We were. If it weren’t for Johnstone’s bit of magic there was hardly anything to shout about. Every time we got to Wigan’s line we had no idea what to do and the attack fizzled out.

wigan was just as bad as us last week that is why we stuck with them ,

we have been terrible attacking our own line for about 3 years
Havent had a organzing halfback since tim smith

I am sorry but we are dull and were so against Wigan, the score was close but our 80 minute performance was basically dull and clueless like the vast majority of recent games. We do have many things to sort out, organisation, a kicking game, an attack and some sort of defence. If you look at Castleford tonight they threw the ball around, had a kicking game and defended for each other. I don’t know how many times I have seen our line being outflanked because we do not have the numbers.
The team spirit that would once have got us through games appear to have been squashed.

What worries me in all this playing debacle is that we have to start selling season tickets with these performances fresh in the fans minds .Now I know the die hards will buy no matter what but it’s going to be a hard sell to anyone else,we desperately need the team to pull together and put some stirring performances back on the pitch as the damage this is doing to the fan base will have repercussions for years to come .

Absolute bang on post coupled with silly penalties you have our problem.

This is the key area all the slagging off of coaches and players is laughable at times it's all about the basics and for a long time we are failing at this when we click we can give anyone a game when we don't we can be woeful. You get games when it doesn't happen but there are some areas where we can reduce the pressure on us.

And yet they are top of the league.

I agree.
And for me it is in the half backs

The forwards can defend well but not when they are making way more tackles than the opposition.
Same for the backs in attack. If you are getting the ball above your head you are slower to start your run and so are tackled easily.

Brough would have solved the issue but is just broken now so we need to find another.
Hampshire isn't that guy yet. Max is closer in some skills but not in others.

The issues against Catalan were multiple but for me they were simple ones that added together.
Ball control and getting players fit would change that result completely.

Obviously from a relegation point of view this.season does not matter , however what you do with it does.
Building a competitive teams not easy at the best of times but the remainder if the season needs to be used as a building program.
Give the squad members a chance and evaluate who to offer new contracts to then.
I think we have messed about with the playing quotas more than enough and would go as far to say that if CC knew his best squad some of the additions would have been unnecessary.
We should have more than enough cover from 1 to 6 before the recent signings even with a couple of injuries.
We need a scrum half desperately and our pack over run with average second rowers and loose forwards needs upgrading.
WE HAVE NO GRUNT IN THE FRONT ROW and someone who can run the shows needed.
Our more youthfull pack members need a good run out not in one week and out the next.

I agree with the 'organising' by the half backs and the lack of quality ball going across the line. However, I feel that the first priority is with the forwards, they need to be making the yardage in order to give the backs more space. Get the opposition on the back foot and it makes it easier for everyone. Scooting from acting half also puts the opposition on the back foot and this is also an area that we seem to be lacking. Our last tackle play must be the worst in the league and I can never understand why when we try and kick on the last, our 'kicker' is nearly always under pressure from the opposition, whilst the opposition seem to have plenty of time and room to kick.

If you look at the stats our forwards actually made good ground. We just didn't do anything with it once they got where they were going.
For instance
Kopczek made the most carries with 19 and made 20 tackles with no misses. His average gain was only 6 but not terrible given the number of carries
Ashurst made 35 tackles with no misses. He made 10 carries averaging 8 metres
Pitts made 25 tackles missing 1. He only made 5 carries but averaged 10 metres for each.
Fifita made 26 tackles missing 2. Made 15 carries averaging 8.
Navarette seemed to always take the hard yards with 13 carries but averaging 5 but made 23 tackles and no misses.

The hookers made 56 tackles between them and only missed 2.

The telling stats to me are
5 missed tackles each for the centres, though Lyne made considerably more successful ones than Tupou.
And Kicks in general play, which are the end of set kicks.....Hampshire 3 Westerman 1 Ashurst 1 Wood 4 Fifita 1 Miller 4 .......... that is wrong on so many levels.

You do realise it doesn’t work like that. You could drop in any HB in the world and it wouldn’t make much difference if the rest of the team don’t do there jobs.

Apart from the two Woods nobody did on Saturday. Fifita taking every ball standing, he gets no flak on here but he was technically rubbish. What the hell was happening in the backs god knows, Lyne and Tupou non existent in both attack and defence.

No dummy runners, no support play, no running from deep, no offloads, no sliding defence, woeful ball retention, no kicking game - frankly there was no facet of the game we did even remotely well.

No HB can sort all that. You can’t create play if nobody is playing. About the only thing he could offer would be some better kicks, maybe.

I get your point but I disagree about the one player making a difference bit. . If you put a good scrum half there that can organise, and maybe a fullback who can organise as well the team changes drastically.

Tim Smith had his faults but apart from a magical pass, the thing I liked about him was that he shouted orders and made people follow them. I've seen him run to a forward and actually drag him to the place he wants him to stand before making his pass.
That's what we need right now.
Tupou and Lyne didn't become bad defenders overnight. They were disorganised.

We’ve been over this ground for the last few seasons , you could have a top Aussie pair of halfbacks but if the forwards don’t lay the platform for them its wasted opportunity every time . Our forwards were out gunned and out muscled by a more dominant pack which left all the back line with no where to go . People moan about mclloram’s tactics but not one player stood up to him and gave him some biff back. It a tough game and if you go in half hearted these are the type of scorelines you end up with. Wearing the shirt with pride and getting stuck in will go a long in any game.