Quote: Gazwire "I've just watched the tries back on YouTube. 3 of those tries were as a direct result of Thewlis dropping it/ineffectively challenging the high ball. It also appears that Huddersfield were having more success down our left flank. Thought Ratchford was poor on Huddersfield's first try.
Williams seems to have a strong game with his involvement in our tries and obviously Dufty is a real positive.
Defensively, Thewlis seems to have been targeted, in a number of games, with high balls bringing some success for the opposition. Medium to long term, given that he's been touted as a future FB, do people have concerns? He's been given plenty of game time by Powell to iron these errors out, but vulnerabilities still exist. Any thoughts?'"
Thewlis isn’t a poor player, neither is he becoming one.
It’s all relative across the board.
Our pack is weak, as is our defence. The weakness puts the opposition in a better position, and that presence puts a catcher under pressure. It could be anyone under a high ball with limited time & protection around him, and it has been.
You can’t just single out Thewlis because he’s having the balls to have a go and puts himself under a spotlight.
If our defence was better, those kicks from Huddersfield and any other of the 11 teams would have been deeper, then Thewlis would have had the time and space to route some of those breath taking runs we’ve seen him do, pre Powell.
And if they aren’t kicking the ball to target someone, they are running straight through us because we are defending a zone with greater options against us.
Bottom line is, we need to play rugby league in their half, and defend that area with fast line speed if we dont have a wall of weight, or a combination of the two, not trying to defend own 20 for three parts of the game.
Thank heavens for Dufty, he saved our skin, otherwise we’d be getting relegated on Saturday.