Joined: Aug 01 2005 Posts: 5918 Location: Definately not in the Cuddle Crew
knockersbumpMKII wrote:You are saying Westerman is playing at international level right now?? he's isn't doing too bad but for an international level player he's a bit short to be described as such right now and isn't at the level he reached last year..
Westerman will come good again. You see it all a time where players have dips in form after international games and he had a later start in pre season due to the OZ trip
Joined: Apr 17 2012 Posts: 5202 Location: Forever in debt to your priceless advice.
Us as fans need to up our game tbf
Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand Workin' in the dark against your fellow man But as sure as God made black and white What's down in the dark will be brought to the light
Joined: Apr 27 2007 Posts: 8157 Location: Back in Hull
Not a fan of Radford but to be judging after 3 games is ridiculous. Firstly the season had hardly started when there was a weeks break for the WCC, some teams perform better after a break and some struggle. Give the team at least 10 games before drawing conclusions.
Joined: Feb 20 2007 Posts: 10540 Location: Hunting Gopher
*1865* wrote:Mmm, Wigan went from defending like there lives depended on it to shipping 22 at Rovers, after being well in front too.
Not quite the same though, is it? Firstly, Wigan went from conceding 2 to 4 tries, and an overall sequence of 4, 3, 2, 4 is fairly consistent anyway. Now I don't expect us to continue conceding only 1 every other game, but nor would I expect it to jump to 6 the week after, either. That's a much more marked decline and slightly worrying. Secondly, there's a bit of a difference in raising your game for what is essentially a cup final, and varying week to week depending upon the 'status' of the opposition.
Having said that, it's still early to be too despondent about it being another season of the same. I can understand why people might feel that way given recent history (I have an element of it myself), but for now there's still the chance (and hope!) that it was just an off day, and that they'll be reduced in regularity this year.
Joined: Feb 20 2007 Posts: 10540 Location: Hunting Gopher
knockersbumpMKII wrote:the game day 'attitude' has to come from the coach first and foremost, it's what he does to instil it certainly in the younger players or those that are fragile when under the cosh that matters most (that's pretty much 3/4 of the squad tbh). We do have a decent squad, we do have the ability to play decent rugby & certainly make the top 8 IF we play to our potential..BUT a match is nothing like training, the attitude and demand mentally is completely different and it's clear that a large portion of the players just aren't able to bring what's needed to the table as regularly as is required. Radford isn't experienced enough in this area so I'm not anticipating any great change over the season in that dept.
I'd agree Yeaman needs a rocket up his booty but with the possibility of losing Michaels and Sa potentially going to be injured for more games than not he has to make the decision quickly as to what to do or it could be too late. If Michaels is available to play I say he has to play, if Shaul is back to FB then maybe try to shoehorn Rankin into the other centre slot..OR he plays one of the youngsters & just gives them a run of games to prove themselves..in many respects Radford has nothing to lose because Yeaman just isn't good enough and we could end up losing more games with him than playing a.n.other whom has a bit more zest/pace/intelligence. However I'm just not seeing Radford dropping Yeaman at this moment in time, for him it's too big a gamble, but it's the gamble I think he has to take for his own sake.
As for props, well I said we were light numbers wise before the season started even with Green upping his game, is Green really not performing that well or is there something else in it? He has the size and athleticism so that must leave it to something else?
I know fans are saying it's only 3 games in but without a shadow of doubt after that performance there is little confidence amongst the fans and I would guess the players are feeling pretty downbeat too. Sport is like that and fans that are upbeat all the time need to appreciate that fans feed off the performances of the team and tbh that performance was woeful
That's still wrong. You can argue that some of our props aren't good enough, but I don't really think you can make the remotest case that we don't have enough when we've had 5 players spell there so far and still have another 2 not getting a game.
Joined: Feb 20 2007 Posts: 10540 Location: Hunting Gopher
gary-hfc wrote:When Watts signed he looked a good signing offloading the ball in the tackle regular, that skill seems to have disappeared. His defence at times is very patchy. Westerman, I don't understand the hype on him, where has his handling skills gone, should be stepping up these two.
It's hard to use your offloading game when typically there's no teammate within 10 yards when you're carrying the ball, though. We need to offer him options before pointing the finger there, IMO.
carl_spackler wrote:It's hard to use your offloading game when typically there's no teammate within 10 yards when you're carrying the ball, though. We need to offer him options before pointing the finger there, IMO.
Fair point, backing up does seem a mystery to our club, yet it should be basics.
I think we have the most forgiving fans in superleague,after finishing a magnificent 11th last season,we start off with a highly promising win at the giants and a narrow loss v warrington,we then go to a team who had shipped 50+ pts at home and are missing 5 1st choice players and get beat.I know we missed ellis badly and had some good performances in our side,but as with last season radford says changes will be made,well yeaman should have had the axe last season but kept his place and tom lineham is a shadow of the player before his injury.If our fans who went on saturday thought they were watching a team playing with passion and pride in the shirt then we agree to disagree.As I saw it it could be a match from last season,mini thompson and pryce (who I thought was a poor signing) played well and looks like proving me wrong,rankin good on attack,poor on defence,but players like westerman among others look as though they are just going through the motions.We all know westy is class but for me just isnt giving 100%.I wish I had the optimism some of my fellow supporters and will be happy to be wrong,but for me we have got good players and a poor coach,and will not improve till we get a quality coach.
Sebasteeno wrote:Westerman will come good again. You see it all a time where players have dips in form after international games and he had a later start in pre season due to the OZ trip
I don't doubt it, but '1865' is describing Westerman as 'our only international' as if he is at international level & that he doesn't need to up his game which I think we are in agreement he isn't quite at the level he/us would like him to be.
I just think it is especially hard for fans to fathom how we can be so tight for 2 weeks and then seemingly go to pot against what on paper (Chase aside) wasn't/won't be the strongest side we'll face this year, certainly one that got battered by Saints only 2 weeks before. From that we start to look at whom is doing X or Y, who isn't seemingly pulling their weight (Green has being singled out & Bowden to an extent) and asking questions and indeed have doubts, that's only natural.
Lose tomorrow and it puts more pressure on everyone, players, coaches AND the supporters, not only in believing that the coach/players can do the job but the worry of what will happen IF they can't. Win and it totally changes the mood, that's how it is, I can understand that some fans want to be upbeat no matter what is served up, but for a fair portion how the team do at the weekend reflects very heavily on how we feel & analyse what is happening with the club/players coach hence threads like this.
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