Not a particularly surprising result. Wakefield wanted it more and we just haven’t got enough firepower in the forwards to give a good platform to counter attack effectively and with regularity plus our attacking options in the opposition 20 are almost non existent. With just 3 regular players missing, Wakefield playing a totally inexperienced HB and perfect playing conditions it should have been solid grounds to beat the bottom of the table team.
I’ve said a few times that the squad is unbalanced and with too little experience throughout the squad. We need good proven experienced players to come in at prop (x2), backrow and 6. So far we’ve signed another hooker and 2 young forwards with potential. For me if we don’t sign experienced in those 4 positions we will be in the same position in 2024. Our shortfalls are glaring. I’m assuming Cust and Mago are off and that we are signing the Aussie centre from Catalan which means that we have one quota spot to cover for me 4 critical shortfalls in the squad. I just don’t see what’s available in SL to cover these positions.
Our attack has been poor for the majority of the season and this was repeated again last night. At the moment French is totally and utterly wasted at HB. Our fluidity, crispness of passing, and cohesiveness in the backline is way below my expectations and very much lower than 2022. Add to this a flaky pack we are very beatable. I think that the last time we posted +30 points was against Leyth.
Our options are very limited. There is no silver bullet. How does Peet resolve the conundrum of who plays FB and who in the short term can we accommodate at 6? Miski seems to be the flavour of the day so I can’t see French going back on the wing so I suspect we will see Field and French swop positions once Isa is back to shore up the right hand side in defence. Other than that I don’t see what else Peet can/will do.
Personally with all squad players available I would go
Field
Marshall
King
Wardle
French
Cust/Hampshire
Smith
Singleton
Powell
Byrne
Farrell
Isa
Smithies
Havard
Ellis
Nsemba
O’Neil
For me still not good enough.
I haven’t totally written us for the CC but I don’t think we have a chance in the playoffs if we actually qualify for them.
Back to last night I thought Nsemba was good as soon as he got on pitch. For the first time I thought that we may just have a top class backrow forward in the lad. A very pleasing performance from Nsemba. If we had managed to hang on for a victory I think that all we would have been talking about would have been his performance last night.