Re: The Forwards

[wiggydoran]

Hock played better at the end off the game when he was filling in at Prop.

Flower was the disppointing one for me after he promised so much he pre season freindlies.

Lauaki needs to make more yard. He was spining and turning to offload in the tackle which not all our props which is good to see.

Hopefully Stu and preccy are back soon to provide more competion for places.

[TonyH]

Liam Farrell should start, always been a fan of his. To come off the bench and make around the same amount of tackles as Lockers is a shift and a half.

[thomo]

and here is where the problem lies - a bench that had in reality four second rowers on it.
It has to be Tuson or Farrell in my opinon
Flower is not the size of a prop - he sould be in the second row

In my opinion the pack is very small in size

[shaunedwardsfanclub]

and here is where the problem lies - a bench that had in reality four second rowers on it.
It has to be Tuson or Farrell in my opinon
Flower is not the size of a prop - he sould be in the second row

In my opinion the pack is very small in size

Fielden, Prescott, Dudson, Spencer and Crosbie can all change that.

[shaunedwardsfanclub]

Jeff Lima - 119m / 17 carries (7 mpc) - 19 tackles / 1 miss
Lee Mossop - 84m / 9 carries (9.3 mpc) - 25 tackles / 0 missed
Hame Lauaki - 49m / 7 carries (7 mpc) - 12 tackles / 0 missed
Ben Flower - 45m / 8 carries (5.6 mpc) - 29 tackles / 3 missed

Harrison Hansen - 64m / 8 carries (8 mpc) - 39 tackles / 0 missed
Gareth Hock - 112m / 15 carries (7.5m) - 20 tackles / 3 missed
Sean O'Loughlin - 91m / 19 carries (4.8 mpc) - 38 tackles / 3 missed
Liam Farrell - 54m / 7 carries (7.7 mpc) - 34 tackles / 0 missed
Chris Tuson - 47m / 8 carries (5.9 mpc) - 14 tackles / 1 missed


A quick look at the stats from yesterday shows pretty much what most fans have been saying. Up front Lima and Mossop were outstanding. Together they make a good pairing of a real hard running attacking forward who is strong in defence (Mossop) and a quicker hard working prop who keeps making the metres and works tirelessly.

On the other hand Flower and Lauaki were pretty disappointing. If Lauaki is an impact player he needs to be making more than 7 metres per carry and 50 metres per game. For an apparently attack minded player that's pretty woeful. Defensively it's little better. No missed tackles but he only made 12. I looked at his stats for his previous seasons in Super League and he averaged 12 tackles a game in each season. Does a bomb go off if he makes more than 12 tackles? Statistically Lauaki put in one of the worst performances from a senior prop in years.

Flower was better in terms of workrate. 29 tackles is a decent amount for a hard working prop forward but 3 missed tackles is very poor for a player who is supposedly big on defence. His poor attacking stats could have been forgiven but if you're going to make defence your biggest asset you have to go above and beyond what is expected. Harrison Hansen is a perfect example, showing 39 tackles without a single miss.

In the back row as mentioned before, Hansen was his usual self. His defence was strong and he worked hard to put in the tackles. He doesn't get involved in the attack as often as some others but he was making good metres.
Hock never makes quick so many tackles but that isn't what makes him a good player. Anything over 100 metres is a good return for a forward and Hock showed that when it comes to making the yards he's just as good as ever.
Not included above are the stats for things like tackle busts and offloads. Hock made 4 offloads and 3 tackle busts which highlights how dangerous he can be potentially. Unfortunately he was slow to get the pass away yesterday and some of his offloads were a little wild.
Also concerning is the 3 missed tackles. It's too much for any forward to make but particularly if your tackle count isn't that high.

O'Loughlin ran the ball well and made good metres and his work rate in defence was as high as ever. It was a typical hard working performance from the captain with only one or two negatives.
Unfortunately he missed a few crucial tackles which is not what you come to expect. Of course a hard worker is more likely to miss tackles through fatigue but it did seem like O'Loughlin and many others weren't up to speed.

Lastly we come to Farrell and Tuson. One thing that's guaranteed with the Ginger Pearl is a high tackle count. Yet again he made 30+ tackles without a single miss which keeps the defence strong. In attack he made some good carries but his support play which allowed him to cross the tryline was the most impressive part of his game.

As for Tuson, it quite hard to work out what his role in the team is. He didn't get too long on the pitch so there isn't much to make of his stats. There appears to be little threat posed by his inclusion in the side and it seems he's there primarily to allow O'Loughlin to go to stand off for 20 minutes or so.

Pack Ratings

Jeff Lima - 8
Lee Mossop - 8
Epalahame Lauaki - 3
Ben Flower - 4

Harrison Hansen - 8
Gareth Hock - 6
Sean O'Loughlin - 6
Liam Farrell - 7
Chris Tuson - 5

Statistics, damn truths and statistics!

Our B team is not as good as our A team, save for Farrell who should, in my opinion, be in the starting line-up. We were weak up the middle when the interchanges occurred, but we have a cure for that when Prescott and Fielden return. Our pack will be as good as any when we get our first team on the park, in defence that is.

What worries me is our attacking options. The likes of Hock and Farrell need halfbacks who can put them through a gap, sadly I don't think that Finch and Tommy are the answer.

As for the new boys, it was hardly a great start but let's give them time.

[markill]

Great stats backing up what we all saw I would venture.

One question I had about the forwards is why didn't we see more of Lauaki? Especially as Flower is and always has been a 2nd row. I've never seen him play at prop before yesterday. I just assumed Hock would come off earlyish for Faz then replace Mossop/Lima after 30-35mins, with Flower to cover Hansen and Tuson to play his part in the unfortunate positional merry-go-round which would have been far better served with Sam Powell on the bench instead!

Anyway, my point is where was Lauaki? Even Feka did more on Saturday night in the snow, but I dind't spot an injury

[DaveO]

Great stats backing up what we all saw I would venture.

One question I had about the forwards is why didn't we see more of Lauaki? Especially as Flower is and always has been a 2nd row. I've never seen him play at prop before yesterday. I just assumed Hock would come off earlyish for Faz then replace Mossop/Lima after 30-35mins, with Flower to cover Hansen and Tuson to play his part in the unfortunate positional merry-go-round which would have been far better served with Sam Powell on the bench instead!

Anyway, my point is where was Lauaki? Even Feka did more on Saturday night in the snow, but I dind't spot an injury

I was wondering about that as well. He got little game time so while the MPC stats are still valid he wasn't on much at all. Or at least he didn't seem to be.

I think Tuscon was a waste of a subs spot. Nothing against the player at all but I feel one of the young backs could have usefully been put into that game and would have had a chance to be more effective than another forward interchange which had little effect one way or the other on how the team was going.

[TonyH]

Great stats backing up what we all saw I would venture.

One question I had about the forwards is why didn't we see more of Lauaki? Especially as Flower is and always has been a 2nd row. I've never seen him play at prop before yesterday. I just assumed Hock would come off earlyish for Faz then replace Mossop/Lima after 30-35mins, with Flower to cover Hansen and Tuson to play his part in the unfortunate positional merry-go-round which would have been far better served with Sam Powell on the bench instead!

Anyway, my point is where was Lauaki? Even Feka did more on Saturday night in the snow, but I dind't spot an injury

I was wondering about that as well. He got little game time so while the MPC stats are still valid he wasn't on much at all. Or at least he didn't seem to be.

I think Tuscon was a waste of a subs spot. Nothing against the player at all but I feel one of the young backs could have usefully been put into that game and would have had a chance to be more effective than another forward interchange which had little effect one way or the other on how the team was going.

Agreed Dave, a sprightly little bar steward of a youngster coming off the bench unknown to the opposition is always a danger.