Thought we played with a lot of heart, but the fact is, we just weren't good enough. Without the spine of our team we look pretty rudderless and I fear for our top 8 aspirations now. Bradford games will be the deciding factor and personally, if we are playing with a few walking wounded at the moment, I would rest them against St Helens.

Agreed .We probably won't beat Saints whatever so if anyone has taken a knock better to rest them til the Bradford games.

Couldn't agree more. The way we plugged away to the end shows that there's not much wrong with our team spirit, although no doubt our very own little Victor Meldrew (aka Dave Lister) will have an apoplectic fit at me posting that

Kwality........

Do you realise where the phrase "inspired" comes from? Look it up.



Ah yes, credit to the team that have lost 5 games in a row, magnificent, McDermott is doing a spiffing job and we might as well book our Grand Final tickets now.

I cant believe people are happy/satisfied with the state of our team atm. Its pathetic. Dare to be critical occasionally instead of living in lala land where everything is just fine. Our woeful run of form has far wider implications than us slipping down the table slightly too.

I thought the forwards stood up very well last night(that is a big French pack) Where I think we got caught out was 2 tries through right centre(Wells, Gafa) one through left centre, when Clubb ran out of the line and missed a shot he had to make, added to a piece of brilliance from Bosc.

Listy I understand where you are coming from, 5 losses in a row isnt good when the finish line is right in front of us, but the injury situation is killing us. (9, 6 , 7 ,13) all missing, Howell top scorer and Cougar top tackler missing too. No team could sustain that. Saints have injuries ad look what happened to them on Fri

5 losses in a row is unacceptable, regardless of injuries. Yes, 4 of these were to teams above us in the table, but it is a hard habit to break. Even worse, St's up next and regardless of their injury list, I have no confidence looking forward. 4 wins from the last 7 may see us squeeze in, 5 will assure us of getting another game.

(But we tried hard so its OK).

Devils advocate here Listy. I think that everyone is worried that we have lost 5 on the trot, but we are all encouraged by the level of commitment shown by the players, some of whom aren't up to SL standard. Most of the match reports I have seen refer to us as a "tough" team and that is a positive...........if only a small one.

I don't think everyone is worried we have lost 5 in a row at all. Excuses have been made after every defeat and people will continue to desperately try and find excuses to cover up for the team and the coach.

It is indeed a very small positive and clutching at straws IMO. I don't think the level of commitment shown by the players is any different from any other team.

Maybe, but at least their heads aren't dropping.

There have been times in the past when I remember watching the team at Griffin Park and they didn't look like they cared. This lot, regardless of how below average they are playing, do not give up...ever and that is a sign of a good team spirit. As for the coach, he has to accept that the buck stops with him and I imagine he is as hard on himself as he is on the players.

The main area for concern, IMO, is when we get to the opposition 20 yard line. We seem bereft of ideas. I thought Latham Tawhai was brought in to work on this part of the game plan, but whoever is responsible for this area needs to buck up their ideas.
Defence in the Centres seems to be a problem when Howells or Gafa are missing too.

I, for one, never said I was happy with our falling position in the league.

I merely remarked that our team did well in the circumstances yesterday.

As this was obvious to the Sky Sports commentators - and to several of us fans who watched the game too – I wonder why you're seemingly reluctant to say, "Well done, guys." It surely can't do any harm.

Given that you're so critical of the current team, albeit in its depleted state, presumably you must have some recommendations in mind about what should be done differently. Hence it would be good to know what your prescription would be.

It would also be good to know whether you think, as fans, we can have any beneficial influence whatsoever, and, if so, how.

Seeing as our current coach apparently doesn't even know the answers (which was a very worrying comment IMO), I'm not sure that I do either. I'm very critical of our end product yes which has resulted in some dire rugby. Other teams play very good rugby. Why can we not play good rugby? I don't think its up to me and I certainally don't have sufficient knowledge to make us play good rugby but I would have hoped that our coaching staff does. One thing I do know is that the club are carrying a lot of deadwood at the moment and another clearout is needed.

Another thing is the need for a decent stand off who can organise our team in attack. We really lack this at the moment and it is one of the reasons that as GF points out, we struggle so much when in half decent attacking positions. I don't see a major problem in our forwards - we drive the ball up well, our back row tackle their hearts out and are usually very effective. But our half backs and certain backs are woeful.



Interesting one. I'm not sure really - probably not. The influence needs to come from the coaching staff and people will some power at the club. All we can do is continue promoting the game to friends and familiy in the hope that it finally turns around and watching Harlequins RL becomes an attractive proposition.

You are David Hughes and I claim my £5

It just seems whenever we are on TV we never come up with the goods, that is never going to help in attracting new fans/supporters however much marketing we do.

From being in a comfortable position for the Top 8 we not have a real struggle on our hands.

I am fully for the licencing system but I do worry if it takes away concerns about losing, to think back when it is was the difference between losing and Winning pay!

I doubt the fear of relegation would bother us this year. We will finish comfortably above at least 2 teams.

Back to the thread

I did expect to be 30 points down at half time, so not as bad as i thought

Positives! Hmmmm
couple of the youngsters blooded against decent oposition which was good
Loved LMS enthusiasm, even up to the last minute he was shouting at the rest of the boys to keep there heads up and play the last minute!
think Luke gale looked ok (and not out of his depth)
Young Skee did ok when he was on as well
Defence at times especially on the line was good! But too many breaks and a couple of missed tackles led to tries

Negatives!
Again too much dropped ball
No leadership in the middle
Missed tackles in the
We are really missing the experience

I don't think that it is unacceptable to lose 5 games in a row - makes us sound like Wigan supporters if we say that.

Being shorn of the players we have, I didn't think it unlikely. With the players we had on the field last night, I think we did ok. Yes, we dropped the ball sometimes, we missed some tackles and we made some poor decisions. That happens to every team in every match though. When we have rookies out there, it will inevitably happen a bit more. Even if we had played error free rugby, i'm not sure we would have won with the team we had out there and the way the Cats played.

We probably over-achieved earlier in the season (maybe other teams had their injuries then...) and now, with injuries, we are under-achieving a bit. To say that we should clear out the dead wood or change the players is perhaps obvious but we cannot do that without money or easily at short notice.

I agree that it is slightly worrying that the coach says he hasn't got a clue how to change it. But maybe there is nothing that can be done in the present circumstances - just keep trying, grab a few guys on loan, hope for a few lucky breaks and a couple of injured players coming back into the team.

Do i expect us to beat Saints? No.
Do i think we will? Probably not.
Would it be unacceptable to lose to them? No.
Is it impossible for us to beat them? No.
Do i have any hope that we will? Yes.
Will i be there to watch? Certainly.

Are you serious?
5 loses in a row isn't unacceptable?
Who cares if we sound like Wigan supporters, it clearly isn't acceptable and im fed up of it.
At least yesterdays game, they tried even if they did lose, the other 4 games they've lost, they can't be bothered.
If the team can't be bothered, why should the fans?

At Wakefield cant be bothered? Did you watch it?

Its worrying/depressing that when we get injuries we havent got the squad cover to make a fist of a game.

If people cant bear to see their teams lose then they need to switch allegiance to Man Utdin football or St Helens/Leeds. Both Hull clubs, along with Wigan, Catalan and Wakey have had bad losing runs this season, its sport, only one team can win ................................

The point is, even when all or most of those players have been on the field, we've still had times when we've looked flat and lacking in attacking direction or flair.

Spot on Tim.

No, didn't watch that game.
So one in the five loses they actually tried?
Well two now.
Its still unacceptable imo.

Oh, i listened to it on the radio.
Everyone kept knocking on
Gave to many penalties away in the last 5 or so minutes.
Thats effort?