I really do think IL used the Roberts situation to try and gain more brownie points with the fans by making it look like he had pulled off some kind of great business by getting Roberts here early. It seems Roberts becoming available just papered over the fact that we had failed to sign anyone bar Riddell.



In fairness i think you kind of answered your own thoughts when you said 'I doubt Noble will try it given Smith's defence'. Smith has now sent a message out to the rest of SL that if they run big men at him they will eventually score trys. Not only is his defence very,very poor,he looks seriously unfit. I really dont see how Noble can try Smith and Tomkins together as i dont see how Smith is going to get back into the team unless he suddenly learns how to tackle. I really dont see how you can point the finger at Noble regarding the halfback problem especially when he was desperate to sign a replacement for Barrett but ended up with a winger a year early.

Because he will continue to (try and) play Smith IMO, won't play him in the right position and will compromise the side in that it ought to have McIllorum on the bench not Smith. If Smith plays again we will see him hanging out in the centres in defence and getting run all over when IMO he should stay in the middle where someone like Hansen can take care of him. He was looked after when playing in Oz by some great defenders alongside him.

The fact we have not got Bird means Noble needs to get over it and make the best of what he has got. He is IMO the worst coach in the league for making the best of what he has available. If his players are not his type of player he does not seem to be able to make the adjustments necessary to get the best of what he does have.

Dave

Fully agree..look at the problems wakey have had..but still manage to play better rugby than us!!....

Sorry Double post..

Think your post reflects how a lot of people feel, i would of actually been suprised if we had managed to win against Huddersfield, my expectations with Noble in charge have never been lower.

Do you honestly think we'll sack Noble? His contract is up at the end of the year and there is no relegation - Sacking him would be a crap bit of business.

Unless we want the end of season do in April, Lenagan needs to find a world class coach and pay for one if needed.

Losing all of your fans who are sick of e rugby would be even worse business

So therefore we should just accept these dross performances cos sacking Noble is 'bad business'?

Give over.

I've supported Noble heavily in the past - and I am about to contradict every pro-Noble post I've ever made;

Sack Noble tomorrow, he isn't taking us anywhere and its quite clear to me now that he doesn't have a bloody clue.

how did you work that one out Sherlock?

getting rid of Knobskin now would give the new coach plenty of time to assess what is going wrong and who needs to go so it can be remedied in the off season, letting Knobskin see out the remainder of his contract would be a bad move IMVHO

I think we'll stick with him until the end of the season, which unfortunately means our season is over as soon as we get knocked out the CC.