Yes it does it makes us into mid table championships side.

I see Chester back to the old play book of blaming injuries. “We are playing it tough at the moment” but that could be said of many of the SL teams but they appear to get through. The game against Hull we have lost Miller but gained three however the player out injured will have the greater impact.
I wonder if anyone at the club can see where we are going or have they just buried their heads in the sand. I fear that the club’s record of sacking coaches speaks for another of the problems.

Yes it could, but how many SL teams have a weaker squad after the starting 17?, we all know our spending does not reach anywhere near full spend, Trinity are well known as being the lowest squad spend. Simple economics.

Trinity have gone through 3 coaches in one season before. We have sacked enough coaches in the past. Who apart from Chester would you have sacked earlier?
You can fear all you like but you are just making it up again.

I should have said sacked during the Carter reign. I agree others have done what was necessary but unfortunately not those in charge currently.

He's famous for it. "We're doing it tough at the moment" seems to be a line he trots out regularly these days but what does it actually mean? Strangely, when we had almost half a team out against Leeds and Huddersfield beating both and losing by 2 at Castleford the season before last around this time, he wasn't saying it then. The line was " This is a team that will never get beaten on effort, the team spirit was all to see and we had guys out there who haven't played in the first team before"
Trinity side v Leeds 22 - 4 -19 result 26 -24
Jowett, Jones-Bishop, Lyne, Caton-Brown, Kershaw, Reynolds, Hampshire, Kopczak, Crowther, Arona, Kirmond, Horo, King subs Pauli, Fifita, Annakin, Hirst
Leeds side for the record:
Lolohea, Briscoe, Watkins, Newman, Handley, Sutcliffe, Myler, Peteru, Dwyer, Albert, Ferres, Trout, Merrin
subs Singleton, Donaldson, Oledski, Parcell.
That's just an example of what we were capable of without Miller, Johnstone, Tupou, Ashurst et al. No I don't think we're "doing it tough" we're clueless, rudderless, toothless, error ridden, unfit, have no leadership from the coach down to the captain and currently cannot compete for 80 minutes.

Hampshire, Pitts, Batchelor, Arundel, Kaye, Alex & Brad Walker, Kershaw. All players outside what would arguably be our strongest 17 and all very capable guys that have plenty of first team experience either here or at other clubs. And we’ve just released Tangata so we can bring in Fifita#2. Then there’s lads like Croft, Bailey, Aydin, Bowes etc on top of that. How much strength in depth do we need? People on here were actually commenting pre-season that we’ve probably never had as much depth down to squad numbers in the mid-20’s. It’s more or less comparable with any other team and in fact we have a deeper squad than even some of the top clubs went you actually look at it, hence why Wigan are having to play two second row forwards in the centre and an 18 year old kid on the wing and Leeds are pretty much playing their academy. Now whether the squad is correctly balanced is another matter altogether but that is all about how you use your available funds.

We also don’t quite get the cheapest squad moniker either, Salford now get that dubious honour by all accounts along with Leigh, although the latter will probably spend more as the season goes on.

As a club we need to get away from playing the poor little victim excuse all the time. Injuries happen in RL and we now have the squad size to be able to deal with it. If we can’t then look at the guy that put that squad together. Chester claimed we were ‘doing it tough’ after the first couple of games. We were without just 2 first choice players at that time, Wood & Battye. That isn’t doing it tough, it’s making excuses to cover your own inadequacies.

Have to agree and just to add a little more, does anyone know what our first 17 is anyway?
OK, most of the threequarters pick themselves, but the forwards are another thing. I really don't know who are the preferred 8-13.

I think CC is still trying to replace Grix. He was our main go to man in attack, Jowitt is getting close with his excellent cut out pass though.

I don't think CC knows how to attack any differently then using a full back, would explain why he brought in Gigot.

Just a couple of crash balls, a drop off and then have a half back pass out the back to the full back. It's the same thing each time but other clubs know this and as soon as we get the ball to the #1 they are closed down.

We need some different ideas, get Hampshire into half a gap and he will be through.

I agree with everything you said. I just think he is limited in what he can buy.
When Giants can get Sezer or Hull get Reynolds, we have to shop at a lower level.
And last time we had to do it mid way through season so Gigot was all that we could get.
Given time he went and found Lino who is clearly not Sezer but I think he'll be good.
Unfortunately we need to do it again with a Hooker.
That's really the only reason I want to give him time.
I don't think he would have made some of those purchases if he'd had a choice.

If we can entertain any sort of offer for Fifita, we can have our pick of most halves in the NSW or QLC comps which is exactly what Sezer was when he signed for Hudds, granted after that he had an extended run for the Raiders and picked up some really good form in the interim.

Reynolds was told to find another club by Wests, no other club in the league wanted him, again he would have just played in the feeder comps, unless there was an injury.

He has been given more than any of our previous SL coaches with regards the squad of players with the possible exception of Webster but has produced much less on the field. He has had more than enough time unless we forget the last 40 + games and start again. We could have a Dallas moment when we all wake up and it was a bad dream or in many cases the performances were nightmares.
I admire your loyalty to defend Chester, I don’t understand it so please tell me again how long do we give him albeit as I have said before this is hypothetical because he is going nowhere.

We need to be smarter on the attack and especially against defences that move up quickly.

One solution would be the short kick ahead.

Recently Lino used it to launch a perfect rubber kick.

I think at 6 the likes of Rocky is more than capable of a short up and over the attack which with his pace he could collect in his stride.

Do we practice this? I don't know but as a former amateur player I know it makes the defence think about the consequence of it succeeding.

Would be nice to think that we were practising unlocking tight defences.

We desperately need to be scoring more than 6 points in a match as per our last 3 games

Are you for real or do you just bilge out this nonsense for kicks?

Webster achieved nothing and without a doubt, was the worst SL coach we have so far managed, There were no bright spots with him.

Chester is going through a dreadful time but I won't allow snide people like you to re-write history to suit your own narrative, Chesters first three seasons in charge were very good. Some great signings and some fantastic displays, including a few cricket scores against top teams. Apart from his Cas hoodoo, they were great seasons END OF.

If he loses his job so be it, all coaches have a shelf life but I for one will always thank Chris for two of the most entertaining seasons I have ever witnessed at BV.

You really are low at times.

We need a quick ball distributing hooker as we have for a couple of seasons, we are too pedestrian around the ruck, no disrespect to players filling in at hooker but that is where we would get on the front a lot quicker in attack.

Sam Williams anyone - proven kicking game, could play 6 7 or 9

No!

One he's turned us down already.

Two I can't see how he's any better than Lino.

Three no space on the quota assuming AF is joining us.

Wonder what Salford’s spend was when they played in the 2019 grand final ,around about our spend I would guess, give or take .One astute signing and the rest is history .
So why do we hide behind the salary cap theory all the time ,the simple matter of the fact is the squad we’ve got aren't performing to nowhere near their potential at this present time. It’s not all about how much a player is worth to how he performs ,it’s about being proud pulling the shirt on and giving your all for your club.
Two contrasting players on I’d guess vastly different wages ,you’ve only to look at jack welsby and Frank Paul the wrecking ball .One would walk into our team and will be on a small salary at present , the other I wouldn’t pay out in washers ,guess which .Now I’m not saying for one minute that’s the same tale all over rugby but you get the jist .It doesn’t cost big bucks to play with some pride and passion , it takes a squad that are willing to put their body on the line for the club.
,

We need an actual Hooker not a scrum half who can play Hooker.

I've said before and I'll say it again hookers do not exist in the game now so to dis players like Sam doesn't make sense, anyone with lightening speed at the play the ball ability to have a good kicking game and a brain to open up the defence will do

On current showing Williams is much more suited to the kind of player Trinity needed.

He is an actual midfield general and a leader.

It’s a real shame he turned us down.

I’m still of the opinion we thought he was in the bag and when he turned us down late in the day as I understand it we went with a knee jerk reaction to bring in Lino.

Hope Lino proves me wrong, he is a good player clearly but just not that right style of player. Neither are 9s though.

I thought the pre season narrative was that we needed an organising half back to bring out the best in the untouchable Miller ?

I think Sam would have been a great fit for Trinity but he decided it wasn’t to be.

I do though think you are a little wide of the mark in relation to him being a hooker and the hooking role.

Hookers may not “hook” anymore but they guide you round the field, set playing positions up but also have to do a lot of defensive work and have very good delivery off the floor.

There are undoubtedly some halves that make the transition such as Powell but I still think it is a very much specialist and maybe the most important position on the field given they touch the ball more than any other player.

Neither Williams, Lino or Miller are capable of bringing quality to the 9 position for Trinity from what I have seen, but it’s clear we are lacking in that department.

We did, as yet it doesn’t look like we have signed one.

As i said when the draw come out we would be lucky to win any of the first 6 or 7 games and we had to hope we were injury free when the gaems we could possibly win come around that doesn't look like the case and we are in serious trouble.

WE made 1 change really to our squad this was always going to happen whoever was the coach