Lowes doesn't know what he is doing... : Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:16 am  

..and I say that purely based on the ridiculous decision to signal for two when we had field position five metres out from the opponents line and they were just reduced to 12 players.

Shocking decision on so many levels.

Re: Lowes doesn't know what he is doing... : Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:17 am  

mark_m wrote:

..and I say that purely based on the ridiculous decision to signal for two when we had field position five metres out from the opponents line and they were just reduced to 12 players.

Shocking decision on so many levels.

It was the one when we were 16-6 up that got me, and we should have been putting Catalans away.

Negative play.

Re: Lowes doesn't know what he is doing... : Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:20 am  

mark_m wrote:

..and I say that purely based on the ridiculous decision to signal for two when we had field position five metres out from the opponents line and they were just reduced to 12 players.

Shocking decision on so many levels.

Maybe he thought that we'd knock on the 2nd tackle again if we tapped it, but then again Lowes and thinking are not a common combination.

Re: Lowes doesn't know what he is doing... : Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:23 am  

Dave T wrote:

It was the one when we were 16-6 up that got me, and we should have been putting Catalans away.

Negative play.

Yes and that also just smacked of negativity and a lack of confidence.

Great isn't it.

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:23 am  

I understand what you're saying, but actually his starting line up took into account the weaknesses from the Saints performance - ie left hand defence needed strengthening and he achieved that by moving King onto the wing and bringing in Bridge.
Johnson didn't make the 17 (I don't think he was injured) as he was shown up for pace against Gilmour and realising he needed a big bench he kept 3 forwards on and had Blythe as either a forward or centre.

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:31 am  

fes wrote:

I understand what you're saying, but actually his starting line up took into account the weaknesses from the Saints performance - ie left hand defence needed strengthening and he achieved that by moving King onto the wing and bringing in Bridge.
Johnson didn't make the 17 (I don't think he was injured) as he was shown up for pace against Gilmour and realising he needed a big bench he kept 3 forwards on and had Blythe as either a forward or centre.

And the team played worse.

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:31 am  

The decision to go for goal was completely wrong.

The way both defences were performing meant the game was going to be decided by tries scored, not a close affair with points at a premium.

Field position was all important as neither side could prevent tries when the opponents got close to their line.

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:35 am  

Dave T wrote:

And the team played worse.

Dave - I'm not the coach but for me those were the right moves. I don't know what else I'd have done.
Certainly he couldn't keep the same line up - on lhs at least.

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:38 am  

fes wrote:

Dave - I'm not the coach but for me those were the right moves. I don't know what else I'd have done.
Certainly he couldn't keep the same line up - on lhs at least.

To be fair it's not the team line up that's the issue. That was a pretty good set of players out there last night. We are just not a team. In fact we are a much worse team than this time last year.

It is the managers job to create the team element, and he has failed miserably.

This isn't a 2 game losing streak.

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:45 am  

Agreed.

Better to have 13 average players playing as a team than 13 individuals playing as individuals.

Actually a couldn't point the finger at any one player last night.
Higham was good and bad (3 tries from 3 pens). Riley was found out for 3 tries, but did pull off a couple of 1 on 1's that stopped tries.

Morley and Carvell really got stuck in and caused problems - particularly in the first half.