Absolutely shocking - Roll on 2013 : Sat May 12, 2012 3:36 pm
The worst derby ever today? A true mistakeathon if there ever was one, no intensity, no spirit from either side. Wigan will be all pleased with themselves, but they've been terrible too. I'd be surprised if that wasn't their worst performance of the season, which says it all about us. That has to be one of the worst games I've ever seen. We were simply awful and Wigan must have made upwards of 20 basic, unforced errors. Gelling has an absolute mare on the wing. As for us, it just further highlights how far we've dropped under the previous two coaches. We're now a mid table side, capable of the odd decent performance if all the ducks are aligned, but in general will not compete to any serious degreee. We're not in a false position in the league and poor Mr Brown has some serious work to do. It's like being given Susan Boyle's body and being asked for Rihanna. Where do you start?
As for today:
1 Wellens 1/10 - Do yourself and everyone else a favour and retire. Completely ruining his legacy now and a complete liability for the side. Millward picked up on it, he's a black hole for attacking moves and offers nothing in defense. Finch was laughing at his attempt and he's never in the right position when kicks are made or players waltz over untouched. He's robbed Makinson or Lomax of two years of valuable development time at fullback
2 Meli 7/10 - Looked dangerous and had a couple of good runs but had no ball.
3 Shenton 5/10 - Tried hard as always, but still no chance to run with it
4 Wheeler 3/10 - I'm not wrong on him, he's not worth a contract even when he is fit
5 Makinson 7/10 - A few brilliant runs negated by a few naive defensive mistakes
6 Hohaia 1/10 - Should be released. He was a major, major mistake which will hamper the club for as long as he stays for
7 Lomax 5/10 - Never gave up but cost us in the first half, dashing out of the line stupidly. Needs to be moved to 1 or be put along a proper organising hallback
8 Perry 3/10 - Offers nothing, another overseas player we need to look for a mutually agreeable exit ASAP
9 Roby 4/10 - Very quiet, given no platform, but was shocking when we were on their line
10 Laffranchi 4/10 - A backrower pretending to be a prop. Doesn't work hard enough and has no impact
11 Soliola 5/10 - Never got going, but at least tried to stand up to their pack
12 Wilkin 4/10 - Anonymous, but coming back he's always going to be
13 Flannery 5/10 - Anonymous, back to how he's been for 99% of his deal with Saints
14 Maggenis 6/10 - Half decent, dozing for the Finch break
15 LMS 5/10 - Not given enough time, had no impact
16 Clough 4/10 - Looked terrible this season, a forward who offers no aggression and little go forward
17 Flanagan 7/10 - Smashed Lauaki and tackled well.
This season is a mess and it's over for us already. We should use what remains of this year to look forward. If one of the players at the club now is Brown's pick for fullback, they should play there for the rest of the season. If Gaskell is in the plans, he should come back in.