It seems obvious that Radford is by nature a cautious coach. If things aren't quite going our way his default response is get back to basics and roll your sleeves up and we'll graft our way out of trouble, rather than play our way out. I get the impression that after a few defeats he had stripped our game back to the bare bones, hoping that playing simple percentage rugby would get us a couple of wins.

This worked fine against Wakefield, albeit the game wasn't much of a spectacle. Against Rovers it didn't work one bit. Rovers completed extremely highly, kept the penalties down, defended well and were pretty clinical with their limited chances. When we abandoned plan A and started chucking the ball about we looked like we could score at any minute.

It's impossible to play all the time in the manner we did in those last 20, it could have just as easily resulted in a load of knock ons and a 30-0 win for Rovers. However Radford needs to realise that we are a far better team when left to express ourselves. There is a time and a place for 5 drives and a kick, but we need to find a better balance.

He did also say on sky "that our team need to know as a group how good they are" our confidence has been down Ellis said this & the Wakefield game showed this, but we got the 2 points, i posted it a couple of weeks ago that we just need to keep getting the 2 points & the rugby will take care of itself, that last 20 minutes against kr showed the character & the never say die attitude from the team, it will give them some inner belief & confidence will grow, I'm happy with our league position, we've just got to keep ticking away & the senior players will lead us.

Quote: easthull fc fan "He did also say on sky "that our team need to know as a group how good they are" our confidence has been down Ellis said this & the Wakefield game showed this, but we got the 2 points, i posted it a couple of weeks ago that we just need to keep getting the 2 points & the rugby will take care of itself, that last 20 minutes against kr showed the character & the never say die attitude from the team, it will give them some inner belief & confidence will grow, I'm happy with our league position, we've just got to keep ticking away & the senior players will lead us.'" And yet Radford's plan was to focus on defence and dampen the enthusiasm of the players to play attacking rugby. That utterly failed for 60 minutes until the players took responsibility away from the coach m.hulldailymail.co.uk/Strong-Hul ... story.html Radford even stated we played "outstanding" for 60 minutes without the ball Admit it, Radford still cannot fathom what is best for this set of players to play to the best of their abilities and if he thinks we were outstanding up until the change he's totally clueless!

Quote: easthull fc fan "He did also say on sky "that our team need to know as a group how good they are" our confidence has been down Ellis said this & the Wakefield game showed this, but we got the 2 points, i posted it a couple of weeks ago that we just need to keep getting the 2 points & the rugby will take care of itself, that last 20 minutes against kr showed the character & the never say die attitude from the team, it will give them some inner belief & confidence will grow, I'm happy with our league position, we've just got to keep ticking away & the senior players will lead us.'" And yet Radford's plan was to focus on defence and dampen the enthusiasm of the players to play attacking rugby. That utterly failed for 60 minutes until the players took responsibility away from the coach m.hulldailymail.co.uk/Strong-Hul ... story.html Radford even stated we played "outstanding" for 60 minutes without the ball Admit it, Radford still cannot fathom what is best for this set of players to play to the best of their abilities and if he thinks we were outstanding up until the change he's totally clueless!

Radford passed the message to the players to start off loading. They did that and won the game. His plan A didn't work so he changed to plan B which was more expansive rugby. To play poor and still get the win is what the best teams in any sport do. Top four and overcoming a potential banana skin in my book is ok. Let's back the team, coach and owner instead of all of this negativity.

Not read all the thread, so apologies if this has been said.

You've played all of last season's bottom 4 in the first 7 games, only losing to the one that has improved significantly. Against last season's other mid-tablers, one win and one loss, and a narrow defeat against the beaten Grand Finalists. So about par. You can only beat what's in front of you and you've managed it more often than not. The next four fixtures is your chance to make an impact. Hudds are the anti-Widnes and Leeds have started slowly. If you could get both of them, you'll be well enough placed, midway through the first part of the season. If you win either of the next two as well, then top 4 starts to look very plausible.

Good post but be prepared for the wrath of Bumpy. Feelgood, espescially form the Darkside, will just not do

If, as most people have said, we draw on the confidence of the last 20 against the Dobs, go into the game like we can and quick play the balls, cut out the daft penalties, we can match Wire and win, simples. Tall order non the less.

Just watched it again, we was unliveable in the last 20 mins it was brilliant to see, don't think we could play like that all the time but at least it's in us when needed,I didn't agree with lugs straight after the game when he said both sets of teams played well! I guess emotions was running high for him.

So you admit the strategy was wrong from the outset, the strategy whatever it was left us 20 points behind without us scoring. That's a hell of a plan! Why did it take so long to change things if it was patently obvious that that wasn't working?
The players are clearly not happy with the focus being on defence and that shows. That we have gone downhill under Radford defensively alludes you, as the Salford, Catalans and the last 20 mins Friday shows, we are much happier with a more open style of play (that doesn't mean chuck It about every set). The Cas, Wigan and Wakey game we looked completely different different, that's down to the coach surely or are you nasing everything that's crap on the players and everything great on the coach?
I implore Radford to grasp what works for us best, what will it take for him to do so as he's had several examples to give him some clues.

Who said that?

This is quite possibly the biggest load of rubbish I've ever seen you post. Which is going some, frankly.

Don't worry Kosh. I'm sure he'll be back with even more ludicrous stuff very shortly.

Pritchard was not even the standout back rower of the Bulldogs last season according to Phil Gould. That honour went to Josh Jackson who was named in Gould's NRL team of 2015. Gould considered 8 players for the 2 positions and Pritchard was not included.