Wherever he was, his defence was rubbish but shouldn't be a problem if your second row and centre are solid and you don't keep shooting out of the line ( or hesitating about what you want to do).

Continuing the blame game, do we actually know if all these team changes are all to do with Powell or is he just the hatchet man for the money men at the top? Just a mouthpiece under orders from above to ship certain players out?

He actually said publicly that he is solely responsible for recruitment and retention.

Last year we conceded 354 points over 21 games, around 17 per game. This year we’re at 593 over 24, almost 25 per game.

In the first 10 rounds we conceded 218, so it’s got worse since we made the ‘necessary’ changes of removing Charnley, the 14 games since is around 27 per game. I’m not suggesting for a second that Charnley is a defensive cornerstone, but 10 games back to back with the same centre, the same second row (baring injury/suspension) helps to build cohesion, since he was removed the merry go round has been at full speed.

The merits of mid season changes in players is either a) immediate improvement on what you have, to deliver better results (Dufty falls into this category, got us the win against Toulouse) or b) to start the gelling process to hit the ground running for the following season (Sandow, ordinary in 2015, but 2016 him, Currie, Atkins and Penny started like a house on fire).

For the vast majority of signings, the have been in and out. Even Makaele has come out to work on other combinations (But picked J Clark who is on the way out and won’t be a part of any combinations) Surely we should use the next few rounds to get combinations and cohesion building in order to get off to the best start of 2023?

Amazingly, J Clark has become a revelation in his last couple of games & Mulhearn is doing some big carries of late . Perhaps they are overjoyed that they will be free of the Wire in a couple of weeks.

They aren't attacks. I respond to his views of the on and off field stuff, with my view on the on and off field stuff. I don't believe I get personal to the guy himself. It just seems like ganging up because his views obviously stir up countering views that want to be voiced. It's a forum. What's the point without back and forth.

I’m sure Gazwire is more than capable than giving as good as he gets.

For what it’s worth, he has always acknowledged sound points that I have made, agreeing or not.

I think he’s wrong, let’s not confuse matters, but I desperately hope he’s right. I’d happily stand on the steps of the town hall with a placard saying “Powell is a RL Genius, and Karl Fitz is an iconic leader”

I won’t paint it just yet though

Totally agree, a halfback is not selected for his defence, but for his attacking prowess.

I wasn’t picking up anyone in particular , but the discussion does seem to have descended into a pile on. I’m far from convinced that Powell will lead us to the promised land but fair play to Gazwire for staying optimistic and we should all be praying that he is right.

Poor gazwire. He's the one who has called into question the intelligence of at least 3 posters who have had the audacity to disagree with his posts.

Absolutely. I don't remember anyone complaining that Sandow couldn't tackle when he was winning games for us single handedly.

I agree; most halves I’ve seen have been awful defenders.

That said, Andrew Johns could be the best ‘edge’ defender that I’ve ever saw live.

And Briers, with the right mindset, got the job done. See 2010 cup final. System + Motivation

It's not quite like that and you know it Moe syslak. I only respond with less than flattering posts if someone is having a personal pop, and not if someone has a differing opinion. For example, I had a pop at you yesterday because of the following sequence of posts. I'll let people be the the judge

....and once again, every thread descends to this.

Come on guys, it's what the IGNORE button is for.

Or the report function