I don't think any rugby player doesn't try. They wouldn't be on the field.

But either way I'm not really sure which is worse.
I think we all agree it isn't good enough.

What about Jarrod Sammut??????

He was just weird. I take your point though.

I agree PT. It’s times like these we need quality statements.

Atoni is not good enough. Once can only speculate why he is being picked. And don’t tell me it’s just down to squad size.

Well I guess it's because they think he is good enough and there is something else affecting his game that we don't know about.......but I certainly don't see it.

Mash says in press that he's worked with him and you'll see improvement against Wigan.
Let's see how he does......though its a tough game to improve your stats. The stats I'd like him to improve are carries and metres gained.

Saw that. But why didn’t Mash have this little chat 8 weeks ago…

Everything is reactive and half d isn’t it?

Will be tough against Wigan. I’ve watched them last few weeks and their defence is truly stifling at times.

As for Atoni, for a start he should be coming off the bench at 20-25 minute mark and running it in against a few tired bodies in the middle. His early promising pre season games started well and all were him coming h off the bench as impact.

He run very hard first few games but I hope the reason isn’t that huge shot he took (was in early rounds). He ran it in like a steam train from the restart and got crunched ant it looked painful. He’s not really run in with the same gusto since then.

I think I’d rest him this week and run with :

Bowden, Whitbread starting.
Battye, Eseh on bench.

Then next week bring Atoni back on as a bench prop. He needs to work on leg drive training and technique on contact imo. I’m willing to give him a chance to turn his form round but it needs to come quickly.

No team can afford two players offering fifteen minutes of nothingness each game. Passengers. Wasters the pair. How can Sam Eseh be any worse than their poop?

You may be right but, some give up too easily.

We need a couple of breaks, maybe a lucky try and then hopefully try and gain some confidence.
At the moment, as soon as the opposition score a couple of tries, our heads drop.

Let’s face it, there isn’t an easy game in SL for us to gain confidence. Atoni came over with fairly decent pedigree and he’s clearly training like Tarzan and playing like Jane. Mash said that he’s stripped his game back to basics, but it’s the basics he’s been atrocious in. His game fitness and metres gained wouldn’t look out of place at amateur level. Proctor also looks perpetually knackered too. I’ve seen comparisons between Proctor and Anthony Tupou, at least Tupou put in a decent shift though and actually went back to the NRL after us, albeit for not very long, Proctor and Atoni wouldn’t get in a bush team over there how they’ve performed.
After listening to James Grahams bye round pod cast with Nathan Brown explaining why British forwards go so well in the NRL, it’s abundantly clear that British forwards are blooded a lot younger, playing in harsher conditions making them hit the ground running over there with better conditions and a lot more experience under their belts compared to counterparts. To put it simple, Atoni and Proctor are of now a complete waste of quota spots. We’d of been better scouting the championship with what them two have brought. On hindsight, Elijah Taylor would of been a much better option than Proctor, least he was tried and tested over here. He was immense for Salford.

I was looking forward to seeing Taylor play for us.

I was proper gutted when he didn’t sign. Poching wanted Taylor and didn’t want Proctor, where as Mash has gone opposite. For me Taylor seemed like the logical option, he’s over here, he’s a defensive master, a leader. Unless it came down to money I can’t see why we didn’t sign him. I watched him play the kiwi’s for Leeds in the exhibition game before the RLWC, he was the best player for Leeds, cut down anything that came his way, including big Nelson for the Storm.

Proctor was always going to be a risk, as of now he’s a waste of quota who offers nothing. In a season where we literally can’t afford passengers, 2 of our NRL signings are the biggest passengers I’ve ever seen in a Trinity shirt. Age for me with him is also pretty irrelevant, look at the amount of 33/34 + forwards in SL, proctor looks like he’s a 50 year old ex pro playing in a charity game how he goes about. Sadly these signing land on Mash and co, but obviously I don’t know the in’s and outs of why we went with these.

Poching wanted Taylor but Carter didn’t

I think in the case of Proctor we’ve knowingly fooled ourselves a little, we’ve kidded ourselves into thinking he’s still an NRL standard forward who was available only because he’d been caught vaping in a toilet cubicle. Craig Bellamy let Proctor go 5 years ago and he doesn’t willingly give up mainstays of his successful Melbourne Storm team unless they’re shot and have reached the end of their ability to contribute. I repeat that was 5 years ago!

No kelepi again