I just wondered what other posters would change, to re-invigorate the side, as we look to be struggling to make the 4 now.
1. Introduce Litten to the bench for every game until the end of the year. Last night was calling for an injection of pace, and as much as I love Houghton, there has to be a point he is spelled, as 1000 tackles a year seems to be affecting his effectiveness out of dummy half now.
2. At the end of next year, Mini, Manu and Talanoa all need to leave for me. A lot of cap space (albeit probably a bit less with these recent contracts) and they either miss a lot of games, or their effectiveness is being minimised (in Minichiello's case) as he is doing too many minutes.
3. Attack Coach. We need one. Badly. People can point to us being 3rd top scorers etc. but when it comes down to honours, it is those sides that can break the tightest defence down that will succeed. Last night, our attack in their 20 was woeful, and it seems like we almost want to wait till the last tackle to try a kick. Our speed of passing is slow, we don't run on to the ball, there are no option runners. When the halves run with the ball to the line, there are no option runners back on the inside to put the defensive line out of shape and it is so easy to defend against.
4. Bienek. I would get him on the bench. He has to provide more impact than Fash and Downs and get him used to SL rugby this year, so that he can hit the ground running next year.
5. Playing style. We still seem to think that we can plough downfield with our pack and bully sides, but we can't. I cannot remember the last time that Shaul ran on the shoulder of our forwards for an offload (Wigan away, the Watts offload a couple of years ago). I would put Griffin in the 2nd Row when he is back, but we need to get early ball out to the edges. Carlos, Connor and Griffin all look so much better with a bit more space to work in. |
