And i get accused of being negative.

I've got to say, some people on here not only seem to watch different games to me but also may be watching a different sport... or just don't understand modern rugby league.

1. Analyse the term 'professional foul'... it's what professionals do. They are competitive and try to gain an advantage wherever they can and Keighley have won a couple of games on the back of Jones acting like a professional. In my opinion it just shows he has a good rugby brain between his ears.
2. You can't blame the lad for missing conversions, he hasn't been kicking regularly for a start plus we aren't getting near enough to teams for it to matter anyway.
3. Sometimes good passes are made to look sloppy by players not being up with play, so perhaps you should have a look at the outside backs too.
4. The players play in the structure that the coach chooses. Keighley play a multiple line system of attack, much like most of the top sides, and this system needs an x-factor player at fullback as the majority of the time they are the one who has to give the final ball or make the break. With White at fullback Jones was made to look poor because White didn't have the skillset to pull off the system, with Jones at fullback the system was working and Keighley were creating a lot more scoring plays. The main issue in the current set up is March, he is the player that defenses usually find out and is also the player that generally slows down play or takes wrong options.
5. Jones' kicking game has never been amazing, Leatherbarrow's is on a completely different plain... however I would guess that with his lack of kicking at the weekend that he must have some kind of leg problem.

I also think to say he is wasted at full back is a strange thing to say. If turning halves into fullbacks works for Wigan and Melbourne Storm then it's got to be good enough for Keighley... or are Tomkins and Slater being wasted at fullback? Better coaches than March have chosen to play Jones at fullback and with Moss out he is by far the best option. Just have a look at his performances for Wales at fullback, even the quality Australian players didn't show him up.

The main thing that costs Keighley games at the moment is the defense, there is simply no dominance in the tackle and teams are allowed to get quick play the balls and get a roll on. If Keighley slowed the contact area they would compete better.

My one worry is that March doesn't seem to read the game very well and is tactically naive. He blames poor performances on a lack of effort and seems to chop and change the side rather than improving the small areas of the game where the team needs to tighten up.

Only my opinion though so if anyone disagrees feel free to prove me wrong.

A very good and insightful post.

Do i detect that you think March has to carry a lot of the blame. Or have i misunderstood your post?

I think, personally, there are a number of factors that have come together to mean Keighley aren't getting the results this year.

- March is not the player that he was, his timing is way out from the other players and his decision making and execution is poor, but he's gone from bit part player last year to seemingly the first name on his own team sheet this year.
- March only has the players available at his disposal, if he didn't pick himself in the halves and play Jones at fullback we'd either be short of a half back or full back... because White is not the answer at fullback.
- I don't think March has the skills to look at the details and improve the team that way, he comes across (and plays) as a 'try harder!' type of guy rather than a constructive, analytical coach. And either way, it is hard to take the necessary step back when you are out in the middle of the park.
- We've been fairly unlucky with injuries.
- We have done really badly out of the dual reg system. Whether you agree with it or not the best thing for the club to do is make the most out of it. We linked up with the Super League side with the smallest squad and gained nothing.

I don't think March is 'to blame' as such, he is the character he is and the club hired him... they must have known what they were going to get because we all surely knew. What is happening now is a result of not taking what the team achieved last year and pushing forward.

Let's assume (and it may be a big assumtion) that the three current directors might be willing to put their hands in their pockets again to a reasonabe degree in order to "invest to avoid relegation". Do you know of a player who is available and who could make a marked difference for the rest of the season if he were signed? Just a separate point in that Paul March was, reportedly, recommended as coach by Jason Demetriou.

I'm sure there are plenty of players around that could possibly make a difference to the team, I would have thought however that there should be enough in terms of playing resources at the club already to just stay up with one or two tweaks and some consistency in the starting line-up. If the aim was then to push on and aim for the upper end of the table next year then a few areas could be improved... say, a good quality loose forward, a centre, another half back for better cover.



I'm not sure what the implication is here to be honest. Demetriou brought more on the field than March does, both personally and in the other players he attracted and he brought the club forward in terms of bringing Super League practices to the championship. But if Demetriou thought March was the man to carry on what he started then he clearly was wrong as much of what Demetriou brought to the team has gone... namely a pretty stingey defence has been turned into a completely porous one.

Good post and I agree with most of it. I can't believe some have resorted to setting up a poll or blaming one player for our poor form. DJ is not in the best form of his life I think that is obvious and without knowing the ins and outs it's probably not fair to speculate about what's causing that.

I've said it from pre-season but we have a weaker side than last season and I felt we were always going to struggle to exceed the achievements of the previous season.

You mention it well, the main problem is our defence which has been poor to say the least. I can only presume this has been given a lower priority by March than JD.

To try and balance the critique of March, he is if nothing else a very approachable and nice guy. He is part-time and JD was full time. With than in mind, March will probably rely on others to compile the analysis. I'm guessing to a certain extent, but I bet JD did a lot himself. To quote styles you'd probably call Marchy an activist/pragmatist with JD being the opposite (reflector/theorist). In modern rugby I think the successful coaches tend to have the latter traits.

Woo woo woo he's magic you know youll never get past Danny Jones

I personally thought our main problem at the start of the season was injuries. It's seems to me that that's why the club had to resort to D/R.



Following the work by Kolb then Honey and Mumford it is recognised that people also fall across learning styles and don't align into neatly labelled groups. However, personally, I think JD was also activist/pragmatist. His tactics on the pitch seemed very simple and quite often it was his introduction to the field, playing character and force of personality that got us some tight wins.

You've made some very interesting points, it's refreshing to see someone back up their thoughts with detailed reasoning.

Personally I don't think March is as naive as you've suggested, but I do agree that we have been limited in tactics at times by player suitabilty/ability. There were plenty of matches where JD persisted with ploughing on with forward led one man rugby even though it was obvious it wasn't working. We should remember that our "loosing streak" started at the back end of last year under JD. I liked JD, by the way, it would have been interesting to see how he handled the D/R situation.

With regard to sloppiness of passes, I think we are trying to speed up ball movement across our attacking line and are sometimes passing before we have hold of the ball. I don't know how much we practice this but I would have thought it should be an area we concentrate on. If you watch top players they receive and pass the ball in one fluid movement. Fast ball opens gaps in sliding defences and gets around the end.

In the fist half against Batley, our fast attacking line speed scored us tries. John Kear obviously spotted this and briefed the team at half time. In the second half Batley sent fast runners to leap out from their defensive line and attack our playmakers. They were successful a number of times and broke up our attack/caused a sloppy pass.

If March were on the sidelines he might see much more than he does and be able to change our tactics to compensate for other teams plays. I don't know what his contract is but I suspect he gets paid both as a player and a coach and It being part time maybe he need both incomes.

We've reached (gone beyond) crunch time and something needs to be done to improve the team.