: Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:21 pm  

Again, echo most of what has been posted on here so far.

My two penneth:

Halley, Kopzcak and Whitehead all looked good today.
Halley has pretty much made that spot his own now and it's difficult to see him been shifted.
Kopzcak looked like a young Mr Fielden yesterday, some of the hit ups and defensive hits were immense.
Whitehead built on last week and looks to have a tasty off load on him.

As others have said a great team performance yesterday.

On the flip side I thought Deacon was pretty poor. I too watched him and thought he looked like a player low on confidence. He was probably near the top of the error count, something IMO you shouldn't be seeing from a scrum half.
Rinaldi (in particular) and Jefferies looked much better kicking in general play.

Also, Platt. Where do we go with him? I can only see him getting in if we have a bad injury run. Given that he has two years of his contract left, it leaves us in a tricky situation.

: Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:28 pm  

Oh also:

Thanks to; 1) The guy on the gate who let WB Jnr in for nowt (It paid for my beer ) 2) The wire fan that gave WB Jnr a sweet necklace on the way out, needless to say he wants to go every week now!

I also haven't seen those for years!!! Sweets from yesteryear, grand!

PS - Apologies for slight thread drift.....

: Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:28 pm  

Wigan Bull wrote:

Also, Platt. Where do we go with him? I can only see him getting in if we have a bad injury run. Given that he has two years of his contract left, it leaves us in a tricky situation.

Further enhancing the bloody stupid decision to offer him a three year extension in the first place.

: Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:30 pm  

mystic eddie wrote:

Further enhancing the bloody stupid decision to offer him a three year extension in the first place.

It certainly is looking like the wrong decision at the moment.

Who, knows he may find his niche somewhere yet........here's hoping anyway!

: Mon Jun 15, 2009 3:27 pm  

Platt is a good player, but his confidence is low due to the hammerings he's taken as a result of his well-publicized "brainfarts".

As a result of these, he will now be forever condemned by certain fans even if he played like a god for every remaining game of his career, they will never accept him.

But they have no say in the decisions. It is not a bad decision to keep on a current international, relatively young, speedy, try-scoring back. It isn't as if we have a surfeit. Also we keep reading how Halley's on his way anyway, and we can't keep him whatever we do etc. so where would that leave Platt?

: Mon Jun 15, 2009 3:34 pm  

I've heard a rumour that Platt will be playing for Cas next season.

: Mon Jun 15, 2009 3:36 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Platt is a good player, but his confidence is low due to the hammerings he's taken as a result of his well-publicized "brainfarts".

As a result of these, he will now be forever condemned by certain fans even if he played like a god for every remaining game of his career, they will never accept him.

I agree with this. It was evidenced best for me at Cas earlier this season, when Platt did really well and made a number of breaks. The woman behind me continued to blame absolutely every Bulls mistake on Platt. That seems to be the general consensus now.

While I don't think he's ever going to be a world beater or a top player, he's not as bad as a lot of people make out. If it wasn't for those "brainfarts" and maybe a little bit too much sideways running, nobody would have a problem with him.

But it's difficult for anyone to argue that Halley isn't worthy of the spot at the moment, as the kid is doing damn well. Sadly, if Halley does leave at the end of the year and we don't bring in another fullback, despite Platt being decent, it would be a backwards step to have him as first choice.

: Mon Jun 15, 2009 4:18 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Platt is a good player, but his confidence is low due to the hammerings he's taken as a result of his well-publicized "brainfarts".

As a result of these, he will now be forever condemned by certain fans even if he played like a god for every remaining game of his career, they will never accept him.

But they have no say in the decisions. It is not a bad decision to keep on a current international, relatively young, speedy, try-scoring back. It isn't as if we have a surfeit. Also we keep reading how Halley's on his way anyway, and we can't keep him whatever we do etc. so where would that leave Platt?

I'm not one who has condemned him and I don't think you were including me in that statement.

I've said much the same as you in that the core skills seem to be there but he needed some focused coaching to hone and bring out the best of those.

Unfortunately as it stands, there doesn't seem to have been much improvement from Platt. (Granted he's been moved around a bit lately).

What's his best position?
Do we simply use him as a back up full back?

One thing is for sure, there's little point in using him as a bench warmer.

: Mon Jun 15, 2009 4:31 pm  

Wigan Bull wrote:

I'm not one who has condemned him and I don't think you were including me in that statement.

I've said much the same as you in that the core skills seem to be there but he needed some focused coaching to hone and bring out the best of those.

Unfortunately as it stands, there doesn't seem to have been much improvement from Platt. (Granted he's been moved around a bit lately).

What's his best position?
Do we simply use him as a back up full back?

One thing is for sure, there's little point in using him as a bench warmer.

Possibly loan him out to NL? Give him time to re-find his confidence. He is definitely a SL player when on-form.

: Mon Jun 15, 2009 4:34 pm  

tigertot wrote:

Possibly loan him out to NL? Give him time to re-find his confidence. He is definitely a SL player when on-form.

Possibly could be an option.
It certainly makes no sense for him to carry on what he's doing IMO.