We struggled to make metres against Catalans at Anfield often kicking from very deep, much like the Saturday home game against them last season.

I don't think our pack has suddenly got fat, or our team suddenly become unfit, or whatever else panicky nonsense the doomsayers come up with; we've been hit by an unprecedented and sudden injury crisis, and it's taken a toll on our ability to deliver on the field - despite that, we're hanging around where we need to be and there's every chance that we'll see an uptick when the injured players return to the team. That's it.

We're giving the opposition far too much time at PTB & like
Adam_Harrison9 said if we learned to speed it up we be a different side altogether but we never have so it probably won't happen.

Agree. A side doesn't become unfit as the season progresses, or gains weight while playing week in week out, that's ridiculous imo. As stated above it's fairly obvious why the forwards have not been as effective in the past few games.

To a lot of posters the obvious is never obvious, there always has to be some sinister undertone.

It can’t just be that after 3 years on the up we’ve hit a bit of a wall, much of it not of our making.

Every team has an ideal line up and we have not been able to play ours since the Hull game but that doesn’t seem to count.
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If this season doesn’t pan out and so long as we don’t get dragged into the relegation zone then I personally will just have to accept that, without wanting to tempt fate, nobody has died.

Totally agree.
We have done well with the bad hand we have been dealt with this season with our injury list.
I mean, it could be a lot worse - we could be dirty Leeds.

Yes ,remember the bad old days selling players Money problems poor management somebody else owning the ground.weve had a bad run of injuries all clubs do l know what I'm doing backing the club players coach and management .up the trin

Personally i am quite happy with where we are. I thought the gap to the top 5 would be bigger considering the players we have or have had missing. Now that we are getting players like Brough and BT due back we can start reeling the teams above back in.

The forwards making ground issue to me is pretty simple. When you are missing Johnstone and Tupou who more often than not break the tackle on plays 1 and 2 and find a quick ptb it’s so much easier for the big guys to move forward and get over the advantage line.

No disrespect to our current backs but there’s only Lyne who can make the hard yards near our own line and actually start a set on the front foot. On Saturday the likes of Sau and BJB were dominated in the tackle leaving the forwards the uphill task of having defenders up in their face before they could get any momentum.

Those first 2 hit ups from the back are more important than some seem to realise

No one has mentioned line speed in defence...

I think king is good forward, does the job runs hard and straight and I totally agree re his game time. He’s 24 year old and he should playing the full game. It’s systematic of the game that players especially forwards have to be brought off after 20 minutes or 17 minutes and 4 seconds sometimes when they’ve hardly touched the ball or made a tackle, if big Dave and wood are our best players then it’s ridiculous to have them walking up and down the touchlines get them fitter and playing for 80. It happens at all clubs and I think we only play for 20 mins here and there as the intensity and have a grip on the game disappears.

I think Koppy and Fifita have played there best games when playing for long periods. PP played his best ever game for us against Cas when he did nearly a full 80. I do think all teams sub players for the sake of it. If a player is in the grove and wants to stay on then let him, it will be obvious to all when he’s had enough.

'No one has mentioned line speed in defence' well you have now, anything to added now that you have

I think the point is that our line speed in defence is usually poor, slow and doesn't match that of our opposition. How often do we see a match move with each set back toward our defensive 3rd? Which usually results in a try.

Refer to page 2 Adam, there was plenty of discussion on that topic