: Mon Jun 29, 2009 10:00 am  

The issue of Fatigue is a bit of a cop out IMO.
The backs should never suffer from fatigue, simple.
The forwards that do the hard yards (apart form yesterday) will obviously tire during a game, therefore the bench is usually 3 forwards and a utility player (Roberts, Barker etc).
The props get spelled so play approx 40 minutes. If an athlete cannot recover from 40 minutes hard graft in 7 days the need to seriously think about whether they want to play rugby.

Its becomes a no win situation. Big squad means more expense, also if we are constantly winning there is no reason to change the starting line-up. And with no reserve grade that leads to under-cooked, unhappy players.
Small squad means no room to rotate or cover for injuries.

Yesterday we looked lazy and had zero aggression in the first half.
Is that fatigue or attitude? Or possibly a bad decision to have a very light bench and pack!!

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 10:12 am  

faxtastic wrote:

maybe not but we were and we came back further than i think any other team in the league would have.

I don't agree.

Widnes were 26 points down against Gateshead, but won 46 - 30

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 10:13 am  

I agree with fax4life, we are short of a stand off and have been all year, we have a none existent kicking game and poor organisation. We are trying to make a hooker into a stand off and its just not working. Are we the only team in the league who doesnt have a halfback partnership?

We also far too often play players out of their natural postion, like roberts, he is never a centre and never will be, he never brings his winger into play as he is usually pinballing around.

I think the biggest problem is attitude, i did wince with regard to some of callands comments which has probarbly fueled up the opposition, however we are top of the league and therefore we are now a big scalp for other teams and the players have to cope with that responsbility.