Handley, Fus, both prior international wingers out. Newman out. Momirovski injured second half. Holroyd out.

It's not just the players we're missing, it's the disruption it causes when we have to shift other players around. Roberts is not a winger. Martin is not really a centre.

I'm not saying we shouldn't be playing better despite that because we should. But there is a link between injuries and performance and results. And injuries are not the fault of the coach.

For me there are a few things happening at the same time. Injuries have definitely affected us again this year, in pre-season and in-season.

I think our ruck is rubbish on the whole; that is a coaching issue mostly, also a player-driven issue because if the technique isn't there in your mid-20s, are you ever going to get it?

The other thing for me is that I still think we are 2-3 star players off a good side. We still lack quality. To some extent, I think we have plugged a couple of holes we had, especially with Croft. However we have also got kindof what we expected: a Reserve grade 7 and a maverick 1 who makes mistakes.

Seen flashes of quality from Momirovski but he's had injuries too (consistent with his history in NRL...). Ackers I've actually been a little disappointed with so far, he is obviously a high quality player but I don't think he's found his feet yet, probably because we lose the ruck or fail to get into good ball so much of the time.

When you've got your entire first choice spine available and 3 of your first 4 props available there really is no excuse for the level of shte served up yesterday even factoring in the 3/4s missing. Hull were missing more significant players , are crap and we still limped our way to 2 points. Smith has to go.

Anybody would think other teams do not suffer injuries the way some people talk on here and I get sick to death with that excuse. Look at Salford with other teams cast offs, what's the difference, they have a decent coach.
The best coaches get the results with what goes on the pitch that day, regardless of the team.
Smith does not get the best regardless whether a first choice team never mind one with injuries.

Of course the coach has lots to do with getting any group of players to perform to their potential, but lots of you on here struggle to hold two things true at the same time and you’re way too binary in your thinking. Of course injuries affect performances, it’s a nonsense to think otherwise.

He is obviously capable of getting players to perform. When he arrived he took a group of underperformng players and got them to overperform to a grand final. Yes the circumstances were very different but he still managed to achieve it.

For some reason things are not clicking yet but they may not be as far away as some seem to think. As difficult as it may be, a little more patience is still needed.

I'm not enjoying see us in this position, not enjoying watching away games on tv or even going to Headingly. We seem to have forgotten that this is Rugby and not football, it takes longer for a team to come together in our game and the football ethos of blaming the coach, sacking and getting a new one does not work particullarly well.
It's not how you start a season, its how you finish. you can win the GF from as low as 6th, that would be a new record for everyone to talk about!

Jim.
You missed the point completely.
Other teams manage to perform with injuries, but on here the first of many excuses is injuries.
Of course injuries affect performances and results.
But the good coaches cope with inferior players and injuries to still get the results.Thats the difference.

Injuries will always impact performance, but those clubs who coach a structure across all teams will find that when a player has to step up into the first team they at least understand the structure they are being asked to play within. One of the reasons we are impacted more than other teams is that we lack this structure and therefore the players coming in are asked to recreate the "hail mary" plays that we seem to use as our version of structure. It's a lot harder for those players to bring impact in that scenario.

The only real gaps in the team vs Hull were in the threequarters, but two of those that played have appeared in all but one game this season, a third has played a lot in the centres, and our debutant was probably the MoM. Utter nonsense to blame that performance on injuries. Over the course of the season we'll have far weaker sides out than that.

injuries
weather
richest
refs
supporters
hetherington


anyone but smith

The abuse directed at Smith is unacceptable, sadly it’s part of modern day society and not just confined to a relatively small section of rugby fans.
He is obviously aware of the disquiet and commented on this in one of todays broadsheet newspapers. Nevertheless the shambles is entirely of his making. It was obvious last season he was out if his depth, confirmed also this season ,also compounded with some poor signings . Unfortunately when he departs he will be leaving us with a deeply flawed team. Hethrington took a huge gamble with Smiths appointment, which has spectacularly failed. When Smith departs the whole of his useless back room staff and so called coaches need to go with him. Not certain what they do in training, darts and domino’s maybe? . Certainly haven’t seen any evidence of any kind of structure or systems in place.