Re: Super 8's Game 2: Wakefield Away : Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:21 pm  

As an Halifax fan, a very similar end of season scenario developed with Karl Harrison in charge.

Re: Super 8's Game 2: Wakefield Away : Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:23 pm  

If Gaskell is done then we haven't got a cat in hells chance.

Re: Super 8's Game 2: Wakefield Away : Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:33 pm  

Embarrassing watching that game. Looked like an amateur team at times.

Re: Super 8's Game 2: Wakefield Away : Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:36 pm  

Today started badly when I went to the bulls ticket office from Manchester at about 1.15-1.30 to pick up my tickets to be told they've aleready gone to wakey no problem my fault for not coming early. Went to wakey to pick them up only to be told they've not arrived check back about 2.30-2.45 ok fine ight have beaten the coach , 5mins to kcikoff I checked again still none so had to ring the bulls to see where they where (I will ring my surperviserwho took them and ring you back) 2 to kick off I get a call to say she isnt answering and I will just have to pay again and try and claim it back FFS I'm now out £66 plus £60 for tickets I've not got.

Then to get in and watch that total shower get turned over, the first half was diabolical waket whereby brilliant but we where woeful no defensive structure no spread from their ptbs and we had just kicked off, they looked knackered by half time it was to late,needs a drastic change otherwise we will see the se agaiant Salford, if gaskell is out we are done for,and why include seijka he hasn't played for ages and addy looks settled with gaskell, blythe recently is no use nor ornament, crossley seems no better than samir who has been left in the cold, we have a huge squad which we don't use we could have saved the wage for something else but no, if we don't go up and fail with a whimper Jimmy needs to go, all the big games we have had the bottle hasn't been there,alright saying we have a squad full of sl players but they aren't playing like sl players lauaki was our main go forward , our wingers didn't getbroight into the game not sure if caro actually touched the ball.

The worst team in sl turned us over very easily and that has me worried very worried we now need to beat another sl team plus Leigh and Halifax and on that performance I dontthink that's feasible

Re: Super 8's Game 2: Wakefield Away : Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:42 pm  

Gaskell let you down today. I hope he is OK as he is fantastic in attack but he was massively at fault for the 1st two tries before going off injured. Really set the tone at the start of the match and got Wakefield on a roll that didn't end until the match was effectively over. Although Siejka was no better when he came on. Gaps between Gaskell/Siejka and Purtell were exploited all game. I hope Rowley was taking notes!

Re: Super 8's Game 2: Wakefield Away : Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:45 pm  

I said way before these 8s started that nobody would switch places and I still believe that. The pace of the championship is too slow, you can't just flick a switch and immediately start playing at SL pace.

Having said that, I think Lee Gaskell must have broken several mirrors in Wakefield at some point, because the last two times he's played there he's only lasted a few minutes before picking up serious injuries.
What is even more disappointing than today's result is the fact that Lee will most likely miss the rest of the 8s, which means our season will probably fade out with a whimper.

Re: Super 8's Game 2: Wakefield Away : Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:49 pm  

Its not just the pace. We're not used to playing against a half decent half back.

Re: Super 8's Game 2: Wakefield Away : Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:53 pm  

The 1st half tactics were a shambles. Lost count of how many times we kicked on the 4th and every time it was right down the full backs throat. We were down by 3 or 4 scores and we were still doing the same thing. Clueless tactics from Lowes.

Re: Super 8's Game 2: Wakefield Away : Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:59 pm  

As I feared rather than as I hoped. The bottom line is that instead of coming out like kings of the world and imposing ourselves on the opposition, we looked frightened to death. Whether it is Lowes' fault, or the players just had a huge inferiority complex, or a mix of both, i don't know, but in that first quarter we were literally shoiting our pants, headless chickens, bad choices, poor positioning, basically not doing any of the things we have been good at.

We didn't believe we were as good as them and it showed. Nobody was on the field to shake them up and lead from the front. Anything that happened after that first 15 minutes was to me irrelevant, as we had lost the game. You can't tell anything from the last three quarters of the debacle.

Wakey in contrast did look as if they had an arrogance about them, and came out with confidence. Maybe this could have been dented but instead we just encouraged it and the net result was the disaster we saw.

Gaskell goig off was not a factor as a comeback was already highly improbable, but he was not to blame for any of the tries, and indeed got crocked being the only man attempting to prevent a score, on our line. The pack was largely to blame, as they got monstered in that opening, and we literally never saw the ball, and never stopped anything Wakey did.

I reckon that is our playoffs finished, If we had ambitions to go up then we had to beat some SL teams and Wakey were the obvious scalp to target. Instead we shipped another half century. And no doubt lost Gaskell for the remainder too, if initial reports of coughing up blood and being rushed to hospital are accurate.

Shame really, because we did not see the real bulls today, and we are pretty unrecognizeable from the shower that trotted out today when we play with belief and confidence. The key is belief and confidence. How you instil it, I wouldn't know, it is part of the coach's job, but if in their heads the players are convinced the opposition is much better than them, then you are gonna lose.

It wasn't so much that we got beaten by a SL team - Wakey were correctly favourites, and have the financial advantage etc yadda yadda. It was how far away from being at the standard Wakey are we made ourselves look. We looked literally nowhere near, and so let ourselves down very badly.

Re: Super 8's Game 2: Wakefield Away : Sat Aug 15, 2015 5:01 pm  

As the saying in Scotland goes, that was Pure Pish