We are already in the position of hoping another club will nose dive, Salford, Leigh or Hull KR are everyone’s tips but honestly, I think we are in trouble unless we get working pivots and Eddie Battye fit quickly. We seem impotent.

Whilst I agree that our pivots need to improve, I fear it’s all immaterial unless some members of our pack stand up. Fifita and Westerman are the only two forwards making any ground at the moment. We are giving up so much metres in defence too due to our failure to get up and meet the opposition. Our pivots are consistently on the back foot. I think Jowitt and Wood will improve us but it’s our pack who need to roll up their sleeves and get them good field position. I really do worry about our forwards. Battye will up for the fight but we desperately need them to do better as a collective!

All we know is what we have experienced and watched with our own eyes. I agree that not all clubs are equal but we have a better squad than the performances we produce. I note you have now pivoted to blame the players for all the problems befalling the club rather than those that coach them. The coach must believe the current squad is good enough or why only bring in one new player.
The club have done their best to try to assist Chester by bringing in two new assistants however it is still his team selection and game plan. The buck stops with him however he is quite an expert in diverting this to the team much like you.
I suppose a Lamb would be better it would certainly have more idea of a game plan than what we currently produce.

I doubt very much Shaun Wane would come to a club like Trinity, the limited funding for players, and facilities I feel would be too great of a challenge, even for Shaun Wane.

Think the reason we just brought in just 2 players ,is not that they think the squad is good enough far from it .With covid and not sure how much money Sky is giving every thing is gess work We have made a lot of bad buys under Mr Chester and we are stuck with them

I reckon Wane will wait for the Leeds job

People keep saying this, but based on this season alone is it factually correct? After the Leeds game in the main I would've said yes. But after the first half hour against Wigan when we spent long periods of time in their 20, wasn't that on the back of decent go forward? From memory I thought the pack made decent yardage. I guess we'll see against Catalans whether or not we have it in us to play more like the Wigan first half for more of the 80 minutes...

Sorry I meant Arona instead of Westerman, I think I had Westerman on the brain from earlier on in a post. Fifita has made over 70m against Leeds and over 100m against Wigan. He averaged about 11m in gains against Leeds and 7m against Wigan. Arona didn’t make much metres against Leeds but we didn’t have much possession when he was on. Against Wigan Arona was over 100m with an 8.20m average gain. In fairness Kelepi made over 100m against Wigan too. No other forwards got near the 100m mark though and I think Wigan had 4 forwards who got over the 100m and the other forwards got over the gain line.


We did better as a collective against Leeds in the forwards but we got bullied by a younger Wigan team. It’s not just the metre making though it’s the intensity they ran with and the hits they managed to put on us. They constantly played the ball quicker too and won the wrestle. I think the likes of Fifita, Arona, Tanginoa (even though he’s been quiet) have been doing their job in yardage but the other forwards need to put their hands up. Defensively we look shaky as a unit, last week we weren’t even moving off the line after the first 40 and were giving Wigan an easy 5/10m before contact.

I think Westerman has been only forward offering any lines for the half backs too as he did a lot last year. Miller often gets criticised for his hospital passes but I’ve noticed that Ashurst is picking the wrong line a lot and coming back on the inside into trouble. There was one last week where if he continued on the straight he would have hit a gap but for whatever reason he came back on the inside and got crunched.

It might just be me but I think there seems to be some forwards who are shirking responsibility and leaving it to others to do the tough carries and work in defence. I think there is definitely an over reliance on our wingers to get yardage. I’d like to see the big units put their hand up more when we are trapped in our own 10/20 on the 3rd/4th tackle.

What a great post that is! You said exactly what the issue is with Ashurst too. He drives me absolutely barmy and was doing the same last season. His lines are consistently poor. The one vs Wigan I saw too and it wasn’t just a gap he run away from (into players infield) but there was a huge overlap on our wide had he checked or changed his line to a more direct or out wide line. I was fuming but this is something that has annoyed me on Ashurst for a few seasons. He is a busy player and he does run lines but they are often the wrong ones and generally taking the ball into traffic instead of making space for our edges. Pitts is similar though, how many times did he drive it in in front of posts or in the middle trying to batter his way through an organised defence? It’s not lack of effort for me but it’s lack of smarts for the most part.

I agree with what you both say about Ashurst but Pitts is slightly different.
The ones I remember him going in field was to set up a play not to barter his way through.

Thanks Trojan!

It’s a real shame with Ashurst. He’s one of my favourite players and rated him in his Saints/Salford days. He’s still a decent player but he definitely picks out some poor lines now. It’s strange as I’d say that was his greatest asset in attack. I think it’s too easy for fans to blame Miller sometimes. Don’t get me wrong Milky does throw some shockers but more often than not it’s the back rower running the wrong line. It’s frustrating as you expect better from your senior pros. No one should really have to tell them which lines to pick, by now it should just be natural.

It’s really annoying and sad to see at the minute as we appear to be at a crossroads. I think our defence and intensity has always been a bit suspect. However, we used to have a great attacking style to counteract that.

I’m a big believer in coaches, conditioners, squads etc having a shelf life and I think that’s where we are at now. Hopefully we can hang on this year and look at a total rebuild. Unfortunately we are stuck with what we have this year. I can only see 1/2 players coming in and there maybe a change in coach of Chester decides he’s had enough.

In my opinion we just seem stale in every department at the moment.

Stale is a understatement

Good post, steady though people will accuse you of being me just like poor old FC

Anyway as I noted on another thread I'm baffled and don't really have a theory.

However, what you say is pretty much where I am. It's ok people blaming Josh Wood or Bill or Lino but the truth is these players can only be at their best when playing behind a competitive pack and not just for 50 mins but for the full 80.

The pack is soft but frustratingly it's not always the same culprits at the same time. I can't pin down any real villains. You could argue that Green and Tangata arent making yards but they were never likely to, these are straight up and down players, nothing fancy and it goes on.

as you say it's the collective and the most important collective is the pack.

Ashurst is the perfect example and I noticed it post Covid 2020. Why is he not playing his natural game? Sure he did used to cop some unfortunate passes from Miller but that's part of the game. It can't be a lack of bravery as now he seems to hunt out big players to clobber him.

It's like many of the pack is refusing to play their natural games. Odd and Ill say it again I'm baffled because if anyone seriously thinks that's what Chester is telling them to do needs their bumps feeling.

It looks like I was almost right....quote from Chester in today's Wakey Express "Mason has trained for 2 weeks with that oblique (abdominal) issue and I think that is still giving him some hassle".
Hopefully he can shake it off soon and we will then see him being more creative ??