That makes a lot more sense to me but i still dont think Balmforth is Smiths flavour of the month and will miss out
We will see Sunday

OK Captain will do
He is not a racehorse who you only run when the ground suits them
from what i have seen he will turn out to be another Kane Evans

The early signs don't look that promising but it's a little unfair to write him off after a couple of games. It must be taken into account the big change in culture both on and off the field for NRL players. Better players than him have struggled to make an immediate impact.

What goes against him is even before he arrived are the comments from the majority of Bulldogs fans when he signed for us.

I fear that you may be right but let him get a few games under his belt before we can judge how good a signing he is.

We had our 5? Most experienced and highest earners missing Friday.
Truman, Carlos,Houghton,Pele,Ese.
6th player okunbor was taken off 2nd half, not sure what happened to him?
Lane, is struggling but so is most of the the squad.
He wasn’t the only player missing tackles, but they did give it a real dig.

We have by far the worst discipline in SL. Getting these players back and improving discipline.
Then lets see how Lane goes.

The clubs social media & coaching staff are happy enough with lane as they posted his Stats..

looks like Houghton is back sunday, really hope Smith keeps Brown at 9 and not moved back to 7


chance that Carlos may play too, but i won't hold my breath!

I appreciate what you’re saying in regards to Lane but in all fairness he has performed poorly for the last couple of seasons. It’s that reason that many have are rightly questioning/criticising him. It was even said by a number of us in the off season that he really needed to hit the ground running if he was in the 17 at the start of the season but he simply hasn’t regardless of anyone else’s performances.

As Bonaire has said many times our discipline has been and continues to be poor, Lane falls into the category of being one of our worst offenders.

Someone mentioned the word scapegoat but that is not something you can really say about Jordan as most comments whilst being critical are based on evidence over the past couple of seasons.
He is no longer a youngster and is now a more senior and experienced figure but for me we haven’t seen anything near the potential he showed when he broke into the first team.

As has been said I think it just shows the incompetence in terms of the contracts handed out in terms of length etc based on no more than average performances.

Expectations have got that low in parts of our fan base now that 'having a dig' is all that matters, you need to have a dig and also have ability... depressing times.

Indeed

Have the Reserves got a game this weekend, as Roman Dawson has put a "Times Ticking" post on Instagram....unless he's playing against london??

We all agree lane needs to be moved on. . But he's being picked and doing as much as he can. Of cause having a dig isn't all that matters. But whatever ability you have it's the first thing you need to do on a field. The kid isn't good enough at the top level . But has anybody on here played the game at a decent level?. Because if you have you will know players like him are always valued. It's ok watching it from the stands or in your armchair but it's a hard f ucking game believe me. Maybe why I'm always a more positive poster as I take my hat of to anybody who runs into that pitch

If Houghton is fit I'd play him at loose forward and keep Brown at hooker. Save moving people around and Mint is better there than our usual 13s and we can keep our props at prop where we need props propping.

Good post from chris71. As for players having a dig , I meant on Friday the kids including Lane had a dig. The total tackles he made are far above what he’s done previously.
Lane hasn’t been great the past 5 seasons but who has in the current squad. We’ve had hammerings season after season.
Discipline ? Where were our overseas signing on Friday ?
Pele 4 matches , Ese 2
Yet no one criticises our big earners..
I could criticise every hull player but what does it achieve..no one has stood out. To read criticism that yeah he made 54 but missed 2. He was in a team with young kids against a bigger more talented team.
I speak to other fans and it’s only on here that I hear so many negative posts.

I will continue to defend on here players that give it a go.
Some on here would prefer Jake connor , Savellio Griffin back.
They’re not exactly ripping it up now either.

Think its only fair to point out that most, if not all on here condemned Pele for his total idiocy at the time and since, for me Ese'ese gets a bit of slack as I felt at the time and still do that it wasn't worthy of a ban, same with Ligi and even more so when seeing others who got off scot free.

I would think its fair to say the part of your post I've highlighted in bold is the most likely reason as to why there is criticism but the club should not be immune to criticism either due to the poor retention and contracts handed out which has been effectively rewarding poor performance.

As you say about Connor, Griffin & Savelio, I think that shows not just a level of mediocrity we've had at the club but also that we've held on to players too long, as how many players other than those that have retired have actually ripped up since they left?

Back on to the London game

I'm pretty optimistic of getting a result on Sunday though no doubt it wont be an easy game in the least due to 'mitigating' factors (sorry couldn't resist usingt the RFL's buzz word) but I was heartened by the fight and togetherness shown on the field at Warrington.

If they 17 that take to the field on Sunday play with the same effort and desire, we remain 13 v 13 for 80 mins and remain disciplined then despite everything we should get the 2pts.