Lowes didn't plan or want it that way. But... SO WHAT? Yes he needs at some stage to consider and deal with those who badly underperformed but he has bigger, whale-size, fish to fry just now.

Did you go to the game oblivious to what is coming up? Sounds like it.

I am not having that. The issue in the second half was nothing to do with fitness. It was about the team not being interested. They gave up. You can't even say that was due to several stiffs being in as our normal team has done the same several times, once we get behind, with us there is a risk we will put the cue on the rack, this is why we continue to get regular 50 point towellings.

Surely you'd agree that the reserves are all full-time professionals and so should have full fitness, plenty fit enough to match part-timers? And that as they were getting a rare chance, you could reasonably expect them to - if anything - play harder and with more determination than the regulars, to try to force themselves into contention for the big one?

No, they gave up. Simple as.



Exactly. He knows what he has to work with, and we are in that game. Paul Rowley and his lionized Leigh wonders, who have been playing as a squad for some years now, have gone to pieces in the playoffs and are not. We knocked them out. On their own patch.

I made the point at the game was it felt a lot like the regular season game week before the cup final. The players who knew they would make the team next week didn't want to get injured and the replacements just underperformed in a game they had a chance to put themselves in the frame for next week.

Disappointed to lose in the manner we did, but it was a game that didn't matter. Lowes made the right call in resting half the team. If we had have beaten Fax and O'brien or Mullaney or Sidlow or whoever got injured, the forum would be in melt down of why we played our key men in a meaningless game when we have our most important fixture in the clubs history next week. If we win next week then no one will care about today.

4th was never realsitic as Fax are a damn good side and haven't been hammered once in the middle 8's. That said some of our players should never wear the shirt again for the effort they put in.

For me we've got through this week looking like we will be able to select our strongest squad for next week. That's a good thing!!

But Lauaki should be nowhere near the squad next week!!

I think it would be fair to say that Fax are probably the team that has come out of the middle 8's with the most credit and barring a last 5 minute slip up against Sheffield would likely be the team from the champs in the middle 8. Its all speculation though and we might not of beat Bulls first team(I think we probably would tbh) so its hard to say but one thing that looked evident was that for whatever reason the Bulls were devoid of fight and its ok saying this and that but as a squad you would think the players would be pretty tight and pulling for each other and if that is not the case then theres a very good chance that runs right through the squad and not just in the players going through the motions yesterday.

As a Fax fan who does not mind Bradford Im not going to be wishing you luck next week because the Bradford crowd is a good money spinner and we wouldnt get that with Wakey, I also think we will probably bridge the gap between Bradford and Leigh next season so it could be a good battle with more at stake than the games this season.

Agree with most of what FA has already pointed out.

I wasn't as excited as the usual game day yesterday as it was meaningless. My main concern was that the ones who will have a role to play next week (Mainly Clough, Clare, Pitts & Ryan) didn't get injured.

Henry,Baille,Halafihi etc have hardly played in months. Won't have been going into this one full of confidence.

The 2nd half was very poor but for me I didn't want to see Pitts, Clough and Gaskell especially flying into challenges.

We also had none of our leaders on the pitch - Addy,Purtell,Obrien, Sidlow will all make a difference.

Nielsen instead of Henry Is a big one too - Henry should have had time to work on his tackling by now!

How was it a dead rubber? Wakey have suspensions and general ? turmoil and could lose.

Lowe's didn't rest players in the genuine dead rubber at the season's end but now rests them in the middle 8s with 4th place still possible and having played OB for 80 minutes when it clearly wasn't working. It's incoherent.

The last half an hour looked like utter disillusionment. Why?

Sheffield winning 16-10 at half time

I would be surprised if it stays like that. Also got to remember Wakefield know they already have home advantage. So they're minds are probably on next week. But think they will pull away in the second half.

Still maintain Lowes was 100% right in resting the squad yesterday. The efforts of some of those yesterday is what i question.

Well Lowes has openly said that he wasn't interested in where the game is played so in his eyes it was dead rubber. Personally I'd have preferred a home time rather than away but I don't really believe it was likely we'd finish above Wakey.

We'll never know seen as though the Wakefield players knew yesterday that they didn't need the result today at Sheffield.

Plus, with us losing Wakefield don't need to win today so can put out a B side themselves meaning their best players are rested and waiting for us next week