I just don't buy into this 'All Agar's fault', its clear you don't rate him and have placed all the blame firmly at his door. I agree to an extent that he has to take responsibility for tactics and team spirit. However players also have to be able to movtivate themselves as professionals and be prepared to turn up and play. The best performance this season bar none was Bulls away where we played with enterprise and players pushed through holes and Thorman was truly outstanding and probably along with Manu the difference between the sides. So this is evidence that we can get it right, in fact we got it right a lot early on in the season, not always with great rugby but we were winning armwrestles against the likes of Wigan, Hudds and Celtic. Had we have been more ruthless we could have won all have those by more comfortable margins.

Had we have kicked our goals we would have beaten Cas, Quins was just an awful game and we were outplayed in the 2nd half. The CC game was strange as we scored good tries but again only played in fits and starts. The derby saw us start on the back foot from the kickoff which is hardly Agar's fault and then we could not get out of our half for a while, our best attacking play came from offloads and the second phase possession resulted in a try. Had we have turned up for the game we could have won it easily, Rovers did not play that well. Again is this the coach or the players or do they share the responsbility?

Saints we were blown away by a much better side and Wakey we lost the armwrestle in a game we should really have won.

Looking back I think Agar has made mistakesand should be encouraging more offloads from the forwards for the likes of Berro and Horne to utilise. He should also be telling Thorman to take a tackle instead of putting boot to ball when he has no options. However players also have to be held accountable, Tickle should not be kicking it dead etc.

It suits people to blame the coaches but the players have as much to answer for in my eyes.

Only if the opposition make no errors either. I agree its not a gameplan that wins anything, particularly over a long season, but it would have won us at least another 3 games this season with a bit more effort/enthusiasm from the players IMO. The biggest problem is that you very rarely win a game with those tactics if dont play well, whereas a better gameplan can win games when the team aren't performing.

Mine too. Agree 100%.

Snag is if some of the players don't have the basic quality to perform at an acceptable level week in and week out then it becomes very difficult for a coach. Peter Sharp would tell you the same. We've certainly missed our injured/visaless internationals this year. We have guys who cant catch and cant pass to the required level often enough. Shouldn't be required to be coached at this level - is Potter coaching Gidley, Pryce and Long how to catch and pass ? - I think not.

A mixture of poor recruitment (Sharp specifically) and an over reliance on local youth that hasn't cut it I'm afraid. If the two internationals can get their visas and a couple of internationals get fit we will see a huge difference in our team's ability to perform the basics and we will improve. Agar should be judged then and not until.

That's the main thing I was trying to get at.

What I was meaning with the errors is that our tactics necessitate we make less errors than the opposition a lot of the time. By this I mean that the bulk of our scoring is designed around forcing opponent error, whereas they are capable of both benefitting from our errors and opening us up through sheer skill and quality rugby. As soon as we start gifting them as many points as they do us, we'll always get outscored in terms of tries that are genuinely created.

I actually wonder if this increased pressure on individuals may have a bearing on our poor basic errors becoming too common, it could be playing on the minds of the players.

Looking at it another way I wonder if our tactics are based around the ability (or lack of) of our back line particularly with so many 1st choicers missing.

That said I don't buy into the 5 drives and a kick theory being our only tactic. In the last few games the vast majority of our errors have been made by outside backs whilst attempting to pass the ball out wide along the line.

The reason Agar gets the lions share of the blame is because he is the coach the buck stops with him.
He doesn;t help his case when he admits he doesn't know what to do to change/stop what is happening.

I tend to agree. In the games we have lost this season (apart from probably Quins) we have made an error close to our own line early in the game and conceeded a try. You could visibly see the players heads drop.

5 drives and a kick is predictable and wont win any games other than catching some teams cold early in the season. Someone was being interviewed on the footie show in oz the other week and they were asked what it was like to play against team x. They replied, its fairly easy, theyve only got one pivot.

We play with a prop at 13 and 1 pivotal halfback. (the one getting the stick too)

We then play 5 drives and a kick. Its predictable and easy to stop. Salford in the cup just condensed their defensive lines as they knew we wouldnt go wide.

If we got a new coach that encourages attacking style of rugby it would help to show some people exactly what we are missing out on by having Agar.

Shhh, he's only young, rah de rah de rah.


Agar is e, and some of u have been saying it from the start.

ATEOTD HE recruited Thorman (unless of course the gutless wonder let Sharp walk ll over him)HE recruited Reardon, enough said in my opinion.

The man writes his team selections on the back of an envelope FFS!

Or is recruiting being done over his head ?

It seems pretty muh everything is above Agar's head!

I'm sure this question is on everyone's lips, so I'm just gonna come right out and ask it:

Big Dave T - are you Chris Thorman's mam?

How come Big Sam has fallen out of favour. I know he was not completely fit but he never did anything wrong when he was on the field all be it for 10-15 mins. Is he playing reserve grade to increase his fitness? Because at least when he played he had a bit of aggression about him.

Dowes, Cusack, Thacks, Maloney all ahead of him , that's all. IMO.