So onwards and upwards, we can go over the murder till we are blue in the face, but the next 3 weeks are crucial IMO, if we take another pasting at HKR we will get beaten by Leigh simple as that, we will be on the slide and Leigh will smell blood and clean us up.
Need a full 80min performance HKR are now safe so we might sneak a win especially as their final game is aginst Sheffeild which woould see them safely home.
Have to play our strongest i feel and have to catch them napping and match their intensity especailly as they are missing the HB paring (not a lot i know as they seem to be playing very well without them).
Clare Caro Neilsen Purtell Williams Gaskell Mullaney Clough O'Brien Sidlow Ferguson Pitts Addy
Olbison Lauaki Crossley Blythe
Addy put some good hits in on sunday and even though his playmacking needs work he might add abit extra for us, need speed in the centre so Mullany and Gas should give us that and out wingers didnt do to bad last week either so keep them, Clare need to have some desire especailly when chaing bouncing balls a couple he didnt go for resulting in tries last week need sorting.
Pretty much what i would go with. Strange one this, feeling dejected after the Widnes debacle, but a win on Saturday and we look like favourites for third spot. Hoping we catch them unmotivated and in holiday mode. Massive plus for us that they have no Kelly or Campese, but Craven park is a tough tough place to get a win. I expect us to be competitive for 60 minutes but fall away in the end, much like the game at our place
Looking forward to seeing the Bulls hope you bring a few. You never know we are 4 from 4 but not played well in any. I would like to see you back and this could be your best chance as Leigh may be stronger next year albeit in the championship.
Long as we can keep it close we will be ok i think would take a very close loss as we can show we are compettitive, but like last sunday forget about it, need to keep on top of them, saw much of the wakey game against Widnes (allowing them to much time, lack of kick pressure, slow defence) and it cost us in the end the 15mns after half time killed our drive i thought we would have go something especially after scoring at the half time hooter.
Leigh should have beaten them and FAX played very well against them also so they are beatable (with more compsure and less moaning Leigh would have won), need to have our best performance of the season if we can then i have hope....if little else be a long slog from mancehster but going to be there, dont go to see the score i go to watch them play as someone else has said on here and id kick myself if we won and i missed it.
I'm baffled how you can make a case for being competitive against KR. they are head and shoulders the best team in the qualifiers, and should rip us to bits. Whether they have a complacent day or an off day will reflect only on the scoreline. Even if Gaskell is fit I wouldn't play him, I would send the same team and tell them that never again do I want to see that defensive disarray and giving up, whatever else is happening on the field. If we can keep it to a respectable scoreline that may be significant. If we get a 50+ points margin put past us then after Widnes we are effectively another point down.
What we need to do is beat Leigh and Halifax. Leigh may be away, but we have shown that at our best we are more than a match for them, and if we have delusions of SL grandeur then we simply have to be the best team in our division, no excuses, no sob stories, if we don't beat Leigh then it is hard to argue that we deserve to go up. And if we don't beat Leigh it is hard to imagine how we could win a playoff against any of the SL sides anyway.
As for next year, if we fail in our promotion bid, then provided we can solve the halfbacks problem and provided we can keep the backbone of our squad together, we would be a far better team in our second season. Those are big "ifs", but Leigh have managed to do it, and so there must be a way. We have over-achieved in many ways, but our blowing hot and cold and lack of cohesion at times is just what you expect from a team and a squad that hasn't had years to gel and be honed into something like a unit. That won't have happened by Year 2 either, but we would be much further down that road.
I'm baffled how you can make a case for being competitive against KR. they are head and shoulders the best team in the qualifiers, and should rip us to bits. Whether they have a complacent day or an off day will reflect only on the scoreline. Even if Gaskell is fit I wouldn't play him, I would send the same team and tell them that never again do I want to see that defensive disarray and giving up, whatever else is happening on the field. If we can keep it to a respectable scoreline that may be significant. If we get a 50+ points margin put past us then after Widnes we are effectively another point down.
What we need to do is beat Leigh and Halifax. Leigh may be away, but we have shown that at our best we are more than a match for them, and if we have delusions of SL grandeur then we simply have to be the best team in our division, no excuses, no sob stories, if we don't beat Leigh then it is hard to argue that we deserve to go up. And if we don't beat Leigh it is hard to imagine how we could win a playoff against any of the SL sides anyway.
As for next year, if we fail in our promotion bid, then provided we can solve the halfbacks problem and provided we can keep the backbone of our squad together, we would be a far better team in our second season. Those are big "ifs", but Leigh have managed to do it, and so there must be a way. We have over-achieved in many ways, but our blowing hot and cold and lack of cohesion at times is just what you expect from a team and a squad that hasn't had years to gel and be honed into something like a unit. That won't have happened by Year 2 either, but we would be much further down that road.
Disagree, if we are thrashed by HKR then we will lose at Leigh even though we might have matched them during our games they will be more fired up than our guys and what will that do for the fans?
taking over 1000 to HKR to get battered wont do anyone any favours we must show we have something in our side, ive not seen it this year, our best tries are from long range we panic a in the oppos 10metre zone and we did last year also under FC, so nothing has really changed on that front (beating part time teams doesnt count), we have been out classed frightnigly against SL salford apart who where very lazy and though just going throught motions would get the result, if we had played them before Leigh i can imagine we would have lost and Leigh would have beaten them, Leigh went very close agains HKR and Wakey (a team who easily took us to the cleaners).
Need to show what we are made of, cut out the crap and keep it simple, and DONT PANIC.
Disagree, if we are thrashed by HKR then we will lose at Leigh even though we might have matched them during our games they will be more fired up than our guys and what will that do for the fans?
taking over 1000 to HKR to get battered wont do anyone any favours we must show we have something in our side, ive not seen it this year, our best tries are from long range we panic a in the oppos 10metre zone and we did last year also under FC, so nothing has really changed on that front (beating part time teams doesnt count), we have been out classed frightnigly against SL salford apart who where very lazy and though just going throught motions would get the result, if we had played them before Leigh i can imagine we would have lost and Leigh would have beaten them, Leigh went very close agains HKR and Wakey (a team who easily took us to the cleaners).
Need to show what we are made of, cut out the crap and keep it simple, and DONT PANIC.
Exactly. We have two bites at the cherry to secure at least a spot in the million pound game. Why waste one of them and just concentrate on Leigh? Some said the same thing after Wakefield, "we only need to beat Leigh to secure 5th etc." We then went and beat Salford. Hull KR are beatable. We've beaten better teams against even greater odds before. They are the best side in the eights, but they are inconsistent (Otherwise they would be in the top 8 right now)
We competed well in the previous fixture, where we had Chev Walker at centre and no Mullaney. Also Kelly and Campese were massive for them in that game.
We should go all out for the victory as we COULD win. As broady say,s, taking 1000 fans to Hull KR to witness another hammering could seriously demoralise the squad and fans for the Leigh game.
Rovers haven't been at their best but they do have purple patches which has served them well in the Mid8s.
I don't know which way this fixture will go, the Bulls display against Salford was awesome, bring that level of intensity and it will really make things interesting.
We already played KR this year. They weren't that interested and still put 50 on us in a game where they didn't bother to defend on a "we'll-score-more-than-you" basis. I entirely agree that we need to play at a full intensity level as we don't need a pasting. But am worried as to how we reacted to adversity and a ticking scoreboard against Widnes, as things unravelled so did we. At this stage of the season that's a big concern.
We already played KR this year. They weren't that interested and still put 50 on us in a game where they didn't bother to defend on a "we'll-score-more-than-you" basis. I entirely agree that we need to play at a full intensity level as we don't need a pasting. But am worried as to how we reacted to adversity and a ticking scoreboard against Widnes, as things unravelled so did we. At this stage of the season that's a big concern.
But our team is completely different to that game. the entire back line will be different and KR will be without their two best players who both played in that game.
I don''t expect us to win, but it would hardly be the shock of the season if we did.