Re: Widnes Game thread : Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:06 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

No.

SL isn't what is used to be. The top teams have declined enormously, the bottom also declined, but the middle has stayed where it is. The likes of Cas, Widnes, Hull, Hull KR, Wakefield, Catalans, Huddersfield are now all places we're going to have to play well to win at, even at full strength. Any messing about and we'll lose, as happened today.

That was one of the worst Widnes teams I've seen tho. Never heard of half of them.

Re: Widnes Game thread : Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:12 pm  

St pete wrote:

You not think that team was good enough to beat a poor Widnes team? I didn't fancy us until I saw their team.

Hohaia, makinson, wheeler, jones, wello, Wilkin, Mose, Sia, Lms will all be disappointed if not in our 19 each week and the likes of greenwood, walker and Thompson all played super league.

We had chances and blew them.

Widnes were a settled side with players in the right positions, our players were all over the shop when we had a couple of injuries, you know we are going to struggle when you find LMS playing centre.
Lance seemed to be playing 2 positions for a short period full back and hooker. Moving Wheeler out to the wing killed off any creativity in the middle of the park.
Still struggling to complete our sets, that needs to be fixed quickly otherwise we will struggle to compete next week.

Re: Widnes Game thread : Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:17 pm  

Soliola was again destroyed playing on the right at second row.

I said against Wigan that he was the player that was giving Wigan all that space to attack Walsh and Turner, and again today he was directly at fault for Widnes first two tries.

He was saved further embarrassment due to the dawson injury meaning he was moved to centre with Wheeler on the wing.

Wheeler went down injured near the end after making a half break. The physio seemed to be rubbing his calf.

Tommy Mak scored one of his super mak trys and got injured in the process. Spent the rest of match limping.

With regard to the youngsters.

Thompson I think played the whole 80 and ran it in and tackled all day.
Greenwood also did a long shift and at time threatened, but isn't quite there yet.
Liked the look of Tilley with ball in hand. He is somewhat lightweight but has is a good passer and has the makings of a traditional ball playing loose forward. Certainly thought our ball movement was better when he was on the pitch.
Savelio was a beast. For me he needs to be in the 17 against Leeds, as he makes things happen. I think he made 3 clean breaks due to smashing straight through the defensive line. Even when tackled he was making big yards with people hanging off him. His only weakness is lack of stamina at present which means he cant do long minutes, however when on the pitch he is a wrecking ball

Re: Widnes Game thread : Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:23 pm  

St pete wrote:

I predicted 3 losses in a row and I'm still going with that. Our defence is utter shocking!

Alright in isolation but that's very harsh IMO. I don't know what the commentators on the radio or whoever you were listening to were saying but we had our best back-rower playing the majority of the game at centre (although he has been out of form recently), Gary Wheeler on the wing, Matty Fozzard making his debut around the ruck, Wilkin at 7 and in patches, a set of forward almost full of under 19's. Our pack at one point included Walker, Fozzard, Savelio Greenwood, and Thompson.

Our edge defence needs working on to an extent but I wouldn't take too much out of that today. Next week we'll have players playing with 9 days recovery/training under their belts and we'll see how we go. I'm lead to believe that Leeds put a strong 17 out today so we'll see. Don't read too much out of that today.

Andre Savelio was brilliant today though. Always thought he would be a high level second-row but he could easily be a prop/13.

Re: Widnes Game thread : Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:26 pm  

Similar theme in last few weeks regardless of personnel. Marker defence is woeful, teams constantly jump out of dummy half & make easy yards. Our line speed in defence is non existent ATM & we are obsessed with blindside plays or playing around the ruck. When we get the ball wide we looked decent today.

Re: Widnes Game thread : Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:41 pm  

We are playing it too tight around the ruck area, Leeds and Wigan use a very similar umbrella defence involving 2 players either side of the ruck area moving up quickly from a border line off side postion. its easy meat for them with teams with a flat attack.
Roby is now struggling to get the ball away especially when its a slow play the ball, its also effecting our impact props who receive the flat footed and instead ending up doing hard yards. We need to get the ball out wider and play the game on our terms.

Re: Widnes Game thread : Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:43 pm  

St pete wrote:

Mose doesn't do the hard yards. I worked that one out during the World Cup. Mose run well today tho.

I've read a few posts from people saying he carried the team today, maybe I'm being too harsh. I just think at the moment he's a bit of a luxury that we're carrying. We need 17 players working hard.

It was a disappointing result. That try were Wilkin was clearly obstructed seemed to finally kill us off. We showed some good character coming back in 1st half.

Re: Widnes Game thread : Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:57 pm  

Twentyman wrote:

I've read a few posts from people saying he carried the team today, maybe I'm being too harsh. I just think at the moment he's a bit of a luxury that we're carrying. We need 17 players working hard.

It was a disappointing result. That try were Wilkin was clearly obstructed seemed to finally kill us off. We showed some good character coming back in 1st half.

I think people look at the way Mose walks back at the beginning of the set and assume that he's lazy. But then he puts in a huge carry every set and puts a stint in defensively as well. He also did plenty of minutes today - around 50, I reckon. Without him today the score would have been much worse.

Re: Widnes Game thread : Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:58 pm  

Tez the Saint wrote:

Alright in isolation but that's very harsh IMO. I don't know what the commentators on the radio or whoever you were listening to were saying but we had our best back-rower playing the majority of the game at centre (although he has been out of form recently), Gary Wheeler on the wing, Matty Fozzard making his debut around the ruck, Wilkin at 7 and in patches, a set of forward almost full of under 19's. Our pack at one point included Walker, Fozzard, Savelio Greenwood, and Thompson.

Our edge defence needs working on to an extent but I wouldn't take too much out of that today. Next week we'll have players playing with 9 days recovery/training under their belts and we'll see how we go. I'm lead to believe that Leeds put a strong 17 out today so we'll see. Don't read too much out of that today.

Andre Savelio was brilliant today though. Always thought he would be a high level second-row but he could easily be a prop/13.

I was at the game. I seen the 40 points we conceaded with my own eyes.

Re: Widnes Game thread : Mon Apr 21, 2014 6:02 pm  

St pete wrote:

I was at the game. I seen the 40 points we conceaded with my own eyes.

Why on earth were you posting on here then? Could have got behind them rather than looking on forums.

Still, each to their own.