Stepping back a bit from the game itself, We seem to have got a real gem of a coach who has instilled an attitude to each match and each other that is so refreshing and really reaping benefits. By and large we are watching the same players as we were last season yet the change is pretty amazing really.
On his arriving at the club he sat everyone down, coaches staff and players and got them all to talk through their lives and back histories which was an eye opener for many who thought they knew who they were working with, and that then started a bonding process and togetherness that built in pre season. We started together as a group, majored on a tight defence and battling for each other and slowly grew the attacking play that came on the back of that defensive dominance. Connor previously a rather disparate nomadic sort of character who didn't have a settled position was identified as the Lynch pin and coached by Brett into the full back roll, Sneyd and Reynolds are forming a good half back combination and despite what some say on here for me Houghton has experienced a new lease of life. So now the spine is starting to click as well. The team is still a work in process and injuries and the farce of next weekends international fiasco could set us back but I think that we are now at least on the right lines.
The personal hasn't really changed but the Hodgson, Ellis and Purtill team has instilled a belief and a belonging to the squad and when a junior or developing player like Wynne Scott, McNamara and Brown is called in they seen for the first time for years, to slot in seamlessly and get completely the need to not let their mates down. Most of all though the players seem to be listening and the way they approached the Leigh game shows that perfectly as it was a game that would have been seen as a bit of a gimme by the previous coaching staff but we worked all week on hitting them hard from the off and keeping the foot on the pedal throughout the game. When still a bit of a work in progress we faced Featherstone blew them away in the first half and then as we have seen for years at the club, sat back in the second half as if it were job done. Yesterday we just kept coming no one was selfish and going for glory we just stuck to our game plan and blew a team that has been reasonably competitive (and indeed took Catalans so close just 7 days before) away. We looked a bit sloppy in defending for a couple of their late tries but by and large we stuck at it throughout.
all I ever want to see is a team playing for us and each other I'm not holding my breathe but I am starting to enjoy watching the FC again.
