Match Analysis - Wakefield

We started the game extremely physical and in all honesty it was like watching a cup tie not a league game.
Giants went out with clearly no game plan other than 'do what you can' we seemed to play the most of the game spoiling Wakefields game. Broughy killed us with the kick and was almost killed himself by a dodgy tackle (although despite what the whinging tw@ behind me said it wasnt a spear tackle just a bad one)

There was plenty of passing the ball about but today we lost due to ourselves. A good handfull of times the game was ours for the taking but stupid handling errors cost us. (Ill get onto the two bell ends in a min)
It seems to me like we have a team full of wannabe legends who seem more interested in pulling of the 100metre run, or the back hander pass as opposed to the basics of the game.

Drew was a class apart today and i was fair surprised he didnt get Trins MOM. Today he showed how well he can play - and after weeks out.

Thorman is a to$$er who should be stripped of his captaincy imo. He is supposed to lead by example but no - what does he do. And you couldnt make this up! 20 metres out from our line he mouths of at Ganson, Ganson moves the play 10 metres forward, Thorman mouths off again off he goes. I mean come on, he is supposed to lead by example and he behaved like a child. 2 points to Wakey thank you very much.
Robbo is a person end as well, 20 metres out again and he mouths off, Ganson moves play forward, Robbo mouths off again Ganson calls him over Robbo tells him to f*** off - Red card, seeyou Robbo.
Griffin decides he wasnt right keen on getting tackled so smacks (Sculthorpe i think) in the mouth. Bye Griffin come back in ten minutes.

I mean come on, 3 sendings off 2 for dissent and 1 for fighting, Robbo will no doubt get a few matches ban now too.

Still, all in all it was a good, hard and well fought game today. Not bothered we lost just good to see us start to put effort back into our games. That is one thing you cant fault the lads for - passion - there was plenty of that on the field today.

28 - 26 Wakefield.

To be honest I thought it was one of our worst performances I've seen all season. The main reason we nearly won was because Wakefield were also rubbish and the ref did us a favour sending Robinson off, as he was having has worst game in a claret and gold shirt that I've seen.

If Wakey are a play-off side then the standard has fallen this season, which is even worse for us. We looked no better without Sharp than we did with him and although it's only one game, the signs are we are going to seriously struggle until we get a new boss in.

I do wonder if the right person was sacked.

I wonder if you would have given the same report, if we had won 22 - 26 which it should have been if Ganson had ended the first half on the hooter instead of 2 tackles later after they had scored.
Also the Brown tackle on Brough, I will have to see it again on a replay to be certain, but to me it seemed a perfectly good hard tackle ending in a body slam with Brough losing the ball, I think we picked the ball up and scored (not sure), but disallowed and penalty to Wakey, I think we were badly done to.
Also Wakefield were never square at the play-the ball and Ganson never pulled them up once for it as far as I can remember.

Sturl, I take great exception tto your description of both Thorman and Griffin.

Sculthorpe punched Griff in the face. OK, he shouldn't have retaliated but he did. To repeat that, Sculthorpe hit first.

Thorman had an excellent game. I'll agree, he shouldn't have bad-mouthed Ganson, and was sturpid to do it twice, but as Captain he has the right to talk to the referee. However, we don't know what was said.

Thorman tackled , ran the ball out of the in-goal area, kicked superbly, passed the ball getting thte backs involved. Without him we would have been totally devoid of attacking ideas, instead of just lacking them.

Why not have a go at Robinson? As a supposed ball-player he may as well have not been on the pitch.

Or Cudjoe? Who did nothing wrong?

Come on Stu, comment fairly and without predjudice or not at all.

Ivor C&G Scarf wrote:

Sturl, I take great exception tto your description of both Thorman and Griffin.

Sculthorpe punched Griff in the face. OK, he shouldn't have retaliated but he did. To repeat that, Sculthorpe hit first.

Thorman had an excellent game. I'll agree, he shouldn't have bad-mouthed Ganson, and was sturpid to do it twice, but as Captain he has the right to talk to the referee. However, we don't know what was said.

Thorman tackled , ran the ball out of the in-goal area, kicked superbly, passed the ball getting thte backs involved. Without him we would have been totally devoid of attacking ideas, instead of just lacking them.

Why not have a go at Robinson? As a supposed ball-player he may as well have not been on the pitch.

Or Cudjoe? Who did nothing wrong?

Come on Stu, comment fairly and without predjudice or not at all.

Dave i understand completely what you are saying but i think you have missed my point.

I agree, today i saw flashes of the brilliance i know Thorman is capable of. But i feel that as captain he should lead by example and should know much much better. By doing what he did 20 metres out was a complete disregard of the effort that had been previously put in and it showed just how arrogant an carefree a side we have become. Lets not forget Thorman has plenty of years experience and should know better. In terms of questioning the referee there are ways of doing this. I was sat right in that corner and everyone could see what he said and ill tell you that is not the way to question a referee.
I did have a go at Robbo mate, the swear filter made it look as though i called him a 'person end' which of course was not the 'end' i intended.
In all honesty i think we played better once Robbo went off, he for me today was a liability.

Griffin - It might just be me but from the off i could see he was fired up for kicking off. I predicted it within the first minute.

I dont know where you got i was having a go at Leroy? If one thing Sharp can be proud of is our youngsters - although Kirkmond had a bit of a drop - a - ball - a - thon.

My analysis was a bit off the cuff but i do stand by it Dave and feel that it on the whole reflects my opinion of the game today.

On the whole we played with all the passion, no game plan and hell bent on spoiling Wakefields tactics whilst playing as physically intense and often sloppy as possible.
I suppose we looked like 17 Superleague players playing our first game in 3 years. Ill disciplined, sloppy, hard but with passion.

totally disagree sturl
griff was mom for me
thorman was back where he belongs and good to
ganson got on the giants backs after the brough tackle(brough should play football with that acting,trying to get a man sent off)and totally caned us,he should be dropped from refing after the try on half time

I got told Mr. Cummings was there himself, so let's see if anything happens to I am the best Ref Ganson

Mandy Giants Fan wrote:

I got told Mr. Cummings was there himself, so let's see if anything happens to I am the best Ref Ganson

If Cummings was there Ganson will get a medal for the way he handled the game. It was staright out of Cummings's top drawer of incompetency - just like Cummings himself.

You see and maybe i just see things differently but i dont think Ganson had it in for us. There was plenty of times we were off side and he didnt pull us.
Re the try at 1/2 time i dont know what will happen there, but i didnt know anything about that until reading this, i was sat in the main stand and didn't hear the hooter i have to admit.

In terms of Ganson usually for me he comes way down at the bottom of the ref pool but yesterday whilst it was a scabby game it had the ingredients to be nothing more than what the amateur GB game turned out to be in France. A mass brawl. For such a high tension game i dont think Ganson did that bad.

Bostock - Aside from his card i agree Griffin had a great game. Then again aside from Thormans mouth he had a great game my mom would probably have gone to Skando though, or Brown.

sadly I`ll go with Matt -well similar

Whilst commendable -how the devil we got back into the match -I dont know !

We were like a rudderless ship -make it up as we go along - and whilst it doesnt matter / is understandable - there was plenty grit and fire - but a lack of guile / and too many basic mistakes to pose a real threat

Someone in my view (coach) has to start with what he has (some talented players ) and gel them into a professional "COMBINATION" -a unit that plays together
I sense recently that what we had towards the end of last season HAS GONE -and consequently so has JS

Luckily -no relegation -so back to the drawing board !

I have a feeling though that some wont have the patience - and like Gatis -if there are loopholes I can see them being exploited before long
We`ll see!

penninegiant wrote:

sadly I`ll go with Matt -well similar

Whilst commendable -how the devil we got back into the match -I dont know !

We were like a rudderless ship -make it up as we go along - and whilst it doesnt matter / is understandable - there was plenty grit and fire - but a lack of guile / and too many basic mistakes to pose a real threat

Someone in my view (coach) has to start with what he has (some talented players ) and gel them into a professional "COMBINATION" -a unit that plays together
I sense recently that what we had towards the end of last season HAS GONE -and consequently so has JS

Luckily -no relegation -so back to the drawing board !

I have a feeling though that some wont have the patience - and like Gatis -if there are loopholes I can see them being exploited before long
We`ll see!

Sounds as though i was better off on my day out than going to Wakey Rod, To be honest i wasn't expecting much from the team and i dont think we are going to get much change this season to be honest, I'm not bothered about that particularly as i feel our season has been over for some time, I just hope that when K Davy makes his choice he gets some one who can make them jump a bit , I really feel we need a complete new start and i hope whoever gets the job is not afraid to drop the big name men if they are not performing ( Murphy style ) Obviously I can't comment on the game but it sounds like a typical derby type affair, The one thing i do feel sure about even though i wasn't there is that it would not have been any better had Sharp still been here , if that was the case we wouldn't have been in the position we are, A new coach worth his salt will be able to recognise the dead wood and the non triers and hopefully get rid of them.

I totally agree with that Bo, although I didn't see the Wakey game myself, it sounds like it was more like a St Trinians outing.
We do need somebody with a bit of nounce and good guidance.
Deffo give the dead wood and non-triers the elbow, but equally bring that missing talent back to the once decent players who, through one reason and another, have lost their way.

Can i just ask - was it just me or did anyone else find the game actually quite entertaining?

Sturl wrote:

Can i just ask - was it just me or did anyone else find the game actually quite entertaining?

It was entertaining because of the comeback and the rough and ready stuff at the beginning. It was entertaining because of the play acting and the mistakes by both sides and of course the ref, but the skill levels from both clubs was around the NL level, Saints or Leeds would have put 50 plus points on either side and both sides would have been lucky to register more than a single try.

Taken from Giants RL:

GIANTS ASK FOR INVESTIGATION AND PAY TRIBUTE

Giants Managing Director Richard Thewlis has clarified for www.giantsrl.com the club's stance after the incident packed local derby at Belle View yesterday.

"Immediatley after the game I asked Jim Smith (RFL Match Commissioner ) to look into the events surrounding the hooter issue at half time. Clearly the
hooter blew a few times before the referee chose to call time off so its fair to assume that he or his officials didn't hear it and that is not the cause of our complaint. That centered upon the hooter at full time being blown using a PA linked system and being heard by all much clearer and the referee could then blow immediately. Our issue is then if that method was available to the wakefield timekeeper - and was clearly a far better method as evidenced by the referee hearing it on first sounding - why was it not used in the first half ? Given the tightness of the game and the reaction of those Giants supporters in the stand and side on terrace its only right that we asked Jim to put the incident on his report, which he assured me he would do and then no doubt it will be referred to the compliance unit."

Whilst on the subject of Wakefield a 'sore' Thewlis paid tribute to the band of walkers that trekked across to raise funds for the Talentbuilder initiative and Forget Me Not Trust.

"It was a magnificent achievement by all 30 who walked to get to Belle Vue" commented Thewlis.

"It's a tough ask mentally and physically and I pay tribute to all who took part and thank those behind the scenes for helping the logistics. All who started it
finished it (some in better states that others!) and it's something we can all be proud of. I look forward to reporting the exact amounts we raised in the not too distant future as the walkers now beging collecting their monies in."

Sturl wrote:

Can i just ask - was it just me or did anyone else find the game actually quite entertaining?

yes very,i like to watch and good rough and tough game and for once this season the forwards went forward.
just one point no one has mentioned,for me thorman and brown played well together when robinson was sent off,they linked the forwards and go forward play well.
personally i would give them more time together.(sorry luke but you are to much of an individual for me)
do you think it was to much of a coincidence we played better with luke sent off???

bostock wrote:

Sturl wrote:

Can i just ask - was it just me or did anyone else find the game actually quite entertaining?

yes very,i like to watch and good rough and tough game and for once this season the forwards went forward.
just one point no one has mentioned,for me thorman and brown played well together when robinson was sent off,they linked the forwards and go forward play well.
personally i would give them more time together.(sorry luke but you are to much of an individual for me)
do you think it was to much of a coincidence we played better with luke sent off???

we will find out about it over the next couple of weeks as robbo will be sidelined

I thought Robisnon was very ineffective. And I'd like to sadden Ponner by saying that I thought Thorman had a very good game [discipline aside].

Yes, it was a good game to watch for its intensity. However, as has been said, it did lack top drawer skill.

Ivor C&G Scarf wrote:

I thought Robisnon was very ineffective. And I'd like to sadden Ponner by saying that I thought Thorman had a very good game [discipline aside].

Yes, it was a good game to watch for its intensity. However, as has been said, it did lack top drawer skill.

sometimes a hard faught scrappy game is better for its closeness , rather than a perfect performance in a one sided game

I thought the intensity was there on Sunday and we looked more dynamic, however the quality of our passing especially in attacking postion often lost us the momentum that the forwards had given us.