Catalans away

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The booze hound
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Re: Catalans away

Post by The booze hound »

Ive not been Powells biggest fan but he is winning me over. Hastings played well, J.Burgess also.
Our defence was superb for a period in the 1st half when they were camped on our line for a several repeat sets.
Can't really gauge where we are at from that game though, as Catalans were, in the main, piss poor.
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EagleEyePie
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Re: Catalans away

Post by EagleEyePie »

The most pleasing parts of that performance were the defence, and the way we bounced back from some really sustained pressure on two occasions by putting in a good set and scoring a try.

It wasn't the best Catalans performance by a long way. They had players missing and they were a bit clunky in attack, but when they kept gaining repeat sets you couldn't have been too critical had we conceded. They had bigger bodies to throw at us but our defence was very impressive, particularly as the hot conditions would have been tiring.

Powell was the best player on the field. It was a really intelligent performance. His passing options were good, he took his try well, his kicking game was absolutely superb and he was all over the pitch defensively.

After having a bad time of it against Rovers I thought Hardaker and Manfredi were excellent. Leuluai obviously adds some steel to the side on that right edge but I thought neither could really blame their mistakes last week on Smith. They both looked really eager to make amends.

Gilly and Budgie were good on the left edge. It's easy to forget just how good their pairing was at their best since Burgess' form dipped. Apart from one dropped catch Burgess was impressive and maybe makes it look like we could regret letting him go.

Hastings and Leuluai were good in the halves, although Leuluai's kicking game was shocking. Luckily it didn't cost us too much. French seems to be carrying a knock but he's still a big threat.

The biggest concern going into next week is the injury to Bullock and the fact that yet again Burgess was struggling. If both of them miss out we're looking at a weakened pack. Havard and Partington will be propping no doubt, but whoever else plays seems like a compromise. Does O'Loughlin play prop or is it a reprieve for an out of form Clark.

I'd quite like to see Greenwood given a go at prop. He's improving with each game and while he no doubt sees himself as a back rower I think Farrell is wasted down the middle and we could do with a bit of size down the middle, which Greenwood has - plus he likes to look for an offload.

Shorrocks, despite his lack of size, had a fantastic game considering he seemed to be playing prop for a while. His input in defence was outstanding and he really doesn't look out of place.

All in all, happy with the performance but also concerned that after a potentially draining game in the heat today we're going to find it really tough next week.
DaveO
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Re: Catalans away

Post by DaveO »

Mike wrote:Dave. Is the whole leagues policy not to get fans back into stadia as soon as possible? They've said that many, many times. So this is totally consistent with the whole games policy. In fact, and this one's for Pedro, we should move all the games to France if sky would fund coverage and have fans at them all, but unfortunately sky are very unlikely to find the money for that.

I guess that when crowds are allowed back in Wigan if there is a second wave in France that shuts down stadia over there which is a totally possible scenario, Dave will be lobbying for empty grounds across the league for consistency's sake!

It seems like a strange stance to decide that removing income from the game when all other sports are trying to recover as much as possible it is the right move for the sport right now, in the name or some imaginary policy that catalans are breaching.
I have no idea if that is the policy but if it is, it’s not realistic because it’s not happening in the U.K. any time soon. Therefore as the rules had been agreed this change was out of order. If all teams can’t play at home in front of their fans I fail to see why this exception has been made regardless of the result.
ian.birchall
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Re: Catalans away

Post by ian.birchall »

I might have missed it but I am not sure that Harry Smith got on the pitch last evening?
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Bilko
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Re: Catalans away

Post by Bilko »

ian.birchall wrote: Sun Sep 13, 2020 7:27 am I might have missed it but I am not sure that Harry Smith got on the pitch last evening?
He was on before Powell scored playing the last 15 minutes.
morley pie eater
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Re: Catalans away

Post by morley pie eater »

ian.birchall wrote: Sun Sep 13, 2020 7:27 am I might have missed it but I am not sure that Harry Smith got on the pitch last evening?
It was difficult to follow with the French coverage, Ian. I didn't know Smith had come on either.

Even with his 15 minutes, it makes you realise how well we did when we also had the injury to Bullock and G Burgess doing his usual cameo appearance. We effectively played with 14 men in 30 degree heat having travelled the same day!

Puts their two tries at the end in perspective!
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ddtftf
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Re: Catalans away

Post by ddtftf »

The reason that Powel`s game has improved so much is a very small change from acting halfback, he now collects the ball and runs forward before he passes gaining 5 to 7 meters on every pass, a tactic used by Smith in the NRL.
Blackpool_Pie
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Re: Catalans away

Post by Blackpool_Pie »

EagleEyePie wrote: Sat Sep 12, 2020 9:44 pm

I'd quite like to see Greenwood given a go at prop. He's improving with each game and while he no doubt sees himself as a back rower I think Farrell is wasted down the middle and we could do with a bit of size down the middle, which Greenwood has - plus he likes to look for an offload.

Shorrocks, despite his lack of size, had a fantastic game considering he seemed to be playing prop for a while. His input in defence was outstanding and he really doesn't look out of place.

Completely disagree with that I'm afraid. Despite his size, Greenwood isnt a particularly physical presence. His defence on the whole is sound but he isnt going to be making hard yards. Hes best on the edges where his footwork and offloading is more of a threat.
Southern Softy
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Re: Catalans away

Post by Southern Softy »

It's never easy to work out who's playing where in the second half when Lam's 'chaos theory' tends to come into play but I thought that Faz moved to loose-forward and Greenwood took left-side second row. It was noticeable that the Gildart/Burgess pairing made us a potent threat and looked like old times. I thought Greenwood was particularly effective and just happened to be the unlucky one who transgressed and got 10 minutes in the bin. I'd hope that that the left-side as the second half could become the basic set-up and if that's hard on Bibby - well, tough luck.
We need to get forwards fit and settled - Partington is still feeling his way back and Havard might need a rest - he's done an awful lot of work for a kid.
It was a scrappy match - Catalans looked out of sorts and we were too prone to foul but it was a really good result.
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EagleEyePie
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Re: Catalans away

Post by EagleEyePie »

Blackpool_Pie wrote: Sun Sep 13, 2020 9:25 am Completely disagree with that I'm afraid. Despite his size, Greenwood isnt a particularly physical presence. His defence on the whole is sound but he isnt going to be making hard yards. Hes best on the edges where his footwork and offloading is more of a threat.
I just find it frustrating that the compromise to having Greenwood is taking our best player away from his best position. Faz on the left edge is the best back rower in Super League and a real threat with the ball. Faz down the middle seems to be a workhorse and not much else. A chance to get a big body in the middle would be helpful.

You're probably right though. Greenwood in the last few games has been one of our top metres makers (and made 96m yesterday from only 7 carries) but he doesn't seem to charge in with aggressive carries like some players. His metres seem to come after contact running at the smaller players on the fringes.

I just think if O'Loughlin returns he's probably going to have to play prop if Farrell will move to 13 in games. But then where does Smithies play when he returns? I don't think Joe Shorrocks can be dropped after yesterday's performance either. Isa is pretty much guaranteed a place too. We've got so many quality back rowers and not enough hard running props. If only we could make a prop out of Greenwood we'd have a much more balanced pack.
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