All kicking off : Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:50 pm  

For me this has been one of the turning points of last nights game & the one against Saints.

The ref (for all he gave 20 odd penalties) ignored too many high shots & off the ball punches. Westwood should have been binned as an indication of his intent. He didn't, temperatures boiled. Riley was a little ginger punch bag. The players naturally took things into their own hands.

When the French lad got stretchered they handled it well & second half stuck to their game. We didn't when it all erupted. The focus of the game went out of the window. We looked to run at players instead of off the shoulders, We messed about in the tackle to get a bit of biff back rather than winning the game. Morley & Carvell especially.

The French got their tactics right second half. They targetted Higham as he was our only creative player. Higham eventually slipped off the tackle and gave away daft penalties. The try that got them to 18 all & the one after that were done this way. We bombed 2 tries from Morley & Gleeson that could have salveged something but our mind set went to poop when our focus went.

And this is all down to the coach, not just preparation but controlling the mantality of the game during the game. So often we collapse, and it's Lowes job to fix that - not the players.

We've now not won a game in 6 months and it's soul destroying.

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:10 pm  

agree with everything there mate,
although i think westwood should of been red carded and not binned for that attack to the head...

if one of our players was knocked out cold,
you would want the punishment there and then i think..

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:14 pm  

Didn't they have a brawl last week too?

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:18 pm  

El Camerero wrote:

Didn't they have a brawl last week too?

Wouldn't call it a brawl, but Carvell did put some punches on Glimour (I Think) after Carvell took him out.

: Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:17 pm  

And having watched it again it's clear that they stuck to their game plan better whilst our focus dissappeared. Morley may have been hurt but his mind wasn't on the game it was on the big hit back.

And once we started replacing the bigger forwards with the likes of Blythe & harrison then we didn't have the size to back it up & we got manhandled.

just another point. Who's in charge when Morley is off the field. Who's job is it to talk to the ref ?

: Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:25 pm  

Just a quick point (I'm sure it has been mentioned elsewhere) but in these first 2 games of the season I just don't think Morley is playing to his usual high standard, which is seriously affecting our go-forward.

: Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:08 pm  

Bobby_Peru wrote:

Just a quick point (I'm sure it has been mentioned elsewhere) but in these first 2 games of the season I just don't think Morley is playing to his usual high standard, which is seriously affecting our go-forward.

Only 2 games in but Morley has been poor needs to cut out the soft penalties and IMO change his game. Last year he changed his game form ‘aggression and impact’ based play more towards consistent longer spells on the pitch due to us missing several props to injury and the expectation of being captain. Now we have 4 first team props available we are crying out for the Morley of old to make line breaks and put in the big (fair) hits in order to lift the team. Only time will tell if he can turn back the clock and recreate this style of play he was famous for.

: Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:39 pm  

That is a great summing up Steve - have you ever considered a coaching job ?? Actually you have the perfect CV having expertly controlled a group of big women !!!

: Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:32 pm  

MrF wrote:

That is a great summing up Steve - have you ever considered a coaching job ?? Actually you have the perfect CV having expertly controlled a group of big women !!!

They all had bigger bollox than the Warrington team.