Re: 2016 Squad : Mon Sep 21, 2015 10:10 pm  

I have no idea about any of these rumours, but I throw my hands up in despair at Wheeldon.

Guzdek has talent and should be retained, can't see Greenwood getting a gig back into The Pie Dome, but perhaps another club has seen enough to offer more than us, it looks like Esslemont is never going to kick on at Rovers and we clearly can't offload Cox because he's finished here. Needs a new club and to address his stamina issues.

And, as the esteemed young Master Mc says, who is this Walsh character?

Re: 2016 Squad : Mon Sep 21, 2015 11:18 pm  

Those forwards hooker apart look very very dire. As do the centres.

Re: 2016 Squad : Tue Sep 22, 2015 8:11 am  

Sandro II Terrorista wrote:

I have no idea about any of these rumours, but I throw my hands up in despair at Wheeldon.

Guzdek has talent and should be retained, can't see Greenwood getting a gig back into The Pie Dome, but perhaps another club has seen enough to offer more than us, it looks like Esslemont is never going to kick on at Rovers and we clearly can't offload Cox because he's finished here. Needs a new club and to address his stamina issues.

And, as the esteemed young Master Mc says, who is this Walsh character? - s/h/bn Shaw from the Bulls

I've been over to Cas on a number of occasions this season and TBH Scott seems to have found a new lease of life under Powells coaching. Had a very good season.

Jordan Cox has had issues this season but he put in a good performance against the Eagles, still a year to run on his contract, spoke to him a couple of weeks ago and he is happy to scrap for his place at Rovers. Whether thats enough to keep in Chezzy's plans is moot.

Re: 2016 Squad : Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:47 am  

IMO, Jordan Cox in 2016 will be make or break. He hasn't kicked on and his fitness isn't what it should be. Has all the attributes of a decent player, although his handling is sometimes suspect, but next season may well prove him either a Super League player or a drop into the Championship.

Re: 2016 Squad : Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:47 am  

Paul T - HKR wrote:

I've been over to Cas on a number of occasions this season and TBH Scott seems to have found a new lease of life under Powells coaching. Had a very good season.

Ina good pack he'll look decent, the problem we have is that our pack is full of players that would look good in a good pack but in their own right are just ok squad players.

We need a pack leader and a couple of top class pack members to allow our alright players to look good.

Re: 2016 Squad : Tue Sep 22, 2015 12:37 pm  

barham red wrote:

Ina good pack he'll look decent, the problem we have is that our pack is full of players that would look good in a good pack but in their own right are just ok squad players.

We need a pack leader and a couple of top class pack members to allow our alright players to look good.

Spot on, if the fans can see it, I'm hoping the coach can too

Re: 2016 Squad : Tue Sep 22, 2015 1:33 pm  

blakeysrobin wrote:

Still think we may lose sio.

Why do you still think that?

Re: 2016 Squad : Tue Sep 22, 2015 1:38 pm  

barham red wrote:

Ina good pack he'll look decent, the problem we have is that our pack is full of players that would look good in a good pack but in their own right are just ok squad players.

We need a pack leader and a couple of top class pack members to allow our alright players to look good.

I'd love to know what constitutes a good pack?

The closest I've seen to one this season perhaps is the Cas pack against Leeds last week. Lynch, Milner, Millington, Holmes, Moors and Wheeldon started. Cook, Maher, Boyle and McShane off the bench.

Let's be honest, you'd look at those names and Lynch apart, nobody would have any of them in their dream team. However, they seem to be coached and now play in such a way that seems to optimise their collective strengths and they really make the effort to support one another especially in attack and dominate the opposition.

Massive metres, taking first and second phase ball at speed, landing on their front with subsequent speed at the play the ball, supporting the runner, making dummy runs, offloading in the tackle and running intelligent lines. Add to this a desire to dominate, to win and to play for 90 minutes to provide a platform for a pair of extremely creative halves and a talented fullback and you get your reward. You beat a team that annihilated us 50-0 at Wembley 3 weeks earlier on their own patch.

Maybe therein lies the problem with our pack. Lack of speed, intensity, desire, belief and an absence of basic game instincts and poor coaching.

Re: 2016 Squad : Tue Sep 22, 2015 2:24 pm  

Pickering Red wrote:

I'd love to know what constitutes a good pack?

The closest I've seen to one this season perhaps is the Cas pack against Leeds last week. Lynch, Milner, Millington, Holmes, Moors and Wheeldon started. Cook, Maher, Boyle and McShane off the bench.

Let's be honest, you'd look at those names and Lynch apart, nobody would have any of them in their dream team. However, they seem to be coached and now play in such a way that seems to optimise their collective strengths and they really make the effort to support one another especially in attack and dominate the opposition.

Massive metres, taking first and second phase ball at speed, landing on their front with subsequent speed at the play the ball, supporting the runner, making dummy runs, offloading in the tackle and running intelligent lines. Add to this a desire to dominate, to win and to play for 90 minutes to provide a platform for a pair of extremely creative halves and a talented fullback and you get your reward. You beat a team that annihilated us 50-0 at Wembley 3 weeks earlier on their own patch.

Maybe therein lies the problem with our pack. Lack of speed, intensity, desire, belief and an absence of basic game instincts and poor coaching.

Think most of what you say is spot on,but oliver holmes is a terrific player only just 23 and top class,just what we need.

Re: 2016 Squad : Tue Sep 22, 2015 2:32 pm  

If there's a pack we should emulate it's definitely Castlefords. As PR stated. No star larkers taking Lynch & Millington (who I'd have at Rovers in a heartbeat) aside. Just tonnes of average players working incredibly hard for each other. Our pack could match theirs, but it means ours have to show a hell of a lot more desire than they show now. I don't know what Powell does to that team, but one thing for sure he gets a shed load more out of them than Chezzie does with ours.
One wish for 2016 is less injuries! About time we had some luck in that department.