Re: Hull v Saints 16th Feb : Sun Feb 16, 2020 5:36 pm  

the cal train wrote:

Having Houghton, Fash and Johnstone on at the same time was a real error from Radford. Especially when Masi was still fresh sat on the bench.

I agree there is no logic there at all.
Even carrying two hookers for this game was illogical given the conditions.
Dont get this playing Houghton at 13.he is no ball player and always gives away penalties.
Club captain should not be a pass for automatic selection.If there is a selection choice to make at 9 then make it and not go halfway by including both players in the 17.

Re: Hull v Saints 16th Feb : Sun Feb 16, 2020 5:47 pm  

Strange old game that.
Thought we look OK in the first half, matched them set for set.
Then a disaster of a 20 mins in which we barely touched the ball, made loads of errors and lost the ability to defend.
Then just about steadied the ship and scored a couple of decent tries.

I was a bit baffled by the use of the bench today. Masi sat there for 60 mins and we clearly still had 2 left with 3 mins to go even having used one to sub Ratu.

All in all I'm not sure what to make of that. Encouraged by the first 40, annoyed by the next 20 and then slightly encouraged again that it didn't turn into a total rout.

Re: Hull v Saints 16th Feb : Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:00 pm  

Pretty garbage 2nd half although losing ratu really disrupted our right edge. We looked good defensively in that 1st half then fell to pieces in the 2nd and saints scored 3 tries on that edge as a result.

Difficult to gauge as we were missing 4 forwards who would have played and at least 1 back. I'm sure ma'u, savelio, satae and bowden would have made us better.

This obsession with Houghton playing 80 minutes need to go. He does a lot of defending but we lose go forward when he's at 13

Connor had a shocker but he may get a reprieve and play centre next week if Carlos is out.

We seem to have a lot of injuries already and add in the 2 suspensions and were struggling. Hopefully Sao doesn't pick up a ban for his late hit in the 1st half

Re: Hull v Saints 16th Feb : Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:13 pm  

It was a hugely frustrating game. I don't think at any stage we played "well" but in the first half we worked incredibly hard for that narrow lead. To come out in the second and concede 4 times so meekly was infuriating and just made me think that nothing has changed from last year. It's almost like when we start to feel it slipping away we just give up completely.

The fact that we dug our heels in and avoided an embarrassment gives me a small crumb of comfort. But I just couldn't avoid thinking that the more things change the more they stay the same.

On the playing front I don't know what the damage is injury wise, but straight away I would be putting Kelly in at 6 and promoting Brown ahead of either Fash or Matongo. Neither are good enough and I aren't sure they ever will be.

Re: Hull v Saints 16th Feb : Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:18 pm  

What a costly third quarter after we'd been pretty impressive in the first half.

Kicking game was poor today and we really missed Albert Kelly who will certainly be back in next week, which could be a long afternoon if Wigan are in the mood and we have a number missing. The pack brought back memories of last year. Sadly Masi and Fash just don't cut it for me.

The one consolation was that instead of it being 38-12 that disallowed try allowed us to get a bit of respectability at 32-18.

Re: Hull v Saints 16th Feb : Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:38 pm  

Still early days. First half was good. Second awful. Fash lane are not good enough surely Beinik and Brown would offer more. Also having Houghton Johnston on at the same time doesn't work. We do have half our pack missing our 2 wingers and Kelly. Fonua clearly Still rusty. Hopefully some back next week. Move on to next week

Re: Hull v Saints 16th Feb : Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:45 pm  

We have no decent forward cover at all. Any injuries and were into lane, fash and matongo. We should have signed another prop instead of fonua

Re: Hull v Saints 16th Feb : Sun Feb 16, 2020 7:17 pm  

Not sure whether it was on here or on Twitter that I read recently somebody saying that Carlos Tuimavave's place was under threat.

Well we saw today that is nonsense. He's our first choice centre.

One position is his, the other is between Fonua/Connor/Griffin.

Re: Hull v Saints 16th Feb : Sun Feb 16, 2020 7:22 pm  

Agreed, I have never got the opinion that some people have that Carlos isn't a 1st pick at centre for me. Really like Ligi Sao too. The rest?? Pffft! We had 2 hookers on the pitch and neither got to the play the ball where we didn't have an acting half! Sneyds kicking on the 5th has been awful all season so far. Connor just isn't the 6 we need. Sneyd doesn't commit to the line so we need our 6 to be a running threat, which isn't Jake. Matongo, dont know what it is with him. In the under 21s he was a beast, running onto the ball, aggressive. Hes just a pussycat.

Re: Hull v Saints 16th Feb : Sun Feb 16, 2020 7:22 pm  

Jake the Peg wrote:

We have no decent forward cover at all. Any injuries and were into lane, fash and matongo. We should have signed another prop instead of fonua

Absolutely agree with this. I questioned his signing at the time because we had sufficient cover in the outside backs. I didn't buy the argument that when a player of his quality becomes available you should be in for him. This is a poor strategy. This isn't a criticism of Fonua as he is a quality player. It would have made sense if we hadn't signed Swift or given Faraimo a new contract. It was clear we needed another big aggressive forward to suit our style of play. After only 3 games in it's already looking like it is an error of judgement.