Match Preview: Hull KR

[Graham1]

This is where we miss Bateman on the right side defence. I also think Peet showed some inexperience today. Why didn’t he try to shore up the right hand side at half time as everybody could see that was our weak link. KPP positional play defensively is clueless and King just can’t tackle..

On the attacking front our go forward is slow and poor. Throw in an off day for French and Field and it’s not hard to see why we lost. Early days yet but I fear Peet is going to earn his money this season. Hopefully we can put a few things right against Wakefield this Friday.

[Barney841]

I thought our defence was shocking today, no line speed, not wrapping the ball up and falling off tackles.
Thought our forwards today were awful, think we looked weak when singleton and Byrne come on

[Sutty]

First game of the season, only one pre season game for the first choice first team, lots of rusty things and plenty of work to do.

That said, definitely no cause for concern, no need to knee jerk panic and no need for the negativity and (imo) OTT criticism.

[southportcdm]

Disappointing if not totally unexpected given our previous form over there. Some promising signs from Cust, KPP and Wardle. Hopefully King can sort out his defence because he and Bevan couldn't cope with SKD. Opposition teams now know that they can negate some of the threat from Bevan/Jai by pinning us into that right hand corner. King's offloads in attack will prove useful be we can't have him costing us more points than he contributes. I'm sure most will agree that the props/hookers as a combined unit were just not good enough going forward but we all knew that anyway didn't we? I'm not under the impression that HKR have a particularly dominant pack but we were struggling to make half way on each set. If we don't make good use of the Bateman cap space we'll not challenge for a trophy in either competition.

[Exiled Wiganer]

While I don’t doubt that we will be entertained this year, and that we will make the play offs, this has been a dispiriting day for the club. Having seen Saints beat Penrith away with something to spare, I have been wondering how many years it would take us to reach their level. Could we be as good by, say 2025?
Looking at the 17 who played today, I think Field, French and maybe Havard (all of whom we may lose to the NRL by then, of course) would be good enough. Smithies seems to have stalled, sadly. KPP is going, and Faz will be too old. Marshall is pretty good, so we can add him into the mix. But I can’t see anyone else being good enough. There are some things that we can do, such as improve conditioning (presumably somebody remembers enough physics to realise that force is speed times mass). So, that means we need to recruit far better, and bring through better players, and hope Peet is capable of getting the most out of them (and all the signs are that he can). Maybe Hill, Forber, Eckersley and so on will be a golden generation?
Is 2025 too soon to go from being a side who on their could beat anyone in a one off if everything goes to plan, to one which is actually week in, week out a strong team?

[moto748]

First game of the season, only one pre season game for the first choice first team, lots of rusty things and plenty of work to do.

That said, definitely no cause for concern, no need to knee jerk panic and no need for the negativity and (imo) OTT criticism.

This. We weren't great, Field and French were poor, King looked a liability at times... but I trust MP to sort it.

[DaveO]

Disappointing if not totally unexpected given our previous form over there. Some promising signs from Cust, KPP and Wardle. Hopefully King can sort out his defence because he and Bevan couldn't cope with SKD. Opposition teams now know that they can negate some of the threat from Bevan/Jai by pinning us into that right hand corner. King's offloads in attack will prove useful be we can't have him costing us more points than he contributes. I'm sure most will agree that the props/hookers as a combined unit were just not good enough going forward but we all knew that anyway didn't we? I'm not under the impression that HKR have a particularly dominant pack but we were struggling to make half way on each set. If we don't make good use of the Bateman cap space we'll not challenge for a trophy in either competition.

Agreed. The Bateman saga has left us with a hole. Presumably the club thought Faz and KPP would be OK in the 2nd row but not on that evidence. KPP was of course played at centre a lot so hasn’t gained the back row experience he otherwise may have but I think it’s already obvious we need the addition of a tough experienced player in the back row. Plenty of people said that after Bateman left but sometimes the club is guilty of believing it’s own propaganda (for want of a better word) convincing itself players will be good enough who aren’t really. It’s been too slow to act on this one. They knew Bateman wanted out at the world cup but of course having filled the quota with some squad players like Miski could not scout a replacement when the world cup was on from say, PNG. Which means any player we can get must be British so I can’t see it happening.

[Exiled Wiganer]

First game of the season, only one pre season game for the first choice first team, lots of rusty things and plenty of work to do.

That said, definitely no cause for concern, no need to knee jerk panic and no need for the negativity and (imo) OTT criticism.

This. We weren't great, Field and French were poor, King looked a liability at times... but I trust MP to sort it.

I trust him to make the team entertaining and get a lot out of the players available to him, but, sadly, as far as the pack is concerned you can’t put in what God’s left out.

[PF Warrior]

To many mistakes and poor discipline cost us that game.

[pearsy]

How come nobody hardly mentioned Smith kicking if you are not turning 4 into six you will always behind the 8 ball