Quote: Bilko "I just think it was a mental loss rather than it being about players out of position. They just were not on the ball in the opening half. What we did actually produce in attack was brilliant I thought. Just that I think we had 35% possession overall.'"
The effects of playing Lockers at 6 are plain to see. The plays are just not as fast or fluid when he gets the ball and he has simply not got the legs to make a break as you would expect from a 6 on his own. What is more moving him for 13 to 6 removes one of his biggest contributions to the team which is his defence in that position.
All this was being said before the cup semi-final and has in fact been said for years whenever he does cover at 6. It has also been true for years that when he does, it isn't a success.
The same problems occurred in the semi-final - as they did a couple of weeks before v Bradford so I really do not think the positional changes can be dismissed and the result put down to mentality. Not when it is so obvious how this change affects the team.
My view is there was absolutely nothing wrong with the mental approach at all. It was a combination of factors that lost us the game, one of which was the positional changes due to injuries. The players wanted to win it as much as Leeds did but some were not fit (God knows why they were picked when unfit), Sam had a nightmare costing us two or three tries depending on your point of view and the team just made a load of mistakes gifting Leeds posession.
The team hasn't looked the same since the stupid exiles game. On fire before it and not looking pretty ordinary.
