Re: Positives and negatives : Tue Dec 27, 2011 8:56 pm  

-VIKINGMAN- wrote:

Christ! All this over a friendly.

Positives

1. A game of rugby thank the lord.
2. Anthony mullally, Alex Gerrard and Ben Davies.
3. Anthony watts, you can tell he's class in only 8 minutes.
4. Scott Moore, if he keeps his head he will be great.
5. Widnes attendance, fantastic.

Negatives

None! It was a hit out that's all.

Just wait till the magic game

Re: Positives and negatives : Tue Dec 27, 2011 9:03 pm  

You have 3 years plenty of time to build,think you will finish above Salford and London Broncos in your 1st season.Swinton next up should get you back to winning ways.

Re: Positives and negatives : Wed Dec 28, 2011 12:24 am  

You should write off this season. The only games you should concentrate on are the "Local Pride" games (Wire, Saints and Wigan). They are the games that will bring in interest from the Widnes population. Use this time to bed in the core of your future squad and really go for it next season (2013) with some quality imports (you can bag off the likes of Ah Van et al and bring in a quality Aussie coach while your at it) whilst developing your own youth players pf course.

Re: Positives and negatives : Wed Dec 28, 2011 2:25 am  

THECherry&Whites wrote:

You should write off this season. The only games you should concentrate on are the "Local Pride" games (Wire, Saints and Wigan).

As well as being extremely patronising it also makes no sense at all.

Yeah, you're right, they have no chance but the should concentrate on possibly the 3 best teams in the league with a 2011 table finish of 1st, 2nd and 3rd?

I think everyone bar the most optimistic Viking knows it's going to be tough but to say, not bother trying except against the local games is daft.

Have a game plan, stick to it and see what happens, treat every game like a cup match and at the end of 2012 get rid of the deadwood.

Re: Positives and negatives : Wed Dec 28, 2011 11:09 am  

Exactly, people are forgetting we had a lot missing against wire as did Warrington obviously but with the below added we have a decent competitive squad that can match the bottom 5 sides I have no doubt.

Shaun Briscoe
Jon Clarke
Ben cross
Chris Dean
Rhys hanbury
Anthony watts (only played 8 minutes)
Simon finnigan
Dave Allen
Steve pickersgill
Cameron phelps (rumoured signing)
Sione kite (rumoured signing)

Re: Positives and negatives : Wed Dec 28, 2011 11:51 am  

THECherry&Whites wrote:

You should write off this season. The only games you should concentrate on are the "Local Pride" games (Wire, Saints and Wigan). They are the games that will bring in interest from the Widnes population. Use this time to bed in the core of your future squad and really go for it next season (2013) with some quality imports (you can bag off the likes of Ah Van et al and bring in a quality Aussie coach while your at it) whilst developing your own youth players pf course.

This is exactly what I am talking about.

I appreciate you are trying to be supportive but any suggestions of writing off this whole season based on one friendly are not just premature, they are ridiculous. We are, FWIW, not going to be world beaters next season. We all know this. We all know that even a playoff place is an unrealistic expectation. Other teams in the league have had a massive head start, and are mostly working with a similar squad to last season. They know each other, they've played with each other.

We will be fresh and new, and have not had time to really build in the way that top teams can. I.e. from a super league base.

That said, our expectations will not be massive and our victories will be relative. Not everyone can be fighting at the top, and teams which aren't do not "write the season off" as a result. They and we will enjoy being a part of super league, taking some scalps, and seeing our club at the top of the game again.

As for concentrating on the three biggest derbies, there is a certain logic to that but from the perspective of our aspirations beating teams like Wakefield and Salford will be more important than going down valiantly to these teams and losing everywhere else.

Re: Positives and negatives : Wed Dec 28, 2011 12:44 pm  

Chris Dalton wrote:

The real meal is to come. This wasn't even an hor d'oeuvres.

Was it the amuse bouche or rather some amusement with added boosh!!!

Nope.. just can't get it to work.

Re: Positives and negatives : Wed Dec 28, 2011 1:09 pm  

One of the big things for me was the fact that we didn't really tire... I mean they did get tired but it wasn't as if the players were out on their feet or anything.
Warrington moved us around really well and they have some gifted players... Ratchford marshalled them well, but they really spread the ball with pace and have a number of willing back-up players. Once again we saw how devastating dummy runners can be when employed correctly. As a squad, they have obviously trained together a great deal and I look forward to seeing Widnes play with equal measure of fluidity in the future but first things first...

I think this game would have been about fitness and revenue... from the players point of view it's just nice I guess to be let off the leash after doing a month of running up mountains over sand dunes, rowing competitions and go knows what else. Someone commented earlier last week that they had just started doing some ball work now so things should click a little more in place in the upcoming weeks.

I don't think anyone had a bad game.. I'm trying to not get drawn in on the excitement around Watts following one chip through but I thought he was just finding his feet when he went off which was a shame. He remains the player I'm most excited about.

Two things from the other board... I think Isa was struggling with cramp most of the match, he pulled up sharply letting Evans run past him for a seemingly easy try from the scrum.. he went down at least one other time and was constantly stretching before and after the miss. And I saw someone having a go at Craven for not being 'in position' to stop the try. From the scrum I think it's fairly standard for the FB to join the line which is why people scream for the kick and chase if they have a pacey winger.

Re: Positives and negatives : Wed Dec 28, 2011 1:11 pm  

Oh and I though Ah Van looked strong on a number of his runs, taking the first try out of the equation I thought he looked okay in that department too.

Re: Positives and negatives : Wed Dec 28, 2011 2:18 pm  

Dr Chim Richalds wrote:

Was it the amuse bouche or rather some amusement with added boosh!!!

Nope.. just can't get it to work.

Listen. I ran out of French with hors d'oeuvre. And I'm not even sure I used it correctly.