666 wrote:
So, why no criticism of our coach?
He regularly 'rests' Jermaine (who played out of his skin today in my opinion) but refused to substitute himself!
Perhaps all of his shouting took its toll on him as he was way off the pace. If we don't have any readily-available substitutes for Presley then we have no chance of staying up. Barry Eaton was leaden-footed today (apart from his try - which was made by Hutchinson and could have been scored by anyone after the hard work had been done) and both of the last two tries in the first half were scored in his sector of the pitch when he was unable to meet the pace of the Widnes players to even attempt to stop them scoring. Then what did he do? Shout, rant and rave again.
Can anyone explain why he played today in such an important game?
He's done wonders as a coach this season off the pitch but I believe that's where he should stay.
OK; we didn't lose any League points today, which is the only consolation for me but, as a player Barry lost any credibilty.
To play a game with 12 men in a semi-final is criminal.
Other 'posts' about how we can attract more support can only be answered by the comment: 'REDUCE THE ADMISSION PRICE'.
The rest of the team were good with great performances from several players but what's happened to Brendan Rawlins - if he loses any more weight then we might as well play him on the wing as, on today's and last week's performances, he couldn't break his way out of a paper bag at prop! Jermaine Wray made far more headway than Rawlins - it's a pity that HE doesn't play with the passion of Jermaine.
As usual, I await the criticism which I used to receive but, after driving 170 miles and paying to watch today's game then I feel that I need to have my say.
There's nothing wrong with having your say as long as you realise that others have the same right
I have to admit to being surprised by Barry playing and can only think he was resting players for the important "survival" games to come.
On the playing front, he didn't look at the races at the start, but by the end he was one of the best players on the pitch (in my opinion)
He made the angled run and gave the short pass that put Jermaine in
He saw Hutch on the wing, threw the long pass, ran to back him up, was in the right place to receive the return ball and score an excellent try.
I think he also threw the pass that made the last try.
These tries were not "gimmies", Widnes were desperate to keep us to nil.
His legs may be gone but he's still got the brain (but I wouldn't want him to play every week
)