Now the red mist has gone....

The state of our team come down once again to a lightweight pack...and how we roll with it..

No finger at Hill. We are getting hammered up front. There is little go forward meters from Sims again and Cooper.

Yes we're short on front rowers with grunt but why don't we try and roll early with the pack we have out and get a lead and then try the kicking game and hold on to the lead while the forwards take a breather?

From minute one...we had the outside backs running the ball up!!! What in heavens? You can't tell me the forwards need a break that early on!?

Yes our back are average at best excluding Lineham but behind a dominant pack on the front foot, even our backs would look great.

I thought Cooper made some solid runs. ....Sims has no intention of breaking the gain line. ...he thinks he's Paul wood circa 2011. ....but he's not

sims n cooper were the only players that ran in hard last night unfortunately the other players had more aggression

I feel for sims he was one of the only players putting any effort in for us last night but in a beaten pack that didn't equate to much.

if we have a lightweight pack its reasonable to expect it top be relatively nimble an fit yet were not playing to our strengths and letting the backs wear themselves out early on and become ineffective towards the end of the game

I thought I was a little harsh on Cooper but I expected him to have been the all barnstorming transition player...not much of that.

My dad and I were discussing this last night. Back in 2013(?) we had Higham Hill and Wood as our starting front three. We had Monas Morley and Carvell coming off the bench.

Teams would be battered from minute 1 to minute 80. Imagine getting pounded by Hill for 25 minutes, before a fresh Adrian Morley came on. Best pack in the league by a country mile.

We also had Trent and Westwood in the second row, and Cooper knocking about as well. Our full 17 won us games, we weren't weakened by the interchange.

There's definitely a place for lighter, nimble, ball-playing forwards. Curry for instance is exceptional, as was Grix when in the back row, and I'm a massive fan of Westerman too.

However I think we've got the balance between the two wrong at the moment, and our interchange is particularly weak compared to a few years back.

For whatever reason,whether a lack of available players or money, in the intervening years the quality of the team has plummeted dramatically. Recruitment & recruitment planning has been woeful.

I mentioned this last week and was shot down in flames, we have no go forward, also in Smith post match interview on sky he mentioned all the injured players and when they might return but never mentioned Crosby, I know his wife has just had a baby but his team is struggling, I know about paternity but would you not want to come back an help the team unless ive missed something!

Nothing official, but it was suggested on here that he was injured. Either way, teams will lose players for a variety of reasons during the season and we should have the squad to cope with that. I have to say I am really surprised that our pack isn't up to the job atm. I assumed with the recruitment of Coops and Crosby that the problem would be solved and it would release the likes of Clark and the BR, but it just doesn't seem to be happening.

I agree, I liked the look of 4 good props and Westwood backing them up, saying that Westerman and Clark are working there socks off they must be pulling their hair out

Crosby hand injury I heard. Paternity was circumstance.

Our go forward ramped up massively when Sims went on for Cooper. It's not his fault he's lightweight compared to other props in the league. Maybe its because he spend the majority of his career in the backrow. Whether to like him or not he has passion and pride and will always but his hand up to take in the balls no one else wants and he's one of the only players on the team who knows how to hit a line.

I refused to go to Leigh and watched it on the Telly box because I knew what was going to happen. At the start of the match Gidley looked at Evans and told him to come inside to take a drive, Evans looked and him and pointed to go down the blindside. Gids told him again but he wouldn't budge in the end I think it was cooper who has to run across and Gidley was shaking his head as he give the ball to coops.

Just little things like that which may seem like nothing but ultimately has an affect on the game the more it happens.

Completely agree with both statements.

Not to derail the topic, but from the stands last night I saw a similar incident. One of the few times we actually got up to within 20m, we'd set up at the PTB, plenty of tackles left. Hill was demanding it on two or three of the plays, and each time Brown opted to try something "tricky", or go down the short side.

It smacks of individualism and lack of on and off field leadership / direction.

Our "structure-less" fluid play worked when we had a settled team for a few seasons, that contained a handful of wise and respected players calling the shots.

The players we have now need coaching and structure.

You need another big man in there. Sims is useless.

Interesting stats on Andre Savelio in the paper today. 13 metres made from 8 carries. Bullied. Too small for the pack, get him in at centre instead of Evans.

Therein lies another compounding issue. Evans is our fastest player.

I agree with savelio to centre. Ive no problem with sims, he does what's expected of him - runs in hard and then offloads and his defence is usually sound....he's a decent back-up prop. He'll never bust a tackle or make great yards.....but then he doesnt select/sign/decide his share of the salary cap himself does he?