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.

Only saw the game live, and yes Thewlis should have been able to cope with those kicks better, but he received very little help from his centre Joe Wardle who should have been able to block the Huddersfield chasers better.

I'm not having a pop at him, he's shown promise. I agree too that a better organized defence would help, but it won't always negate a well executed kick. Put it this way, there are other players who are going to be dealing with those situations better and he does appear to have been targeted by opposing teams with a degree of success.

I wasn't at the game so haven't seen it and it's a little unfair to comment. The second half fightback was a massive positive but the first half was a massive negative, at least we are in these recent games even if we shoot ourselves in the foot before we start to play.

For the lads who went was the second half a better performance across the board? Was our game management and tactical kicking from Leon Hayes? And was that pivotal? How was ratchford and Williams as a pair in the first half?

I think thewlis head/confidence has gone under the high ball, I had no problem with him previously, then he dropped one going for a Hollywood catch and since then he's got worse.

The zero defence he got at Wigan for challengers didn't help, mind as mentioned, we do a crap job of supporting defending our catchers

He is definitely not dealing with high kicks well and quite simply he is not going to get picked at FB or Wing unless this aspect improves. Hence I will continue to bang on about a change of position for him. He is such a talented runner.
He has obviously had great success playing at Full Back at junior level but the standard of kicking & the pressure is at a different level in Super League.

I agree with this. If Thewlis can't improve parts of his game to suit FB or Wing then Powell needs to fashion a new position for him because he is too talented to be wasted. I've heard that Thewlis trains very hard so I've no doubt he will set about improving these aspects of his game.

Thewlis was a much better player last year, and currently seems to have had the confidence knocked out of him.

In addition he wasn't being placed under so much pressure last year.

Perhaps we could do with somebody like Charnley on the right wing .

Nor last year was he FB, dropped, left out, brought back in as a right winger, dropped, left out, brought back in as FB, dropped, left out, brought back in as a right winger, dropped, left out, brought back in as a left winger. Couple that with a lack of kick protection as a winger (which is a waste of his talent as he's a FB), no wonder his confidence is shot. We also have Dufty from the latter part of this year, so Thewlis is now waiting for him to get injured to get the FB shirt, only to be dropped, left out and repeat. No wonder he's lacking in confidence.

I was baffled with Dufty's signing, as FB didn't look like a position that we had a problem with, but he has come to play and has an attitude we've not seen in some previous signings who just played under their reputation. He's showing his class, but that creates a void for Thewlis.

I heard today from a bloke who went the game that Luke Thomas was excellent. Although he is slightly biased where he is concerned! . Can anyone on here who went comment on how he played? He does seem to be getting a good reputation as a prop for someone so young.

Watched both his away 1st team games, I endorse what you have heard.

Still very young and underweight for a Super League prop but very strong and fearless.

Agree with every word.