Watts should make a big difference once he's back, he was probably our best forward at the back end of last year. He was really bending the line and his offloads were excellent.

Speaking of offloads, it's a shame nobody was on Orge's shoulder near their line in the second half, if someone had been supporting they'd have been in under the sticks.
That was the turning point for me coupled with Tickle's intercept attempt which was 12-point turnaround. If he'd caught that we'd probably have scored but instead they scored from the resulting set (I think). Either way it put the pressure right back on us but he had to go for it.

Given the fact the rule has changed until a tackle is completed by the team with the advantage. It wasn't so they go back to the scrum.

I like the new rule, it's a mini power play, do something crazy with a get out of jail free card thrown in.

A good game but a bit heartbreaking during that poor spell in the second half.

I think we have a good base to build on though, you always start from a strong defensive foundation which i think we have.

Positives:-

* Defence
* Discipline, (hardly gave away any penalties especially in the first half)
* Fitness
* Ball retention was good, a lot less handling errors than I'm used to seeing, only crept in when we tired a bit.
* Kicking, even Horne, who has been given up on as a kicker by some, did well today.

Negatives

* Although the forwards played well, we didn't have a line breaker on the pitch.
* Craft near the oppostons line, looked a bit 1 dimensional.
* Didn't look like being able to force a repeat set from a kick.
* Made plenty of yards early on but don't have the unpredictablity of a lot of teams, houghton chipkick aside!
* Very low on offloads.


Hopefully some of these points can be addressed with returning players and hopefully we can practice them more against weaker teams to gve us more confidence come the end of the season.

We were beaten by a better side, with no half backs and a well beaten pack, a couple of players should be dropped for next week (Yeaman and Galea to name two), would rather see Nicklas have a run with Holdsworth that persist with the total lack of invention from Horne, he obviously had his "good game" as Saints. If Seymour wasn't picked simply because Gentle has an issue with him then we may as well release him now.

I thought we did alright in that area. It was our defence that let us down in the end.

Horne had a good game last night. His job isn't to be inventive, it's to profit from the inventiveness of his halfback partner. When he plays alongside a decent SH, he'll do well. Take his support away and he has to play a role that doesn't suit his natural game. Which he did as well as could be expected last night.

Horne did not have a bad game at all. In fact, his kicking game for a large portion of the game was very good. He's a stand off, not a creator.

What is this issue with Seymour? Haven't heard Gentle talk of it. Not being good enough and having and 'issue' are completely different.

The most disappointing thing for me so far this season is our lack of grunt/go-forward from our pack. Wire's pack dominated last night as Leeds' pack did two weeks ago. We have depth there like never before but lack real punch. Our effort was fantastic again last night as it was at Leeds but effort and hard work alone will not beat teams like Leeds and Wire.

Watts will certainly help but the loss of Moa and Manu has really weakened us up front. Coupled with our ten year struggle for a halfback partnership, IMO we won't be close to challenging for honours for another season or two.

McDonnell is looking like a really good signing which has surprised me a little and he will only get better as the weather and the grounds improve.

IMO we are a quality SH, a monster prop and a strike centre away from the top of SL. Hopefully AP and PG can address this for next season.

I thought apart from the 15 minutes we played well, defence was very aggressive and had some nice touchs with ball.

Kick and chase was better, especially in the first half.

Negatives, our attacking game was poor, warrinton out up about 8 bombs to our wingers, they scored 2 Trys and got another 2/3 repeat sets off this tatic, we didn't do it once. I thought Hodgson looked shaky after the big Yeaman hit and we didn't tet him enough.

We look like a top 6 team, but not quite ready for the 4. A top halfback would change that IMO.

A decent scrum half away from top 4,Liam watts will add more grunt up front when fit,Too much indiscipline cost us the game and not clamping down on their kicking game near our try line

i enjoyed the match last night and thought we did very well against a very good side
(apart fom a 15 minute spell where every thing seemed to go right for Warrington)
to me the main thing was that we did not give up when things went awol, the players stood up and finished strongly
this is a possitive to build on and we will only get better

as for players like Horne,Galea etc i thought every player played their part last night and should be applauded for the effort and work they put in. we will not win every match we play but as long as we compete to our best and not roll over i'll be happy


just watched it again on sky and in most parts our defence was awesome

Really excited by Lineham and McDonnell. Sharron was limping badly at the end though, and Lineham moved to fullback. Hope to Christ he's ok for next week.

This post says everything about last night. There's a real spirit in this group of players and at full strength we'll give any team a tough time.

Any team outside the top 4, I agree.