Re: Squad for HKR Saturday : Tue Feb 21, 2023 1:26 pm  

Zig wrote:

Let’s see where we are in a couple of months. The team as a whole were poor, identifying one player based on our overall performance is not right.

Agreed. Going to take a little time to build up that understanding and partnerships on both edges with having 2 new centres.

Re: Squad for HKR Saturday : Tue Feb 21, 2023 2:36 pm  

I was rather disheartened by the performance I'll be honest.

It was only Round One and it's not really an indicator to how the season will go but it was extremely disappointing to fall so flat on our faces. I don't want to single out players, it's a team sport, you win as a team and you lose as a team.

That being said, our right-edge defence is a big concern for me. Salford let us off on a couple of occasions during the Sam Powell testimonial by either dropping the ball or crossing for what looked like two certain tries and HKR played to Kenny-Dowall and exposed this frailty on Saturday. It needs fixing and quickly.

A bigger concern for me and what should be a bigger issue for the club is these Yorkshire away games where we put in sub-standard performances on a consistent basis and have been doing so for a number of years now. Wakefield, Cas, Hull KR mainly where we routinely get beat. It's becoming less and less of shock especially for our own fans. This was symptomatic under Wane, Lam and now Peet. It is becoming more and more frustrating as the seasons go by.

My questions would be:

- Has the club been looking at this as a cause for concern?
- What is the root cause of this problem?
- Are we trying things to address this?

We've had many 2nd place finishes during the Super League era, several more than 1st place finishes and I can't help but think avoiding major hiccups on these away days would have seen us have many more 1st place finishes than we have.

I know people will say finishing 1st doesn't matter, point taken to a certain extent, but I know I'd rather win these games than lose them and finish 1st more often than we finish in another position.

I know we got a couple of wins away at Wakefield last season, one in the SL, one in the CC and there was acknowledgement that it is a difficult place to win and we were backslapping ourselves on those victories but we just couldn't help ourselves and had to get beat there on our third visit.

I'm not trying to discredit Wakey, Cas or HKR at all but our neighbours seem to be able to win these games more often than they lose them.

Re: Squad for HKR Saturday : Wed Feb 22, 2023 11:06 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

It’s maybe too simple a way to look at it but the defeat could be a great lesson for us going forward. I don’t think there’s a rank bad side in the league this season and you aren’t going to win games, especially away from home, being that loose.

I’m confident we’ll bounce right back this week and we really then need to get our heads in gear for a very similar challenge to last week, when we go to Cas the following week. C4 tried to make it sound dramatic saying we’ve not won an away game since July last year, when in reality it is now 4 games, with one of them being a team of kids at HKR last year but that away form is something we need to flip round. Getting caught like rabbits in headlights can’t be allowed to become the norm.

You have got to question the whole camp for our display on Saturday. The coaching staff need a good kick up the harris for having us undercooked for the opening game. I hope that they have looked at themselves and will make changes for the remainder of the season so that we don't see such a lacklustre performance again.
Personally I don't care if we beat Wakefield by 70 on Friday night (i dont think that we will by the way) I want a far more consistent performance week in week out particularly away from home.

Re: Squad for HKR Saturday : Thu Feb 23, 2023 7:37 am  

jonh wrote:

Agree with this.

Some players were being scapegoated even before a ball was kicked with certain supporters hoping they would fail which is bizarre.

It was a collectively woeful performance across the park.

As you point out the line speed was horrendous, the team didn’t look like they knew what they were doing in that area and I wonder if a new system has been introduced that the team are not comfortable with.

The missed tackle stats from our pack collectively was ridiculously high which as you say points out towards attitude issues.

Lack of meters being used as a stick to beat props with doesn’t really work as in our system our backs are used to make meters not really the props, who are there to dominate in defence, which they generally didn’t and were rightfully criticised for being soft by Peet.

The only positive I take is that we played so badly and we’re still in with a chance of winning deep into the game.

Relying on the backs to make metres are the wrong tactics when you have a back line including French, Field and Marshall all small and fast. Only really works if you have big wingers like Hall, Dom Young, maybe even Thornley. So he needs to stop that off right away, fair enough King and Wardle are big lads but that should be no excuse for our props to be making the meters they did.

Copper 64
Singleton 38
Ellis 23
Havard 61
Byrne 28

That’s pathetic from Singleton, Ellis and Byrne as top NRL props will make those metres in a set, they need a strong word with.

Re: Squad for HKR Saturday : Thu Feb 23, 2023 9:34 am  

post wrote:

Relying on the backs to make metres are the wrong tactics when you have a back line including French, Field and Marshall all small and fast. Only really works if you have big wingers like Hall, Dom Young, maybe even Thornley. So he needs to stop that off right away, fair enough King and Wardle are big lads but that should be no excuse for our props to be making the meters they did.

Copper 64
Singleton 38
Ellis 23
Havard 61
Byrne 28

That’s pathetic from Singleton, Ellis and Byrne as top NRL props will make those metres in a set, they need a strong word with.

Marshall generally does ok on yardage. I agree regards French, he isn’t suited to that style though.

It’s the tactics we have pretty much employed since Wane’s influence took over the club.

It’s obviously proved successful at times, but personally it’s not one I particularly like, but I get why we do it.

Re: Squad for HKR Saturday : Thu Feb 23, 2023 10:58 am  

jonh wrote:

It’s the tactics we have pretty much employed since Wane’s influence took over the club.

It’s obviously proved successful at times, but personally it’s not one I particularly like, but I get why we do it.

Yeah, we've played this way for about 10 years.

Re: Squad for HKR Saturday : Thu Feb 23, 2023 11:04 am  

As an outsider why would you not utilise your back 3 in terms of yardage? Gets you on the front foot and with a quick play the ball, gaps appear and the likes of Field and French would take advantage.

Look at Saints with Makinson and Percival. They are hardly the biggest of backs but they run strong. Even Grace who was lightweight would make good yards.

Marshall has made big improvements in this area IMO to be fair

Re: Squad for HKR Saturday : Thu Feb 23, 2023 1:28 pm  

Stu M wrote:

As an outsider why would you not utilise your back 3 in terms of yardage? Gets you on the front foot and with a quick play the ball, gaps appear and the likes of Field and French would take advantage.

Look at Saints with Makinson and Percival. They are hardly the biggest of backs but they run strong. Even Grace who was lightweight would make good yards.

Marshall has made big improvements in this area IMO to be fair

Field was 2nd to Ash Handley in meters made last season, Marshall and Farrell were in the top twenty. and French missed quite a few games at the beginning of the season.

A major problem last week was the penalties conceded (6) most unlike Wigan who were the most disciplined club last year.

Re: Squad for HKR Saturday : Fri Feb 24, 2023 10:07 am  

Watched the Salford game last night and noticed that most of there tries came on there left edge with Abdull's kicking.

Re: Squad for HKR Saturday : Fri Feb 24, 2023 10:25 am  

Ashton Bears wrote:

Watched the Salford game last night and noticed that most of there tries came on there left edge with Abdull's kicking.

On the basis of the fist 2 games their left edge is very impressive. They were creating opportunities and running the play that caught us out very effectively last night even with a change in personnel.

I was expecting KR to struggle this year but they look like realistic contenders for s top 6 finish.