: Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:16 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Two things arising from that game -

First, we had two teams that were pretty evenly matched in most departments (more later).

Second, the Bulls will do nothing this year as our half-backs (even though Jeffries played far better than his previous efforts) seem to be a spent force, and this was the obvious difference.

The Bulls still made too many mistakes, but that is not unexpected when you are chasing a game, and have to try to force things, but in general, you would have to say that the pack more than matched Hull's pack, and while they did not beat Hull's pack, it was an entertaining 80 minute contest.

But the one shining beacon in this is why, given that we now obviously realise we need a creative halfback (Bird anyone?) did we lump ourselves with a Jeffries/Deacon partnership for 2009, when it just does not offer enough to be better than most of the other teams. As I keep saying, Jeffries never was a No. 6 yet we are persisting with that, and sadly at the moment Deacon is a busted flush. The things he used to be good at for many years, little dabs through, kicks for touch, into the corners, organising the pack and directing play, seem to be a memory now.

IF we knew we were short of some creativity then why the hell did we not snap up Thorman when he became available/

And therein was the difference. Chris Thorman, esq. Take out his brilliance, creativity and opportunism, pace, and balance, and it is an even game. Swop sides and we win easily. Thorman was majestic.

Sheriffe also proved he can't run, when a ball-carrying Yeaman pulled away from a "chasing" Sheriffe.

Enjoyed the game, loved watching Torman and the excellent Manu, and in general a fair performance by the Bulls. Just baten by the Thorman difference.

Fair comments! Still reckon you'll come good in plenty of time for the play-offs though! If you get a better First Team coach!!

: Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:21 pm  

redeverready wrote:

No it wasn't we were are shambolic best, IMO the scoreline flatters us Hull looked capable of scoring every time they got near to our line.

But didn't! Despite all the errors (most of which were because we were forcing the pass), we were only 2 converted tries behind. I saw a lot of improvement over last weeks match, but still have some way to go. On present performance, Leeds will tear us apart!

On a positive note, I thought Nero had one of his best games for us.

: Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:43 pm  

Quick not-very-considered first thoughts...

It was nothing like as bad as the Wigan debacle. Not that anything could be...still pretty depressing though.

We blew the game in the first 6 minutes - 0-12 at that point was always going to be a big ask. At least we matched them for points thereafter.

Our pack was probably marginally the better, although never really got on top. Their halves won them the match I think - its hard to see us making much progress with our own combination now.

Making so many errors. missed tackles, poor passes...was extremely depressing - especially when FC hardly put a foot wrong. Once again how many times were we near their line and blew it? How many times were they near OUR line and scored? Had just a few more of those moves come off, or had some of those strange ref calls gone the other way...we could have won that. But they didn't and we didn't.

In amongst, some flashes of great play which shows we CAN do it.

But why did the team spend the first half looking like they really were not up for it? Much better at times in the second half, till repeatedly we either shot ourselves in the foot or the ref's calls put paid to it.

Looking for positives, and yes there were a few signs, but (and with apologies to Winston) this is not the end of our troubles, or even the beginning of the end. Maybe its the end of the beginning? Maybe...

Huge credit for the huge and fantastic FC support - did your team and your club proud.

: Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:48 pm  

Sykes was poor
sherriffe was worse
nero was best back and made some good breaks
crookes wasnt given enough time, was caught out, knocked on was ball was fired at him, but was his first match so hopefully we will persist with him.
Tadulala was quiet and had to come inside to get any ball.
Jefferies was better than previous but should have passeed when had men on inside and out.
Deacon was none existent but nolwt in reserves to drop him.
lynch stepped in as though never beeen away, a good showing.
newton better than previous weeks but still not the old newton.
scruton whats happened since he left leeds, drives it in, but tries stupid offloads.
menzies caused a few problems but was caught out positionally a few times.
morrison quieter than usual, but still battles on, age defying.
burgess Very quiet and not the burgess of the past 2 seasons.
cook tries but nowt came off for him.
langley Needs to get more involved, just plodding along, yes he tackles but offers nowt going forards.
kopczak hes got the size, got the braun, but not the balls, needs to find some or drop to reserves.
platt Another brain fart and threw it 20 yards backwards to noone.

All in all we didnt play till hull was out of sight, they broke thru at will, was fast, clinical and fought for each other, at times we looked as though we was very amatuerish, but if you get coaches from skirlaugh, queenie etc what do we expect.

: Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:49 pm  

A very reasonable assessment from FA. Our ball distributing players are way below the standard with some terrible passes by both Jeffries and Deacon today, however there were also some good ones for the first time this season. It actually looks like we've got an attacking game at times now which made it far less frustrating to watch than the KR and Huddersfield games.

One thing that mystified me was McNamara's decision to put Crookes in against Yeaman who's been one of the best performing centres in the league so far and the lad never really stood much of a chance. But at least macca is showing some faith in the kid.

All in all, I'm feeling a lot more positive than after the disgrace last week but we're still some way off.
Hopefully a weekend away in France will help instill a bit more confidence into the lads and having a weekend away from the ever increasing hoard of booers will relieve some pressure on them which can only be a positive thing.

: Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:15 pm  

Adeybull wrote:

Quick not-very-considered first thoughts...

It was nothing like as bad as the Wigan debacle. Not that anything could be...still pretty depressing though.

We blew the game in the first 6 minutes - 0-12 at that point was always going to be a big ask. At least we matched them for points thereafter.

Our pack was probably marginally the better, although never really got on top. Their halves won them the match I think - its hard to see us making much progress with our own combination now.

Making so many errors. missed tackles, poor passes...was extremely depressing - especially when FC hardly put a foot wrong. Once again how many times were we near their line and blew it? How many times were they near OUR line and scored? Had just a few more of those moves come off, or had some of those strange ref calls gone the other way...we could have won that. But they didn't and we didn't.

In amongst, some flashes of great play which shows we CAN do it.

But why did the team spend the first half looking like they really were not up for it? Much better at times in the second half, till repeatedly we either shot ourselves in the foot or the ref's calls put paid to it.

Looking for positives, and yes there were a few signs, but (and with apologies to Winston) this is not the end of our troubles, or even the beginning of the end. Maybe its the end of the beginning? Maybe...

Huge credit for the huge and fantastic FC support - did your team and your club proud.

Nice to hear

: Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:17 pm  

HULLMAD wrote:

good assessment and think thats why HULLFC are playing so well , because we have a decent HALFBACK pairing, well we actually have halfbacks this season who can create.

But that can't be all of the problem. We (Wakey) have hardly had a half-back all season - yet we can still win games.

Bradford have found Jeffries out though - he goes missing, big time!

: Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:24 pm  

Macca vows to fight on, and those calling for his head can say what they want

Macca vows to fight on, and those calling for his head can say what they want

[Bullseye]

: Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:26 pm  

A missed opportunity really. Had we not started the game so badly we could've been in with a decent chance of winning this.

The start was awful, picking up where we left off versus Wigan. Sheriffe's try before half time was a good finish though and we should've come out all guns blazing. Unfortunately we didn't and we let in too many tries. Manu cause real problems for us and the Hull halves were very slick with the ball.

That's in stark contrast to Jeffries and Deacon. Their passing was abysmal at times. Our backline isn't going to set Super League alight but it's being further handicapped by the crap service it gets. Too many passes went to ground or needed taking at full stretch.

Our defence was frustrating at times, especially early on where we got caught out again on the fringes with players not knowing whether to slide in or out.

Hull didn't have to do much to win and we did tend to drag them down to our level a bit. So much so that the game was winnable at cetain stages but our pants defence put paid to any hopes. It seemed every positive thing we did had to be followed by a couple of negatives. There was no consistency in the performance.

On this form we'll get murdered on Good Friday.

: Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:28 pm  

TRB wrote:

But that can't be all of the problem. We (Wakey) have hardly had a half-back all season - yet we can still win games.
Bradford have found Jeffries out though - he goes missing, big time!

Exactly the halfback's at Bradford are just another convenient excuse as we can't win games.