Re: Today’s game v Wigan. : Mon Jun 19, 2023 12:28 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

It's amazing how fine the lines are with sport and feeling about a club. You were the execution of one pass away from knocking Wigan out of the cup on their own ground. Had that happened there would have been a far more bouyant mood, the McGuire resolution and possible imminent announcement of an incoming or two could have lifted it to quite a positive feeling. Instead, the pass is ruled forward and the forum and Twitter are full of calls for Powell's head and people refusing to watch you again until Powell or Kirkpatrick leave the club.

I think, broadly, the fan base are tired of the cracks being papered over. Price, with the benefit of hindsight, did a great job of papering over those cracks and making a unit that was difficult to beat - I use that term purposefully, as we didn’t necessarily go out and win the game on a number of occasions, we just didn’t lose, being resilient enough not to break first.

Even at the back end of the Smith era, recruiting was poor but Smith had credit in the bank and even managed to get a tune out of a team that included notable muppets Chris Sandow, Ryan Bailey and Joe Westerman.

The club has been in decline since Gatcliffe left. That’s the fact. While we are competitive in some areas, such as social media clicks/PDRL, we’re actually awful at running a credible brand across the business/first team/junior development/long term succession planning.

As I’ve said on a number of occasions, I don’t necessarily blame Powell. I just think that the leadership team don’t know what the clubs “signature” looks like. We don’t know what we want to be, and have flip flopped from ultra attacking with 2010-15 Smith, a running threat team with Smith’s 2016-17, ultra defensive with Price and back to, allegedly, attacking with Powell. It’s a lack of genuine foresight and leadership.

Re: Today’s game v Wigan. : Mon Jun 19, 2023 12:44 pm  

clutch wrote:

That pass for Thewlis was perfectly good. Also gets given 9.5/10. The game is a shambles. Who calls that. A ref can’t see it. Does a touch judge?

I thought it forward but I do wonder if roles were reserved and it was Wigan scoring to snatch that game at the death whether the touch judge would have been so keen to call it forward.

Re: Today’s game v Wigan. : Mon Jun 19, 2023 12:52 pm  

Ok. Weird. Brain lying to me. Either way it’s perfectly possible.

Re: Today’s game v Wigan. : Mon Jun 19, 2023 1:01 pm  

Barbed Wire wrote:

As I’ve said on a number of occasions, I don’t necessarily blame Powell. I just think that the leadership team don’t know what the clubs “signature” looks like.

The board are playing at it. That's why we have such a lightweight and out of depth CEO. But it's their trainset for now and they can do what they like. No-one forces us to follow them.

Re: Today’s game v Wigan. : Mon Jun 19, 2023 1:18 pm  

wires1967 wrote:

Exactly this we are getting marched down the field, week in week out by every team we play. We then have to go the full length of the field to score a try. Our passive defence is killing us, giving the opposition a 10 meter run at us to get up some steam is criminal. If we are not fit enough, or not disciplined enough to move up in a line, this is down to coaching, fitness coach, and team coach. Harry smith had the freedom of the park yesterday, barley any kick pressure all day. We look so unfit it’s embarrassing.

We (Leeds) are similar with this passive defence style and also alleged unrest between the players.
Funny how this gets pulled out when the team isn`t playing well but they all get on well when we`re winning .
At least your teams in the top half of the league!

Re: Today’s game v Wigan. : Mon Jun 19, 2023 2:43 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

It's amazing how fine the lines are with sport and feeling about a club. You were the execution of one pass away from knocking Wigan out of the cup on their own ground. Had that happened there would have been a far more bouyant mood, the McGuire resolution and possible imminent announcement of an incoming or two could have lifted it to quite a positive feeling. Instead, the pass is ruled forward and the forum and Twitter are full of calls for Powell's head and people refusing to watch you again until Powell or Kirkpatrick leave the club.

Couldn't disagree more. I text my mate during the game around the 60 min mark saying, 'win or lose this is an embarrassing performance'.

Re: Today’s game v Wigan. : Mon Jun 19, 2023 2:49 pm  

I find it hard to believe that successful business people would want to be running a sports club in this way, A success is surely measured as being able to grow gate receipts & sponsorship deals. The best way to do that must be to turn boardroom success into playing clout. Not necessarily winning everything in sight but at least competing & putting in discernible effort for the fans who contribute so much to the club. Do the board appreciate that fans will not keep turning up week after week to have the urine extracted regularly?
Maybe even the McGuire affair has affected unity in the camp but leadership must come from the top.

Re: Today’s game v Wigan. : Mon Jun 19, 2023 2:55 pm  

Lord Tony Smith wrote:

Couldn't disagree more. I text my mate during the game around the 60 min mark saying, 'win or lose this is an embarrassing performance'.

There would still have been questions about the performance, but if you get results most will accept it. Performances don't matter as much if you get the result. Wigan weren't great either as they buckled as soon as Warrington put them under any real pressure, but their fans are talking about it being one of the all time great cup performances.

Re: Today’s game v Wigan. : Mon Jun 19, 2023 5:17 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

It's amazing how fine the lines are with sport and feeling about a club. You were the execution of one pass away from knocking Wigan out of the cup on their own ground. Had that happened there would have been a far more bouyant mood, the McGuire resolution and possible imminent announcement of an incoming or two could have lifted it to quite a positive feeling. Instead, the pass is ruled forward and the forum and Twitter are full of calls for Powell's head and people refusing to watch you again until Powell or Kirkpatrick leave the club.

That happens at all clubs.

Re: Today’s game v Wigan. : Mon Jun 19, 2023 5:27 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

There would still have been questions about the performance, but if you get results most will accept it. Performances don't matter as much if you get the result. Wigan weren't great either as they buckled as soon as Warrington put them under any real pressure, but their fans are talking about it being one of the all time great cup performances.

At the risk of sounding masochistic, by the 70th minute I was actually preferring defeat to empty victory. It would have been grossly unfair on Wigan, and any chance (although there is probably little chance anyway) of it prompting some real action and kickstarting the season again would have been lost.