Beaten, bullied, out played.

Our attack seems highly predictable, seems to be the same movement every week, half/dummy runner to half/dummer runner to Sam linking up from the back causing a 3 v 2 overlap with Daz and Josh on his outside. From this we seem to get either Sam dummy and go, pass to Daz or cut out ball to Josh. (Of course this movement is evident on the other side of the pitch with George etc).
9/10 it works against lesser teams. its fast and with Sam's ability we score from it. But against a good coach it becomes transparent. Wire easily cancelled out our best attacking weapon (Sam) simply by having JM cut in and stop the moment when Sam is about to take on the ball. Regardless of such predictably there was no plan B.

In contrast when St George were coached by Wayne Bennett they perfected the moment whereas the defence had no idea who was going to run, who was going to be the dummy runner and who was going to finish with the ball.

They used Soward to break away, from here the defence would not know if he's going to take on the line or pass, with this he had a SR Ben Creagh alongside with Cooper and Morris as an attacking centre/winger partnership. To add another threat Boyd joined the line from FB. At this point any of the mentioned could be the ball carrier, anyone the dummy runner. When the 5 attack down the flank in a line the 3/4 of the opposition would be scared to death of what was going to come next.

We don't have such movement, we look predictable, basically cancel Sam and you've stopped our attack, with StG if Boyd was stopped one of the others would be still a threat.

I think we have the players to create something different, the drills need to be practised and coached, I barely see any other pattern, we play into the oppositions hands.

Warrington like to throw the 'first punch' hit us hard and keep on the pressure from the get-go, the opposition tire from tackle after tackle and become vulnerable and exposed, and of course when you're tired you are more likely to make mistakes. This happened, it's almost as if Wane fires up certain players so much they lose their heads, case in point Micky.

This season Micky has proven his ability as a top 9, however, at times, when fired up he seems more concerned with intensity and letting us all know how 'ard he is' rather than keeping a cool head. If he was a backrower it would be different, but as a 9 you must have composure and awareness, I for one have never ever seen Cam Smith lose his cool, today of all days, playing with just a single 9 he had to be so in-control, I feel he wasn't, (at one point he was rolling on the floor with Moz to show us how 'ard he is'.
This created such a negative impact, at times when we needed to generate momentum getting on a roll with the forwards we never did, Micky wasn't at the races. If he cooled down and became a 'game leader' rather that an enforcer we'd would have had more chance of winning the arm-wrestle.

The forwards were rattled, Wire brought an 'origin esque' attitude, a winning mentality which has been inspired by their coach and key on on field leaders, Morley showed his calibre and leadership which Hill followed with great effect. Westwood showed his winning desire and played for his life. Excellent mentality throughout.
In opposition to this who are actually our leaders? Lockers, love him, great player, but leader? Undecided. We have some excellent props but who's the enforcer/leader? If one of the props matched Morley maybe Micky wouldn't feel the need to enforce from 9. Eric for me was the best player, he brought it, pity Mossop didn't stand up, and I think it's about time Prescott was pushed to one side for other props, can't remember seeing a prop lose the ball so much on impact. Lima worked hard but he needs more support.
Hock is 'origin' in his approach but seems to have trouble raising intensity without losing his head, with this Wane panics and takes him off.

We don't seem mentally ready. Maybe Wane's I'll shout them down get angry until they play better approach isn't always the best way to deal with a beaten team. We almost seem nervous and afraid of Wire, we shouldn't be.

It's time for a plan B, more options in attack with a strong steel mentality which shows no fear, no backing down. Won't lose our heads or temperament but we'll tackle so hard they will be scared to take the line on.

Let this loss be the wake up call.

good post.

Thought our kicking game in open play was very effective today...it nullified the obvious attacking threat of Tomkins and kept you well and truly pegged back. Not sure you have made a good decision in buying Matty Smith.....he was behind a beaten pack..but never really showed anything in attack. Finch tried...but seemed to be unfit.

Wire have a winning mentality, everything they did was with a driven mentality to win, so with this I agree the kicking game was good. they'd clearly discussed how and when to kick to minimise Sam's ability to make valuable yards.

I hope we get to the GF and face Wire, Wire are the benchmark, beating them in the GF would truly signify a 'grand' achievement.

Forgot to mention...

I think Matty Smith will prove to be a good signing. Still a young lad who has already gained valuable SL experience. With this he has been fortunate enough to learn from Long and now Deacon and Harris, three experienced excellent halves with many years of experience to pass down. He has a good kicking game, and a good rugby brain, and his English so he could be a main stay at the club for years to come adding stability.

Warrington will have to qualify for their first ever Grand Final first, adding to their massive total of 2 wins in play off football since it started in 1998. Not much of a benchmark.

Today the top two teams in SL played. One dominated the other setting the benchmark for the league. Previous to that they beat Saints another top contender. I think it would be unusual to watch both games and consider past history more prevalent to recent performances.

Some very good points in that post. When it comes to McIlorum I just think too much is being asked of him. He throws his body all over the place game after game for 80 minutes and because we don't have a good back up hooker he seems to be overworked.

I also think it's a little harsh on Prescott. His error rate was criticised last year yet it was proven to be low and not really any different to our other props. Even now it's less than one error per game and not really enough to justify dropping him. At his best he's an excellent prop and I'd take close to 100m per game if it means making one error along with it.
He does have a tendency to make more errors when he's lacking match fitness though and that's what I can't understand about his selection. He could be nowhere near match fit so why throw him into a game against the best pack we'll come up against.
So I disagree about pushing him to one side. Getting him fit is important because when he is fit he's just as good as Mossop, if not better.

As we've been since Catalans......we were poor tonight. A few poor decisions I felt yes, but yet again I've left worrying about the rest of our season.






Thank you to the police and stewards btw who let me score in the corner.

Hang on, weren't they certs to win it last season and choked? I agree they are looking good but until they have actually achieved a GF or GF win we should temper our adulation just a little.

I guess each person sees different qualities in different players. Personally from what I've seen of our other props I prefer Flower, Dudson, Lima and Eric. Plus Crosby is looking better each game.

Micky plays a certain way, I think he need more focus on the 9 role and less the enforcer.

What can I possibly say to that. I better not consider tonights game at all and replace with events from 12 months ago. Cheers for the advice.

Agree, Wire were the better team today, but lets not get carried away, there is a way to go yet. As for a plan B, I dont think there is one, but in fairness most teams dont have a plan B.

Fair enough although I think it's worth pointing out that before today's game Prescott had the second highest average metres per game among our forwards, second only to Lima and ahead of Hock and all our other prop forwards.

Errors are bad and around one error per game is obviously around one error too many but I don't think it's any more concerning that Mossop's missed tackles. He was missing tackles against Hull too and it's a bit of a worry for me.

What a fully fit Prescott brings is an excellent ball player and someone who is hard to dominate in the tackle because he brings players down with him when tackled.

For me the only real issue with Prescott is that massive one that's always there, his injury record is terrible and a 'fully fit' Prescott is becoming quite a rare thing.

No problem, anytime.

I would agree.

Part of me wishes that McIllorum would come up against a guy who knows how to handle himself and puts him on his .

Then he can hopefully concentrate on playing number 9, instead of trying to prove how tough he is.

It always amuses me how RL players can think that they can handle themselves. They can........to a degree. Pitch them against people who know what they are doing and 99.9% of them are like ballet dancers.

Back on topic. MM is a great number 9. Tonight he was doing so much work in defence, it hurt his attack.