19-man squad vs Salford

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DaveO
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Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2002 5:32 pm

Re: 19-man squad vs Salford

Post by DaveO »

I’ll take the two points. Can’t believe we were well in front and ended up having to come back to win it but given Salford beating Wire I think that is two points earned.

The basic errors in defence are glaring. If Lam isn’t sorting it out isn’t this where senior pros like Lockers ought to be contributing in training even if they don’t play? Especially if they have any coaching ambitions. It’s not that hard to organise a defensive line. It’s under 11’s basics.
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lucky 13
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Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 6:05 pm

Re: 19-man squad vs Salford

Post by lucky 13 »

I think giving we was missing 5 of our forwards from the GF winning team who are still at the club and also Hamlin who was 18th man. We was also missing three of our best yard makers in the backs from that GF team which eases our packs work load. Most would surley agree that Salford beat the second best team on form in Wire. Today with four 18 year olds in our squad was a good win.
We are getting roled down the middle at times its normally for periods when we run out of legs and fail to controle the ruck. I would love a 80 minute creative 9 but we do miss Powels on form 40+ tackles in that middle along with an extra bench spot, Faz, Clubbs and Lockers expierence also. We will miss Manfredi whos yardage and defensive play from wing are the best in SL. Davies also while maybe not to the same standard is better than most second choice right wings his yardage being superb. I know he gets slated and I would love a ball playing right centre, but Sarge takes that ball up more times than most forwards.
We have had turmoil off and on field more than most I do think if you take eight nine players out of any SL team longer than a few weeks how they would cope?
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shaunedwardsfanclub
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Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 2:08 pm

Re: 19-man squad vs Salford

Post by shaunedwardsfanclub »

Our try line defence is garbage. The players need to show more desire and commitment. Salford showed our big weakness again today.
Winning is down to 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration - Shaun Edwards
doc
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Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:08 pm

Re: 19-man squad vs Salford

Post by doc »

Having seen the stats on the SL web page for the match (the new format is awful by the way) the penalty count was fairly even (13:12 against us), we made 6 errors vs their 9 and missed 24 tackles to their 42.

They did make around 200 metres more than us and we made about 60 more tackles than them.

If we cut the silly penalties out we win easy as we have more possession and keep them away from our tryline.

For those having a go at Isa, he was our leading tackler (43; 2 missed) and is usually up there every week with Powell. Granted he only made 44 metres going forward but a good effort. As a squad player you know that you will get nothing spectacular from him, especially when played at centre, but he will tackle his heart out and put his body on the line. We all know that our starting second row would be Faz and Greenwood, but forwards generally pick up more injuries than backs so you need someone who can do a job, but not necessarily a stand-out performer.
Wiganer Ted
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Joined: Fri Apr 25, 2014 9:31 pm

Re: 19-man squad vs Salford

Post by Wiganer Ted »

Since we have been missing 4-6 of our starting forwards our try line defence has been weak and opposition teams make massive metres down the middle. Every team we play now are basing their attack down the middle and when we get penalised they go all out for a barge over try. At times with obvious success.

This is clearly due to experienced forwards missing and young inexperienced players standing in for them. None of these young guys are giving anything less than 100% and what is taking its toll is their lack of experience. The difference yesterday of Flower and Bullock returning for the last 20 or so minutes was massive. Salford's mistake which may have cost them the game was in their last two sets when they got their options wrong. On their last set they went for the open side rather than down the middle and got tackled on the 6th tackle.

In his after match chat Lam said that in four weeks he would have 90% of his squad available. Davis and Manfredi won't be available through injury and I presume the other player is Hamlin. With our full 8-13 on the field our try line defence will improve beyond recognition.

One long term change may be that Hardaker stays at right centre, Hankinson right second row and Escare at full back. The threat that Escare's pace gives the opposition is something that we surely cannot ignore any longer. His crossfield run putting Gildart away and taking us into the Salford half changed the end of the game . Hardaker and Hankinson are two big and very mobile men.
Our starting 17 will be very interesting next Saturday.
moto748
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Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2014 5:30 pm

Re: 19-man squad vs Salford

Post by moto748 »

Having Escaré at full-back didn't do anything for our goal-line defence against Salford. Hankinson is supposed to be a centre. If we need to play him, why not play him at his favoured position, and the same with ZH?
Caboosegg
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Re: 19-man squad vs Salford

Post by Caboosegg »

moto748 wrote: Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:30 am Having Escaré at full-back didn't do anything for our goal-line defence against Salford. Hankinson is supposed to be a centre. If we need to play him, why not play him at his favoured position, and the same with ZH?
Having seen the salford tries, you cant blame Escare without blaming the 2 other players each time that make first contact with the defender.

What is does show is how bad our defence has gone that the only reason we havent seen more of that is Zak managing to get his body under the ball.

As Lam doesnt seem to be trying to fix defense we need to maximize our attack and Escare at fullback and Zak at centre did that. We Zak at centre we dont have to rely in going through the left sode every time.
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