MorePlaymakersNeeded: Were just the slowest team in regard to line speed and I cannot remember any game this season when we actually won the arm wrestle. So disappointing, Leigh should have won by 4 points given their dominance. Re physicality can you cite one instance of one of our pack putting the opposing player on his arris? Either with a block busting run or towering tackle?  Thing is when you keep extending the likes of Joe Philbin (as an example) and having him as interchange then its quite clear why we struggle. And Crowther making his pitch for a new contract in the WG when he has zero impact on the game.  Admittedly Musgrove was probably our standout against Leigh and Vaughan.  Re Sam the press have picked up on his new prickly nature now.  Being surly in the post match press conference when your team has been dirge never ends well.  https://www.totalrl.com/sam-burgess-gives-ill-tempered-press-conference-after-warrington-wolves-loss/

MorePlaymakersNeeded: Were just the slowest team in regard to line speed and I cannot remember any game this season when we actually won the arm wrestle. So disappointing, Leigh should have won by 4 points given their dominance. Re physicality can you cite one instance of one of our pack putting the opposing player on his arris? Either with a block busting run or towering tackle?  Thing is when you keep extending the likes of Joe Philbin (as an example) and having him as interchange then its quite clear why we struggle. And Crowther making his pitch for a new contract in the WG when he has zero impact on the game.  Admittedly Musgrove was probably our standout against Leigh and Vaughan.  Re Sam the press have picked up on his new prickly nature now.  Being surly in the post match press conference when your team has been dirge never ends well.  https://www.totalrl.com/sam-burgess-gives-ill-tempered-press-conference-after-warrington-wolves-loss/

Depends if Salford's money comes through.


Seriously top 4 will be out of sight after the next run of games.

We won`t make the top six to qualify for the play-offs, so the season will be over if we can`t beat Leigh in the Challenge Cup semi final.


Doubt if we will beat Leigh, and no chance of beating Hull KR who are are a shoe-in for the Final.

He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy! 

Out of the door, line on the left, one cross each.

Wire career over?

It's not a good look because you can tell he's struggling to handle the pressure. 

I have some sympathy with coaches because in these media conferences some people ask the most banal questions. No preparation or real thought before going in, they just say whatever comes off the top of their heads and often reveal a lack of knowledge of the game. Other times a journo is trying to set up a 'gotcha' question. And when the coach is coming in off a loss and emotions are running high its easy to get exasperated. 


Still, there's an art in diffusing the questions and giving a politicians answer. It seems from that interview that the questioner was banging on about Danny Walker at halfback. Sam could have just said "Danny wasn't the reason we lost the game today...." then go on to give a few reasons giving praise to Leigh. If he thought the journos were talking crap he could just fill up the time by talking himself. In the end the journalists just want to get some quotes and then they're happy so a coach can take charge of the agenda. Don't get into a back and forth with them. Worst of all don't go down the road of "what do you think", it just makes the coach look like he's got rattled. 


You sometimes get a coach who likes to chat to the media when things are going well, then when he gets surly it's a sign that the end is looming. In football Ange Postegoglu at Spurs is a good example. Cullen was a bit grumpy sometimes but he managed to keep things under control. When he was in a bad mood, he would just sit in press conferences and give very short, clipped answers and then wait until the journos ran out of questions. He didn't give tetchy responses. 


Tony Smith was good at keeping it together and not looking rattled in a press conference but sometimes that can annoy fans too. They think the coach doesn't care. The best I've ever seen at handling the media in a classy way was Mike Gregory. He was on another level. No matter what the question he was generous, charming and funny. I once saw a novice camera woman at a Wigan game wander up to him after he'd had a defeat and ask him who the players were in some of the photos she'd taken so she could get the names right when she filed it. 99% of coaches would have lost their rag at that, Mike G stayed with her and went through all her pictures telling her which players were in them. 


At the other end you get the obnoxious types who view journalists as beneath them and delight in being sarcastic and mocking them, thinking it makes them look clever. James Lowes was like this. In football, Tim Sherwood. And in politics, Kemi Badenoch. 

I wasn't too impressed with the Edwin Ipape "tackle" on Fitzgibbons. Let's hope it has not causes serious damage to his knee. It did not look good and totally unnecessary. 

Here's a question....who out of our current squad would be snapped up if they became available? That should give us a true picture of where we are.


I'd say Dufty, Ashton, King, Williams, Walker, possibly Currie, Sneyd & Holroyd, but that's about it, and I'm probably being generous.


Says it all really, mid table at best, another season over before it's barely begun.

I'm afraid so, we have seen it all before and can spot it a mile off. The duffers on Facebook think we will turn it round and win the GF and that we should "back the team 100%". 

Interesting you have added King to that list. He is out of contract this season and of course we don?t know what?s happening in the background but also not heard of any clubs showing interest in him.

Good post. Yeah he is rattled (unsurprisingly as his dream of NRL coaching is hanging by a thread). We saw this instability when he reacted about being asked about Vegas by Chapman on live BBC and it's continuing. It's unnecessary and comes across as petulant. 


I get he doesn't want to bag his players, and Walker was not the reason we lost, but the question could have been answered without drama. These are not Pulitzer prize journalists asking difficult, incisive, questions, they are local/regional rag reporters just looking for a copy line.