Please don't derail a thread just because you don't find it interesting. If you don't have anything to say, don't post.

P.S. I sound like a mod there. I'm not.

Then why post?

Some of us (like me) are number geeks and find this kind of thing sadly interesting.

If the club think the tight margins are being overlooked, they need to realise it's because it has developed into a consistent theme. A certain amount of leeway was given at first last season, but then gradually eroded away. With no change this term fans are understandably at the end of their tethers and making less allowances for what is now a consistent problem that is not being rectified.

Also another point to consider: In 3 of the 4 narrow losses, we were the last team to score and therefore narrow the gap, so there is an element of adding respectability to the scoreline without necessarily looking like being on the verge of winning.

I don't have any stats to back this up so it's just my opinion but I personally think our defence is quite good for the most part but we do seem to have points in games were it seems to fall apart a bit. We need to improve the attack though because defence doesn't put points on the board.

I can empathise completely with this. At the tail end of the 2012 season Rovers suffered 5 straight losses by 6 or less points. Sandercock leapt on this as some sort of vindication of the job he was doing, whereas it just narked most of the fans off even more. A win is a win, a loss, a loss. It's that black & white (no pun intended) to your average fan.

Yes. I think the club thinks that because it's tight margins that we're on the verge of turning that around and once we push on that everything's going to look different, hence them feeling that the fans need to be patient and understanding. But as you say, a lot of us are at the end of our tethers now because we feel we should have pushed on already seeing as it was the same last year.

In how many of those close defeats can we honestly say we were the better team? Generally have we not just been hanging in there with no real prospects of a victory ?

Good point well made. With the possession and position we are having, we should be bemoaning that our points difference isn't better, not championing that we're only getting beaten by a bit most weeks.

Although the big stats that point fairly and squarely at it being down to our attack and the defence is ok is that we have the worst points scored and lowest number of tries scored in the league, but our defence is actually 5th. A worrying comparison is to look at Huddersfield. We beat them 19-0, so that was a 38 point advantage we had on them. Not only have they reeled that in, they've added another 52. So in 6 games, they've been +90 better than us, 15 points a game. But we should give credit for us keeping things tight.

The league is tight though, a win against Rovers could see us 7th. Apart from Leeds and Saints, no team has been consistent (Particularly away from home).

Any team who could start been more consistent and pick up a few away wins has a real chance of a top 4 finish this year.

Now the weakest attack in the league

I'm glad we've lashed £300k on game management in the halfs this year

I don't think it is solely down to the halfs, it's more to do with our pack and backs all been solid and not been able to break the line or have that extra piece of skill to score trys.

How many trys have we scored from our own half?

Yes we have splashed out money on halves.

Its a shame their team-mates aren't backing them up and giving them more options.

I think the close margins are a sign of a team with potential but how far through the season is that potential going to click.

However. It doesn't matter if it's 1 point or 50 points. A loss is a loss. The Leeds gamecfor me was a true sign of the league this year. I believe that the quality of the teams is closer than ever and a result could go any way any time. But it's the desire to win that separates the teams. The likes of saints Leeds are at the top because they can grind out the game and have that extra passion to win. It's this that we lack atm and I hope that the Derby tirns that around.

Also I think we're making stupid errors. Sneyd has made a few critical errors such as the two v Catalans and there are others to note too. Sure all teams have these but the best ones can bounce back from it and still win a game (we were lucky Catalans got so many players injured I feel as otherwise they may have turned us over).

Come on you hull!!!

pryce and sneyd were 2 of the top 3 try assists last season, do you think they've just turned up this season and decided not to set tries up?! they will be doing set moves given by the coaching staff.

erlee
vs cas they bombed 2 walk in tries if my memory serves me correctly
vs wigan they bombed atleast 4/5
vs wire they bombed 3 and had a perfectly good try not given.

put those together and the margins wouldn't have been close