If we could teach Fox to catch then i'd say we are two away. Another bruising prop forward and a decent interchange hooker.

for my money, one of
another big robust and dominant front rower
a stand off in the same class as T Smith (much as I like Sykes and recognide he compliments Smith)
a classy or impactfull back rower to come from the bench

I suspect we're on the hunt

Fox was awful. He was just as bad at London, failing to pass inside and getting hammered by the fullback, but he/we got away with it as they were so bad and put very little his way. Today seeing Catalans just pepper him from 30-40 meters out was embarrassing.

I bet Mathers was pleased though, I bet he'd have dropped a couple of them too. Cockayne was awful in defence too, rushing in on the centre on more than one occasion - it's not like Blanch needs an invitation is it?

I can't get my head round these three - they get and deserve the plaudits for injecting pace and enthusiasm to our sets by getting things moving and their selfless running into bigger men, but they can be our soft underbelly in defence.

Fox to me looks finished, the one asset he always had was genuine pace, and I'm not convinced he has that any more. His confidence is shot, it's not that he's always dropping the bombs but he's so weak in this area he's not even getting to where they're landing.

In defence of Fox, we rarely pressured the kicker, but it was noticeable that when the natural angle was to kick to the other wing during the second half they rotated and targeted him. We've known it for a while, and now it's crystal clear that other clubs know it too. If he can't sort it out then his time is done, Agar takes no prisoners.

As for being on the hunt for other players, well like it or not we've probably got a £10k-£15k per month hole in our already tight finances as a result of the Eric France collapse, and if I were a gambler I'd suggest they won't have been paying us for a while so we're probably £30k-£50k out of pocket already in 2013 from what we'd have budgeted on. So rather thanus recruiting genuine quality I'd suggest that Isaac John won't be the last departure if we can find anyone daft enough to sign Mellars. I think we're a couple of players and/or a big slice of luck from being a top 6 side, or a couple of injuries away from being a bottom 4 one.

We all know what the Cas tactic is this year - maintain a smaller squad but with more relative quality and hope they don't get injuries and forget the off field stuff and hope that's enough to squeeze into the playoffs and maybe a semi-final then say to the RFL come licence time "come on chuck us out" and hope that there'd be enough implied threat of an outrage!! We're not a million miles away from them squad wise if we get a couple of knocks but we're holding it together off the field at the moment and credit to the powers that be for that. However if we lose say Tim Smith and/or Aiton/Kirmond/Washbrook/Collis for lengthy spells then the results may not come for us like they did last year.

Back to the point though, today was most definitely two points lost, as was last week against Huddersfield. Agar will be hurting, and I just hope that our players can recognise that they're doing most things right in order to challenge right up until the end against two top five sides and can continue to have the confidence to do these against the likes of the poorer sides like Hull FC, Salford, Cas etc.

I was looking at OOC players for next year the other day, to see what would be available next season and came to a similar conclusion and also like Theboyem says to get to that next level probably also a interchange hooker.

If we could keep our main 17 and youngsters and add a decent prop like a Prescott or Kirke, or a good SR like Harrison Hansen and also someone like Ian Henderson, we would be good to go.

Just about says it all, add his performance to our inability to close a game down and giving a strung of penalties away we wont be beating any of top clubs.

Fox has to be dropped,

I think we are already a good side with a flaw. I'd try someone on the wing besides Fox. Would be nice if Lynne was back. Mellors is capable.
I think Fox needs a rest though but equally, he makes such good yardage with the ball, if the other two can't I'm not sure whether I'd swap. That is a big part of our game strategy

We are a good side the best we have had in the SL era we need another big strong front rower and an out and out stand off sort this and we not only become a top 8 side we push even higher
We have a problem on the wing ref Fox he is not the player that left for HKR the pace has gone and he will get no better in defence maybe time to give young Cowling a run of games on the wing
Salford will be no easy game next week its a big game for us and I back Agar to pick the lads up and produce the win

I agree with this post. Give Fox a break and put Cowling on the wing as Lynne is injured. As for the other signingsthough I think we'll struggle financially to boost the squad so we need to work with what we've got. Sykes does a good job overall I think with his attcking play runs and defence. The team is significantly better that what we've had for the last few years and a potential top 8 team, which will do for me.

With Poore, Amor and Wilkes we should be ok next week against Salford if Raleigh is injured. Time for Annakin and Trout to step up to the plate to cover for Kirmond and Mariano.

You are obviously disappointed but Catalans are a very good team and hard to beat in Perpignan. There are not many teams who will come away from France with many points or hold them to one score. You were competitive to the last minute and that is a good sign.

Yep, not a bad result really. Just frustrating we threw away a 16 point lead.

I think everyone should go a bit easy on Foxy. Since he come back he has generally been consistent enough to justify his place. Everyone has a bad game and everyone has right to wrong a bad performance. For me hes has a couple more games till Lynn is back to right himself. Consecutive performance like that shouldn't be tolerated.

Of our first 5 games this year - the comparative game last season we lost!

Bradford away - last season - poor - this season - awful
Hull KR home - last season - frustrating - this season - competitive
London away - last season - bloody awful - this season - decent
Hudds home - last season - lost to kids - this season - in it to the death
Catalans away - last season - blown away - this season - in it to the death.

Overall - last season - 0 points - this season - 4 points

So, whilst it could have been more, we are generally much better placed than last season and improved overall in all of the last 4 games. I guess the question is then, why are we not able to make the most of this run because we will have periods when we aren't as competitive and when perhaps our opponents are sharper - with both out last 2 opponents coaches slating their own performances despite winning!!!

Not concerned as yet, but we need to be on guard for a Salford side with the rockets fired up them as next Sunday could be a defining moment - one way or another - for the season to come.

One final point - although we haven't heard his interview in full - it does seem as though Agar is looking for external excuses and I would feel happier if he bemoaned the poor discipline and handling of our own side - the things we do have some control over - rather than the refereeing.

Big week ahead IMO.

Agree. Also would question the decision to drop Wilkes and put Trout in for a game against a big physical team when all due respect to Donny, he hasn't being playing at the same level of intensity and was asked to play out of position

Will mario be fit for the salford game

And Salford with New Coach effect, could be a challenge