Defence

Quote: His Bobness "I must admit I was very disappointed after the game especially with our defensive effort.

We were bad but watching again on SKY + not quite as bad as I thought. A stat came up after 59 mins of missed tackles Rovers 9 Bradford 18 which I must say did surprise me. Of course we did miss a fair few after that don't know what the final tally was. Also as ever not nearly enough credit is given to the opposition, Bradford could easily have caved in but they didn't and produced a tremendous finish to the game.

The opening salvo from Rovers was quite brilliant with the commentators telling us what a great season us Rovers fans had to look forward to! You could see why too, it was the best rugby Rovers have ever produced in Super League. Trouble is when you start red hot at 100 mph it inevitably burns out and that is what seemed to happen to Rovers. We don't want to lose that kind of intensity and energy but somehow you have to marry it with a little patience and be always prepared for the inevitable period when the opposition have more of the ball. That's the biggest lesson from the Bradford game IMO.

There is a lot of ability in the Rovers team IMO and we just need to get everyone working as a unit defensively and also being a bit more alert to potential danger. Sandercock is obviously working on this and I feel the players are still a little unfamiliar with new defensive systems.

Some Hull fans have commented that they have new defensive structures too and haven't struggled in the same manner. That's fair comment but IMO Hull had a much better defence than Rovers to start with. And there is no doubt Rovers are playing a far more expansive game under Sandercock sometimes it breaks down and we seem to not be alert enough to the easy metres teams are making after picking up loose ball.

Also we have to accept that Sandercock himself is in unfamiliar territory there is a world of difference between being an assistant and a head coach not least in the pressure that comes with the job as I am sure he is finding out. It's no different for Gentle but at least he started with a defence that was already the 5th best in Super League in 2011. Hull's main problem last year was predictability on attack and I see no step change as yet but why would there be? If you could make everything perfect after 5 games coaching would be a very easy job indeed.

Sandercock is an extremely intelligent man with a vast knowledge of Rugby League and the man is a workaholic. He will not rest until he gets it right and I wouldn't worry about his slightly awkward way with the media. Who cares? Watch him on Hull KR TV he's fine. I dare say in all his years at Manly & Newcastle nobody interviewed him once and certainly not to explain away a disapponting defeat. That's what Head Coaches are for but really being good in front of a microphone simply means that people like Morgan & McRae are better actors.

Rovers are now an exciting team with exciting players but we all know you have to defend. We couldn't do this well enough last year and 6 games haven't been long enough to resolve it. Probably with new systems to take on board we are if anything a little worse. Sometimes you have to go backwards before you can go forwards.

Things can soon turn around look at Widnes beating Wigan today who'd have thought it? Last week Betts was blaming things on his players having cold hands and was ridiculed. Now we find that Rovers rotten defence nilled the team that's put 37 past Wigan.

With Catalans away coming up next and then Huddersfield, Rovers have an opportunity to follow the example of Widnes. We were under the radar before the Bradford game now we have crash landed. But I still say Rovers are going to surprise a lot of people as the season progresses, most of you I imagine will disagree.'"