1 less halfback

[Brad5926]

I did not make it to the game yesterday but had it on the radio.

By the sounds of it we missed a player coming of the bench with impact i.e HB / HK

Does anybody think missing an additional HB now deacon has retired and we dont have tommy or Mcllorum coming of the bench

Did this make a difference , would we have benefited with a HB/HK on the bench?

[DaveO]

I did not make it to the game yesterday but had it on the radio.

By the sounds of it we missed a player coming of the bench with impact i.e HB / HK

Does anybody think missing an additional HB now deacon has retired and we dont have tommy or Mcllorum coming of the bench

Did this make a difference , would we have benefited with a HB/HK on the bench?

Yes. As mentioned by me and others the musical chairs we had when Micky Mac went off are no good. He went off, TL went to 9 and Lockers to 6 with Farrell to 13.

That is all because we didn't have a hooker on the bench.

The extra half back that would allow TL and Micky to share the hooking is already at the club. Sam Tomkins (with Roberts to full back).

[First Try Tickle]

I don't want to feel we have to make positional changes after one match, but if it does have to happen then.

Finch to Scrum Half
Sam to Stand off
Pat to Full back
Goulding onto Wing
Gelling into Centre.

Gelling looks like he can tackle well, and seems to be ok in positioning himself, its just his attack that needs working on. But Goulding's never shown me anything in attack at centre to suggest he's the one.

[Wes]

Mellor or Powell to 7 Tommy to play at 9 only with Mickey Mac!

[Geraldine_Papadopoulos]

I think we need to put Goulding in the bin. He's rubbish. However I don't think moving Sam to stand off is a good idea, unless everyone means just for attack?

[shaunedwardsfanclub]

I did not make it to the game yesterday but had it on the radio.

By the sounds of it we missed a player coming of the bench with impact i.e HB / HK

Does anybody think missing an additional HB now deacon has retired and we dont have tommy or Mcllorum coming of the bench

Did this make a difference , would we have benefited with a HB/HK on the bench?

We missed two halfbacks fullstop. Brough was head and shoulders above Finch and Tommy. We need creative players with a good kicking game.

[exile in Tiger country]

I think the main thing we missed was a decent kicking game.
Sam is our FB. Goulding would have had more of a chance if we had passed to that wing with any degree of success.Is it necessary to take off a hooker during a game?
The greatest worry for me was the fact that Hudds, with two recognised props, were not totally dominated by our forwards.

[bazward76]

I thought this last season an I thought it again on Sunday, we always have 1 less halfback and thats when Finch is named in the squad.
I really can't see anything that he brings to the team, he's very slow, has a very poor kicking game and seems to spend more time pointing and telling people what to do rather than rolling his sleeves up and taking a grip on a game himself. Brough on Sunday just did the basics but still succeeded in making our half backs look like amateurs. I reckon Waney in future defo needs a half back on bench purelly to give him the option to change things if the half backs aren't taking hold of a game. Maybe giving Joe Mellor a chance wouldn't be a bad idea. With Tommy and Finch both likely to be leaving at end of the season it would enable Waney to blood him into super league rather than throw him in at the deep end in 12 months time and who knows maybe take Super league by storm just like Sam did.

[jackoh]

No For me the team didn`t look ready for it on
Saturday , I don`t know what the teams been doing pre season , but EVERYONE looked rusty .
We ll get better as the team starts to gel , I `m not sure about the new signings , though i haven`t seen Gelling play .

[Conman]

Hi all,

First post on here.

I think the players being rusty can be put down to a lack of pre-season games together. The U20's played a lot of rugby, the first team only really had the game against Salford. Away at Hull KR had the likes of Powell, Russell etc playing.