Yes we'd write this season off, next season too as the new coach would be using Smith's squad, then 2026 would be a rebuild with new coach's signings - unless we sack that one too of course.



We cannot keep changing the coach every year or two.

We need to try and find an halfback at least on loan,if we don’t ,then we are gonna have a season to forget again

Smith needs to be given the time to mold his team which we all know isn't going to happen over night .

Theres also the financial side that is restricting us making any quality additions .

Other clubs werent in the situation of having to pay expensive rent on a stadium despite not being able to play and then later play with crowd restrictions. Wigan and Hudds rent a stadium but have rich owners.



The only other club that was in a similar situation was Salford and look at their finances.

I appreciate this but he's now two off seasons in, and not sure if I've seen much improvement compared to the Hodgson era

In Smith's defence, he hasn't been given the resources, no marquee signings, no mid season signings. Alot less cap than Hodgson, plus he inherited the mess both Radford and Hodgson did.



Saying all that, I'd expect by the end of yhe season to see some improvements.



I'd honestly be happy at the moment if he could sort out our awful discipline.

He talked about it last season, he spoke about it in preseason but yet our discipline has not improved.

It's schoolboy stuff why can't he sort it?

Getting pinged for not square at marker, laying on, offsides.

All basics that haven't been corrected or eradicated.

When you change a manager you do it to look for improvement and to change things that aren't working.



We have seen none of that and things have steadily got worse. We are no further on than when Radford left, anyone can see that.

Good coaches get the best out of their players.. ie Brian Smith, with a bog standard team.. just my opinion.. last night was just unaccepable.

No offence but that must be up there with our weakest ever SL line ups.

100%.. Nowhere near cap. 500k under is the figure i've heard.

Agree, I don't mind them giving the odd offside penalty away if the line speed and intensity is there but it wasn't it was through being gassed because we gave away so much ball and so many repeat sets they couldn't frontload any energy for strong defence.

I know we are running with no halfbacks but to have a backline of McIntosh,Scott,litten and Martin must surely make us the laughing stock of S/L

Tuimavave and Sutcliffe on paper sounds a bit better but in reality they are no worldbeaters

I also have to say im not convinced with Smith.he is too laid back.We need passion that drives the players and he seems unable to stop the on field indiscipline.

Smith was in his past years a top coach but are we seeing any improvement on the field since he arrived and you have to say no.

Think the game has passed him by

He took a club to the top six and eighty minutes from a Grand Final three seasons ago.

Well that might go halfway towards our last year loss

doesnt matter as the buck stops at Smith

same as Tuimavave

shades of Lovodua

Second game of the season as well. Wait until we have a real injury crises later in the season.

So good you named it twice

Certainly not the start we wanted. Wasn't really in the game last night. Our forwards did ok but am afraid our backs where way off. I still think we have the man in charge to turn it round. Total madness to even think of him going.

Certainly doesn’t look like we are anywhere near the cap limit and if we actually are then there’s something massively wrong in our recruitment and over paying massively.

Based on last night I'd say we have three really pressing issues that we need to resolve. Number one, and it obvious, but our discipline is very poor. I actually think the pack can go OK for us, individually they all showed flashes of decent stuff, but they have to sort out the discipline and channel their aggression the right way.



Number two, our back three are just not big and strong enough. Lewis Martin did ok, but the other two were dominated in every single collision. If we can find a way to get Okunbor on the wing I would definitely be doing that. It wouldn't solve all our problems there but at least it's a big body to cart the ball up for us.



Number three, and the most worrying is that we don't seem to have half backs, and that's only compounded by Walker who isn't a creative FB. Hoy has to start at 1 for me, get Brown at hooker, and I would seriously be thinking about putting Jack Charles in there with Smith until Trueman comes back. I know its a lot to ask of the kid but at least he has the right skill set and isn't a square peg in a round hole.



I'm not abandoning all hope yet, it's only one game, but last night did highlight some glaring issues and we need to do something about them.

The lack of not just quality in the halves but the actual lack halves is a huge problem for us and it was glaringly obvious last night.

Doesn’t matter in a sense how good the forwards are when we have nothing in terms of creating or using the platform created.

We never looked anywhere close to scoring



Whilst we look weak in the backs I think there’s enough there to work on that can improve us there but again with the halves we have very little in terms of the ability to link it all together.

The only plus point for me last night was the team didn't give up. However when you have no cohesion in attack your defence can only stand up to so much. We seem to have taken that step back of playing hookers and fullbacks as halfbacks yet again. I thought with Smith we would not go down the route of trying to place square pegs in round holes and that the youth would be brought into fill injuries etc. Maybe that will happen as the season progresses because we clearly cannot continue to playing players out of position when they are putting in sub par performances.

My big worry is that with every game being televised this season we will soon lose any walk ups who will not be tempted to come and watch abject performances over and over again when they can watch it in the comfort of their homes or in the pub.

Before the season started I was hoping for mid table mediocrity but on that first performance I think we are looking at a dogfight at the bottom with London.