Re: Craven Park Derby - the City is Ours : Mon Jul 10, 2023 6:24 pm  

Mr. Zucchini Head wrote:

Well, I reckon if you were a neutral is was probably a shocking game to watch. In the first half I thought we looked like a bunch of players who had never met before. I was really surprised and disappointed by the lack of cohesion we showed in attack. Second half we found a little bit more quality but it was hardly a stellar performance. Rovers were just poor from start to finish. If they don't reach the CC final their season is done imo. They look like us in many previous years, started well, imploding at the back end of the season.

All that said I'm thrilled to play that badly and still get a result. It's a cliche, but good teams know how to win ugly, and that was certainly ugly. Looking at the respective fixtures of ourselves, Leeds, Salford and Rovers over the next month, you have to say we are in a decent position to make a playoff push. Although playing against teams who are fighting for survival brings its own challenges of course.

There were some positives from the game (aside from the result). I thought Cam Scott was again excellent. His improvement under Smith has been enormous. The same with McIntosh. He's making much fewer errors, which I think is probably a confidence thing on the back of a good run of form. But the thing about him I'm most pleased with is how much stronger he looks in collision. He used to get dominated and pushed back almost every carry. Now he actually looks like a bit of a handful for defences. I'm not sure if Smith has worked on his body position, his footwork at the line, or if he's simply been working hard in the gym (he does look physically bigger) but something has obviously changed and he looks a miles better player for it.

Houghton continued his good form with another very solid performance, and he showed his versatility when we had to reshuffle after Hoy's injury. Credit to Clifford on this front too who I thought looked really assured at full back. The guy is clearly just a very good all round rugby league player and if he is leaving at the end of the year he's a huge loss.

A mention for Dwyer too. I've been really critical of him, and it's been fully deserved, but I thought he had a lot of success yesterday sniping around the ruck and I thought we looked more dangerous when he was on. He also managed to keep his dumb decisions and wild passed to a minimum.

Downsides. Tuimavave is having an awful season and Smith needs to have a real think about what to do with him. On form, when Sutcliffe is fit, it has to be him and Scott as the centres

. So do you move Carlos into the back row, or drop him completely? The latter would be a bold call. Lane also continues to be a problem. He's offering nothing and is a weak leak defensively. The amount of times Trueman bails him out is crazy, it should be the other way around! Thank god he's such a good defender for a half.

A win is a win, but it's given us some things to think about. The important thing is that we once again dug deep and found a way to grind out a result. On to Cas.

Where is Barista?
Laughed at me when I said the same earlier in the thread, without offering a reasoned explanation for her churlish response.
Now a few posters are saying the same thing she's no where to be seen, probably getting her excuses ready for when Cas beat us.
The squad has to be picked on form and not past reputation.

Re: Craven Park Derby - the City is Ours : Mon Jul 10, 2023 7:09 pm  

mwindass wrote:

I dunno, the way things are being penalised and clamped down on with head contact, I'm surprised nothing more has happened.

I thought he'd get a game ban.

Haven't had the courage to watch the game back again though

They have apparently used the excuse that first contact was on the shoulder and bounced up

Need to watch again as don’t remember that.

Certainly an excuse to use for the future though

Re: Craven Park Derby - the City is Ours : Mon Jul 10, 2023 7:19 pm  

davey41 wrote:

They have apparently used the excuse that first contact was on the shoulder and bounced up

Need to watch again as don’t remember that.

Certainly an excuse to use for the future though

didn't realise you had teeth in your shoulder.

Re: Craven Park Derby - the City is Ours : Mon Jul 10, 2023 7:52 pm  

Bombed Out wrote:

Where is Barista?
Laughed at me when I said the same earlier in the thread, without offering a reasoned explanation for her churlish response.
Now a few posters are saying the same thing she's no where to be seen, probably getting her excuses ready for when Cas beat us.
The squad has to be picked on form and not past reputation.

He’s not having a great season by his accounts but has by no means been awful. I’d argue that Scott is above him in terms of current form.

If you look at stats:
- their average gain is about the same but Scott’s will be padded out by his time on the wing
- Carlos has more tries and they have same assists
- Carlos 0.27 clean breaks a game scott 0.25
- Carlos 103m per game Scott 69
- Carlos 1 error a game Scott 0.56
- Carlos 1.6 missed tackles a game scott 1.3
- Carlos 13.6 tackles a game scott 6.5
-Carlos 0.5 pens a game Scott 0

Carlos having a stinker is statistically very similar to Scott been immense. This is Carlos off a very major injury and since he’s come back he’s had some very good games and some very poor ones. The only real statistic Scott smashes him on are errors and pens of which most of Carlos’ have come in 2-3 very poor games.

He’s willing to chance his hand more than Scott at the minute which does result in more errors but also creates more. The stats also show Carlos gets through a hell of a lot more work

Re: Craven Park Derby - the City is Ours : Mon Jul 10, 2023 8:18 pm  

Bombed Out wrote: Where is Barista? Laughed at me when I said the same earlier in the thread, without offering a reasoned explanation for her churlish response. Now a few posters are saying the same thing she's no where to be seen, probably getting her excuses ready for when Cas beat us. The squad has to be picked on form and not past reputation. search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&author_id=66735&start=807

Bombed Out wrote: Where is Barista? Laughed at me when I said the same earlier in the thread, without offering a reasoned explanation for her churlish response. Now a few posters are saying the same thing she's no where to be seen, probably getting her excuses ready for when Cas beat us. The squad has to be picked on form and not past reputation. search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&author_id=66735&start=807

Re: Craven Park Derby - the City is Ours : Mon Jul 10, 2023 8:47 pm  

Mrs Barista wrote:

https://www.rlfans.com/forums/search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&author_id=66735&start=807

Sad beyond belief

Re: Craven Park Derby - the City is Ours : Mon Jul 10, 2023 9:04 pm  

Bombed Out wrote:

Sad beyond belief

Isn't it though? Imagine giving it large when playing poorly, disappearing when on a fabulous run, only comment on Wembley 2016 was what a shame it was Stevie Michaels was going - like a bonaire training course. The fragility of you both in the face of a little smiling emoji is crackers.

Re: Craven Park Derby - the City is Ours : Mon Jul 10, 2023 9:17 pm  

Having watched the game today again I thought Carlos had a good game , ran the ball in strongly and was difficult to bring down on most carries , but also kept rovers danger man skd quiet for the full game , which many centres struggle against . Just seems to be out of favour on here at the minute, and like a lot on here , people jump on the bandwagon instead of having their own opinion .

Re: Craven Park Derby - the City is Ours : Mon Jul 10, 2023 9:50 pm  

davey41 wrote:

They have apparently used the excuse that first contact was on the shoulder and bounced up

Need to watch again as don’t remember that.

Certainly an excuse to use for the future though

No that was Fash, also a grab to the shoulder from behind earned them a pen of Brad too.

Re: Craven Park Derby - the City is Ours : Mon Jul 10, 2023 10:04 pm  

Windy winger wrote:

Having watched the game today again I thought Carlos had a good game , ran the ball in strongly and was difficult to bring down on most carries , but also kept rovers danger man skd quiet for the full game , which many centres struggle against . Just seems to be out of favour on here at the minute, and like a lot on here , people jump on the bandwagon instead of having their own opinion .

Beat me to it. In the game, he lost control at a PTB and then there was the offload to Lane which Jordan knocked on. Other than that he ran the ball in regularly and made, it appeared, a lot of post contact metres. I really do think he could do a Watkins and transition well into the back row