Quote ="jonh"Jesus sometimes your hard work….its all well and good talking about what happenes in the opposition half but King was one of if not the key reason we were winning the field position battles.
It’s great talking about what happened in the opposition half but it doesn’t matter if you don’t consistently get there.
Marshall and Miski are excellent at this also again they contribute massively to the field position cause but it’s noticeable Miski isn’t having the same effect as he’s not running off Kings contact and quick play the balls.
It’s often said by coaches you finish sets how you start them.
We now have 2 centres who don’t make those hard yard runs, although Wardle has improved.
I would 100% guarantee all things being equal also there is less reliance on centres to pass to the wingers these days as the final pass more often comes from the fullback, having a centre that creates space too though is obviously an added bonus and Wardle is certainly one of those. If you want to claim otherwise then Miski scored 27 tries outside King and he only played for 3/4s of the season, he currently has 9 outside Keighran.
Also who is saying 3 losses has anything to do with King going back to Warrington, what people are identify is we are weaker for not having him, it’s been obviously that way all year. We have replaced one of our key metre makers out of our half with someone who can’t do it and we are playing the same way.
King is a huge miss this year, I do rate AK he was great at Catalans however he had the Wardle role there with others (Legurre sp) playing the grafters role. We need to support him more if we are going to get the best out of him though and change style we need more carries from his secondrow earlier in the tackle count, but again this is an issue given Isa would normally be the perfect player to slip into that role but is obviously out for the year.'"
Hard work?? It’s a difference of opinion. I genuinely respect your opinion it doesn’t mean that I have to agree with it. From your posts I suspect you are or have worked in RL coaching so I always absorb your posts and try to look outside of my own instincts. On this we just don’t agree. It’s not the end of the world we are both pretty encamped but
I do agree that we are missing Isa and we need more support from the second row. For me we were short from day one of the season in the SR particularly when you look at the number of props that we have on the books.
I didn’t hear much malaise when we won the WCC or the WC so I’m a little perplexed that a lot of fans are now saying that the primary reason for the team’s recent displays can be traced back almost solely to the absence of King
My thoughts are not just of the players skill set but also the cost of that player which others just choose to ignore.
The next few weeks will tell us if we are as good as some believe or maybe it’s just a reminder that life throws problems at you all the time and it’s how we respond that will tell us how good we really are. I still wouldn’t bet against us getting to the GF despite losing O’Neil, isa and possibly(?) Cooper for the season.
Interesting times Jon.
'"
