Just seen a clip of the Pele incident. He threw another punch at Lewis in the melee too. Don't think we'll see him for 6 weeks at least

Similar to Dylan Napa in his debut for Catalan a couple of seasons ago

I think he is a good full back and we are thinking longer term as he's only 24. Hoy has a lot to prove, but he looked ok off the bench last night (though it wasn't hard to look better than some of the starters)

The other damning factor for me last night was the effect that abject performance will have on the fanbase.

A crowd of 20,000, plenty of pay on the day spectators. A fantastic opportunity to attract and regain fans

How many of them are going to come back after that?

Even a pass holder of many years said last night that they were thinking of giving their pass up.

I also found it disrespectful that Tony Smith couldn't even be bothered to do a post match interview on RH last night in order to explain that performance to the fans and apologise.

The good will towards TS will also wear thin if this continues.

He is a good fullback, but just feels like when we resigned Fonua, we signed him because he's available, not because we needed him.

I agree. I think this is the worst squad we've put together in over 20 years. The really worrying thing is our better players have terrible injury records. Thankfully there's no relegation but unless some of these kids turn out to be stars this could be the norm for us unless we get serious investment.

Pants pulled down again on the big occasion , Hard to see any thing learned from Last season or since they all returned in November .

Total mess .

It was a red for me, 15 years ago it probably wouldn't have even been a penalty but thanks to the likes of Fozzard and his mates the rfl are terrified of any potential law suits so any contact even near the head will be a penalty (which is a big reason fans are leaving the sport in droves, its sanitised crap compared to how it was). They'll 100% make an example of Pele and maybe even Sao so not expecting to see them for a few weeks.

Agree with Steve a few posts back, we lack a leader, you could see we where fired up (too much) by trying to hit them hard, resulting in a few penalties, needed someone to calm the forwards down.



Real lack of composure.

Not a fan of 'Uncle Tony' - wasn't overjoyed by his appointment at the time really. Brought in a new tackle technique last year which doesn't work. Hasn't sorted the discipline out. No real style of play. Pretty poor.



Carlos needs to be hanging his boots up. He will be a big earner, quota place, needs to go ASAP and get a half back in. Your quota players are very important and you need to get value out of them - Hoy was on the bench with seemingly no position for him, and Carlos is a sick note, who won't take a jab to get him on the pitch (heard that any niggle he has, he refuses to play)

Ooops not that one. Meant the second red!

As many have said , You just cant see were the points are going to come from . Last night we had players running in to the back of others , Then players stood in the line blocking the pass out wide . The completion rate must have been below 50% . I know we are in a rebuilding phase , But AP must be livid with the result last night as are we .

We have an awful record when we lure 'new' fans in, this stretches back to that time we could have won the League Leaders Sheild at home in front of possibly the most home fans ever at the MKM and we flopped completely. The amount of times I see new faces heading home looking perplexed that people pay hundreds of pounds a year for a pass is criminal.



Next new issue will be its £34 a seat in the East while it seems a stream will be £6.99 if bought in advance...I can see some being tempted to stay on the sofa.

Problem is why would Carlos agree to give up a significant amount of salary? And if he is 'pulling a sickie' thats hard to prove.



Id love to know how serious was the interest from other clubs to prompt such a long contract, he was a good player at the time but no player should be getting longer than 3 years.

I agree the second one was a joke, but he'll probably get a bigger punishment for having his face raked/gouged and brushing Parcell with a knee than Parcell will for instigating the whole thing.

What really stood out last night is that after struggling for so many years in the halves then finally getting Sneyd & Kelly and then Trueman & Clifford, going back to the square pegs in round holes just doesn't & won't work. We had two hookers and then a hooker and a FB and it showed, as we saw with Clifford last season there is simply no substitute for an out & out 7 especially when we have no other form of leadership or direction out there. I know we had some adversity with players missing but the reality is we had 3 FB's and 3 Hookers on the field all at the same time.



Even knowing from the off that there was a high probability that Clifford could well go back to the NRL after one season it would appear despite what has been said the club/Coach simply hasn't made any real priority or contingency to deal with such a loss adequately.

The kicking game last night as well was appalling. Rovers didn't really march us downfield, but they were starting sets on their 20/30, and then being helped with massive indiscipline. I thought Smith was starting in the halves to provide a kicking game, turn Rovers around, but it didn't happen. Instead, we had him kicking out of acting half which no player expected hence a shocking chase, we had Ashworth kicking (although that was a very late hand in the air by Liam Moore), and kicking out on the full.



We all bemoaned Clifford at times, but his kick offs and bombs were used as an attacking option, last night was back to standard kick offs and woeful last tackle options

That was pathetic from start to finish last night and has been for the majority of Smith's time in charge. What on earth have they been doing pre-season?!!



It's folly to read too much into the first match but you expect some improvements from the previous season and signs of a game structure. We had neither last night.



We were lucky Rovers weren't up to speed otherwise it would have been even messier.



If I'm Pearson I tell Tony he has got 5 games to sort it.

And you know where the 5th game is...Craven Park!

Pele banned until the Good Friday derby do we think?

Sao should get sending off sufficient as that was a joke. Parcell should get plenty as that was a neck-breaker/gouging!!

Think we’ll see big bans given it’s the start of new season and they’re trying to stamp out any and all head contact. Will be interesting how much we see from the fight after the Pele hit as there were several punches thrown on both sides it seems.

Probably a knee jerk reaction, but I'm wondering if the only coach that can truly sort us out is Shaun Wane. Hodgson & Smith seem to have had their ideas on cultures that they wanted to bring in to the club, but I feel we're in too much of a mess / the players don't have the intelligence/willing to buy into them. Someone like Wane with an absolute no nonsense approach who the players would run through brick walls for is what we need. (Obviously aware this won't happen due to cost and do hope Smith does get things right eventually)

Wane won't leave England/Wigan, he can't lose there. FC too much of a challenge.

I agree with all of this apart from replacing Smith. He's a proven first team coach who has improved every team he's been in charge of. We've been crying out for someone like him for years.



It's his team now and he needs to be given time to sort out the mess we've had to endure for years. Even in the unlikely event he is sacked I cannot think of anyone else to replace him so early in the season.



The biggest problem for me is the quality of the squad. Without doubt it's the weakest we have for years. Just about all of the new signings are cast offs. Yes, you can say Smith is partly responsible for recruitment but his hands are tied behind his back due to financial constraints.



All I'm asking for is a steady improvement but if Smith cannot achieve that then yes he has to go but only at the end of the season. God knows who will replace him.