Paul Cullen's thoughts on Friday nights game : Tue May 05, 2009 3:52 pm  

Paul Cullen from today's press conference now on the Official Site

Without doubt the game on Friday was the most disappointing performance since I've been at the Club and one I accept full responsibility for. It has been my team since the day I was offered the job and I'm dealing with what I've got.

Ironically we have hammered the players on defence sincel I came here but on Friday it wasn't good enough, Barrow bullied us all over the pitch. We never underestimated them, they were rough and tough and we failed to take on their forwards who won the collision time and time again. When we did get possession we squandered chances with lame kicks and ineffective passes which drained the players' confidence. I made changes during the game and I will for Thursday.

At the moment Halifax and Barrow are head and shoulders above any team in this league. We're in a tough fight and a few of the players are starting to realise this. The current squad has to keep working hard and behind the scenes we are looking to bring players in but so are lots of clubs and it may not happen overnight.

I'm concerned with this theory that we are a full-time club, it simply is not the case. We hold daily training sessions but without a full squad as players have their own work commitments. It may be that we have to follow the examples of Halifax and Barrow and train at night times. We are perceived to be the ‘golden boys' of the Championship and this seems to act as incentive to every team we play.

The 70 - 0 victory over Toulouse simply served to paper over the cracks and the game at Whitehaven will undoubtedly be a tough encounter as they are very proud of their performances at the Recre and my returning as a former coach will no doubt fire a few players up.

We've picked up a few injuries with Dean Gaskell out for six weeks with a double fracture of the cheekbone, Toa Kohe Love has a reoccurrence of his knee injury and Scott Yates damaged his ankle ligaments in the Reserves game with Sheffield. Added to that we are missing Richard Fletcher, who is seeing a specialist about his reoccuring hamstring , and Iain Morrison and Tim Hartley who appear to have hit a wall in their comeback from injury.

: Tue May 05, 2009 4:12 pm  

That's a good honest response from from PC. He clearly sees the problem, and that's very encouraging, and it's good to hear that he's looking to do something about it.

Like he says, it may take time to find the players we need.

: Tue May 05, 2009 4:38 pm  

Not too good on the injury front though. Just as we think we're getting players back, Fletcher, Yates and Gaskell are on the injured list and it would appear Hartley and Morrison have no comeback dates at present - could be 2 weeks?

: Tue May 05, 2009 4:43 pm  

vikings 4 ever wrote:

Not too good on the injury front though. Just as we think we're getting players back, Fletcher, Yates and Gaskell are on the injured list and it would appear Hartley and Morrison have no comeback dates at present - could be 2 weeks?

According to Beano, in the TIW forum, we're looking to sign Jamie Foster on loan from St Helens, when Tyrer's loan spell is over.

I don't know how he knows this.

: Tue May 05, 2009 6:01 pm  

It's good that he's confirmed that you don't have a full time squad. This is important when fending off those taunts of "You are a FT squad and you lost blah blah blah". I for one did think you had a FT squad. In my humble opinion - you have the right man in Cullen. He will pull the squad up by the bootstraps and make the necessary acquisitions next year.

: Tue May 05, 2009 6:18 pm  

littlerich wrote:

It's good that he's confirmed that you don't have a full time squad. This is important when fending off those taunts of "You are a FT squad and you lost blah blah blah". I for one did think you had a FT squad. In my humble opinion - you have the right man in Cullen. He will pull the squad up by the bootstraps and make the necessary acquisitions next year.

I think, given the level of the salary cap in the Championship, it would be nigh on impossible to assemble a completely full time squad anyway.

: Tue May 05, 2009 8:36 pm  

That's what you want from a coach, honesty and the knowledge that whole club is pulling in the same direction and grafting hard.

On another note, did Fev go full time this year?

: Tue May 05, 2009 8:38 pm  

PC being fair and honest to the fans.

We are in a league with plenty of heart and we need to find our heart which will take a wee bit of time yet.

It must be uncomfortable for the players at the moment because Paul has now taken control and looks like a re build of a squad is on the cards soon.

Then again you would think the players would double their efforts to keep at the club wouldn`t you ??? ( jumping the gun there as it might be another problem all together behind the scenes)

Yet again another mystery of Widnes RLFC whats going wrong and why is it not being fixed ??

: Wed May 06, 2009 9:22 am  

As someone who supported Widnes's bid for SL franchise, I come in peace.
But the remarks from Cullen are eerily familiar to us Warrington fans.
When he talks about defence, we only have to remember the inept defence tactics he employed at the HJ.
Despite that, best of luck at the next franchising - I miss the derby games.

: Wed May 06, 2009 11:55 am  

Richeastender wrote:

As someone who supported Widnes's bid for SL franchise, I come in peace.
But the remarks from Cullen are eerily familiar to us Warrington fans.
When he talks about defence, we only have to remember the inept defence tactics he employed at the HJ.
Despite that, best of luck at the next franchising - I miss the derby games.

The most worrying aspect is our attack is much worse than our defence.