[PopTart]

Re: Widnes away : Mon Jun 10, 2024 7:13 pm  

Some may not be here next year but they are the rocks that our new found ambition is being built on.

Nothing about this season should be forgotten

Re: Widnes away : Mon Jun 10, 2024 7:18 pm  

vastman wrote:

Sorry but no. It’s a once in a generation opportunity in the second tier. If we have real ambition, then we need to forget about this comp other than getting out of it. We’ve had some fun at Wembley, now all we need to do is concentrate on winning the GF. Going unbeaten etc is a silly distraction imo.

I don’t doubt it would be an achievement, especially for die hard fans. But in truth, this time next year nobody will care. They will only care about SL.

I know you won’t agree, but due to the IMG element it allows us to team build, and for me that’s the absolute priority. Let’s also be honest here, a fair number of those who played on Saturday will not be here next year. There is a huge amount of work to be done.

Kind of with you, but to go unbeaten in the league would be an incredible achievement, I'm not sure it's ever been done? Leigh couldn't do it with essentially the side that went on to win the challenge cup and finish 5th in SL the year after.

Re: Widnes away : Mon Jun 10, 2024 7:34 pm  

We're not going the season undefeated (in the league). We make too many errors and give away silly penalties for that. Toulouse away, Bradford away, Featherstone at home. All these are tricky fixtures where we could come unstuck.

Re: Widnes away : Mon Jun 10, 2024 7:38 pm  

Khlav Kalash wrote:

We're not going the season undefeated (in the league). We make too many errors and give away silly penalties for that. Toulouse away, Bradford away, Featherstone at home. All these are tricky fixtures where we could come unstuck.

Let's revisit this at the end of the season, when we have finished the season unbeaten

Re: Widnes away : Mon Jun 10, 2024 7:51 pm  

vastman wrote:

Sorry but no. It’s a once in a generation opportunity in the second tier. If we have real ambition, then we need to forget about this comp other than getting out of it. We’ve had some fun at Wembley, now all we need to do is concentrate on winning the GF. Going unbeaten etc is a silly distraction imo.

I don’t doubt it would be an achievement, especially for die hard fans. But in truth, this time next year nobody will care. They will only care about SL.

I know you won’t agree, but due to the IMG element it allows us to team build, and for me that’s the absolute priority. Let’s also be honest here, a fair number of those who played on Saturday will not be here next year. There is a huge amount of work to be done.

Imagine in years to come telling your grandkids about the treble winning, invincible season. I doubt any fan alive would forget it.

Re: Widnes away : Mon Jun 10, 2024 9:42 pm  

homme vaste wrote:

Kind of with you, but to go unbeaten in the league would be an incredible achievement, I'm not sure it's ever been done? Leigh couldn't do it with essentially the side that went on to win the challenge cup and finish 5th in SL the year after.

Didn't Huddersfield go unbeaten when they got relegated?

Re: Widnes away : Mon Jun 10, 2024 10:15 pm  

Khlav Kalash wrote:

We're not going the season undefeated (in the league). We make too many errors and give away silly penalties for that. Toulouse away, Bradford away, Featherstone at home. All these are tricky fixtures where we could come unstuck.

I'm not sure how you can say that with such belief Khlav. We do make errors and give penalties away, but the other teams we play give more of both, even though most of the time we completely dominate possession, so more chances of silly handling mistakes etc. The top teams in SL make errors and give penalties away, it's the nature of the beast. I'd like to see the stats on errors and penalties we've made this season so far, to see how we compare.

We may turn in a poor performance and lose eventually, but then again we may not. From what I've seen so far, there's more chance of us going unbeaten than not. Apart from those 2 games in the mud at Featherstone, even when we haven't been at our best, the teams you mention haven't been able to live with us, especially when the second half rolls around. We're just so much more fitter, bigger and with better players than the rest of the teams around us and so we should. Sheffield got fairly hyped up going into first playing them, with us both being unbeaten and we've dispatched them twice now, easily. Most of the better Champ teams can maybe compete for the first 20 minutes, even the first half sometimes but the same seems to happen every game, we grind them down, make them work too hard in that period, they gas and then we take over.

Even though we've scored a lot of points this season, it's got to be said our defence and the way they all work for each other, even when we're 40 points up has been superb this season. You can really see that our defence is the foundation of everything we do and as long as that is working, the rest clicks into gear.

Tbh all the talk of going unbeaten is probably just something we fans think about at the moment. DP will have the lads grounded and not get too far ahead of themselves, taking each game as it comes, one by one. When the time comes near the end of the season if we're still unbeaten, I bet then it only becomes something that the team/coaches even think about. Ateotd as long as we win the stuff that gets us IMG points, that's all that really matters, everything else will just be a cherry on the top this season.

Re: Widnes away : Tue Jun 11, 2024 6:20 am  

Wollo-Wollo-Wollo-Wayoo wrote:

Didn't Huddersfield go unbeaten when they got relegated?

Pretty sure Hull did it in the old second division many years ago.
I'm personally not bothered if we do or don't but it is possible.
It is nice to have an expectancy to win that hasn't been evident for many years.
The longer it goes of course, the harder the first defeat is going to be.
I remember back in the 60's we won 23 games on the trot ending with a 9-9 draw at Batley! As a young lad I was gutted but we still won the next 4 games after that!
28 games undefeated!
Enjoy it while it lasts!

Re: Widnes away : Tue Jun 11, 2024 6:48 am  

Shifty Cat wrote:

I'm not sure how you can say that with such belief Khlav. We do make errors and give penalties away, but the other teams we play give more of both, even though most of the time we completely dominate possession, so more chances of silly handling mistakes etc. The top teams in SL make errors and give penalties away, it's the nature of the beast. I'd like to see the stats on errors and penalties we've made this season so far, to see how we compare.

We may turn in a poor performance and lose eventually, but then again we may not. From what I've seen so far, there's more chance of us going unbeaten than not. Apart from those 2 games in the mud at Featherstone, even when we haven't been at our best, the teams you mention haven't been able to live with us, especially when the second half rolls around. We're just so much more fitter, bigger and with better players than the rest of the teams around us and so we should. Sheffield got fairly hyped up going into first playing them, with us both being unbeaten and we've dispatched them twice now, easily. Most of the better Champ teams can maybe compete for the first 20 minutes, even the first half sometimes but the same seems to happen every game, we grind them down, make them work too hard in that period, they gas and then we take over.

Even though we've scored a lot of points this season, it's got to be said our defence and the way they all work for each other, even when we're 40 points up has been superb this season. You can really see that our defence is the foundation of everything we do and as long as that is working, the rest clicks into gear.

Tbh all the talk of going unbeaten is probably just something we fans think about at the moment. DP will have the lads grounded and not get too far ahead of themselves, taking each game as it comes, one by one. When the time comes near the end of the season if we're still unbeaten, I bet then it only becomes something that the team/coaches even think about. Ateotd as long as we win the stuff that gets us IMG points, that's all that really matters, everything else will just be a cherry on the top this season.

Sports throws up all sorts of results, take last season, there's no way Wigan should have lost against Trinity, but they did. Widnes following Wembley is a test.

Anyhow as long as we remain undefeated come the play offs, well then that is when it really matters.

Re: Widnes away : Tue Jun 11, 2024 7:43 am  

PopTart wrote:

Some may not be here next year but they are the rocks that our new found ambition is being built on.

Nothing about this season should be forgotten

It already is, try and find a match report etc on main stream media. Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving it and I won’t forget, but that’s you and me, we’d celebrate a two magpies flying over the ground.

If Ellis dream comes true this season will be a footnote.