The pack....however much we've been poor in the outside backs this year...those average at best looking players could have done the job had our pack been one of dominance.
It really has been weak...and sadly of a number of seasons.

Philbin and Clark being the 2 standouts pack members...
Westwood effective biff help turn fortunes around but not ever present.

Hill, spending to much time give away fairy daft penalties and yeam costly...if you want to get naughty, feckin hit em like Westwood.

Sims...talks a good game but never a starting prop, arguably playing his best rugby on those couple of occasions he came off the bench.

Westerman bang average...I really thought he could have been a masterstroke signing. Clearly talented and has a touch of the Andy Currier's about him. I hope that clears up soon.

Hughes started well...and left it there. Disappointing since.

Cooper...he definitely is the same Cooper that left Blighty...and his form is no different. Not sure this was the same fella who played in Aus...to his credit, he has pointed a finger woth a sneaky jibe blaming training as the problem....we all know who that is Richard.

King....there looks to be more to come from him, can be great and then calamity...but overall a costly player with handling issue.

Crosby...I wish him strength and look forward to 2018.

Now i thought Sam Wilde had a solid game against Wigan & seemed to have a safe pair of hands ,no penalties & just gets on with his rugby.

Mostly agree with this .

Apart from the Sims Bashing , Never quite got everyones problem with him we look a far worse team when he's not on the pitch .

And Cooper had his best games against St Helens and Wigan . When selected as prop whoever thinks its a good idea to put him at loose forward when we have a very talented loose forward in the squad needs to give there head a wobble.

In 2016 Hill carried our pack, this year his form has not been as good and it shows. New prop and second row please.

Cooper Clarke Hill
Currie New 2nd rower
Westerman

New Impact Prop Philbin


Crosby, Hughes, King, Wilde et al need to break into the starting 17.

He has the 21st lowest average gain of 6.5m in the entire squad, and the lowest prop.
Offloads at inopportune times often turning over possession.
Often gets mullered in the tackle.

If offloading props are your bag wouldn't you prefer to see a Walmsley, Ikahihifo, Cuthbertson instead?

I really dont understand the criticism of Sims. He is very solid in defence and makes some big hits which lift the team. In attack he is technically very strong and finds the floor quickly (on his front) to get a quick play the ball. He also has an offload game which is hard to defend against.

Sims has by far been our best prop this season, given Hill's form has dropped off markedly. I'd be very happy to keep him for another season. I think most of the criticism is just based on the fact that people want him to be a different style of prop given his look.

Philbin has had a good season but i thought he had a mixed game on Saturday, missing a few tackles. Agreed that Wilde looked solid, made no errors in attack or defence which makes him a standout performer at the moment.

The best pack we have had in recent memory (2011) the job of our pack was completely different. We would often catch clearing kicks on the full with excellent positioning from Hodgson (+ Joel and Riley), and be on the front foot straight away. So much so I'd hazard a guess Hodgson ran more meters than both Morley & Carvell. Realistically, the pack were there to whack people in defence, as the backs got us in decent enough position.

Our backs made meters, making the carries easier for the forwards to hit the line harder and draw in defenders, in turn making room on the edges for the backs.

This season our kick collection has been on our try line, turning and hitting a brick wall, then scooting to buy enough time for Hill to come back and make some meters, so our pack are doing too much hard work to be aggressive in defence to strangle opposition meters and apply (quality) kick pressure.

It's a vicious circle.

Quote: Barbed Wire "The best pack we have had in recent memory (2011) the job of our pack was completely different. We would often catch clearing kicks on the full with excellent positioning from Hodgson (+ Joel and Riley), and be on the front foot straight away. So much so I'd hazard a guess Hodgson ran more meters than both Morley & Carvell. Realistically, the pack were there to whack people in defence, as the backs got us in decent enough position. Our backs made meters, making the carries easier for the forwards to hit the line harder and draw in defenders, in turn making room on the edges for the backs. This season our kick collection has been on our try line, turning and hitting a brick wall, then scooting to buy enough time for Hill to come back and make some meters, so our pack are doing too much hard work to be aggressive in defence to strangle opposition meters and apply (quality) kick pressure. It's a vicious circle.'" 2011 www.rugby-league.com/superleague ... ayer_stats Carvell - 2378 Metres AG 7.53 Morley - 1989 Metres AG 7.18 Wood - 2631 Metres AG 7.07 Hodgson - 2643 AG 6.7

Quote: Barbed Wire "The best pack we have had in recent memory (2011) the job of our pack was completely different. We would often catch clearing kicks on the full with excellent positioning from Hodgson (+ Joel and Riley), and be on the front foot straight away. So much so I'd hazard a guess Hodgson ran more meters than both Morley & Carvell. Realistically, the pack were there to whack people in defence, as the backs got us in decent enough position. Our backs made meters, making the carries easier for the forwards to hit the line harder and draw in defenders, in turn making room on the edges for the backs. This season our kick collection has been on our try line, turning and hitting a brick wall, then scooting to buy enough time for Hill to come back and make some meters, so our pack are doing too much hard work to be aggressive in defence to strangle opposition meters and apply (quality) kick pressure. It's a vicious circle.'" 2011 www.rugby-league.com/superleague ... ayer_stats Carvell - 2378 Metres AG 7.53 Morley - 1989 Metres AG 7.18 Wood - 2631 Metres AG 7.07 Hodgson - 2643 AG 6.7

Wish Carvell was 10 years younger, he would make such a difference to the current side.

To be fair making gains isn't his Forte , and his offloads are sometimes enough to make your head pop off.

But hes a man mountain in defence , finds his feet quickly after being tackled (which is vital to the way we play) and has a presence that a lot of the players around him value highly .

ok you got me stumped whos this talented loose forward we have

Fair enough. He is obviously not done enough to warrant extending into 2018 though.

Cullen had a sense of balance we signed a loose forward to play loose forward, centres to play centre and wingers to play wing. We had the props just doing that...we were light in depth for props...a result of spending below cap.

I wonder if we had that cap spend on the front row under Cullen if he'd be here now, he would allow a steady sliding decline like we've seen since the transition from his team.

Cullen was just as bad for playing people out of position, he shoved grose at fb after signing gleeson and kohe-love, he practically ruined ian sibbit's career here playing him at centre and martin gleeson latterly got shifted between centre stand off and loose forward. He was also mustard for playing people out of position whilst injured to cover rather than putting a kid in. He also signed bridge as a half back and had him playing on the wing.

Smith signed a loose forward, westerman, although he had previously gone with current trend of an extra prop at 13.

He signed a Centre, atkins, played him at centre, he's not signed another one till now, as we've attempted to recruit from within.

He's signed wingers, jonas and lineham, and played them on the wing. Granted i'll let you have matty russell but he's a bloody anomoly.

and, to finish off, he signed arguably the best prop forward in the world from australia, and played him in the second row


(for those that have forgot, its ten years since morley's first season with us and also that first CCC kit)