Giants v Warrington

The loss to Wire was disappointing, had it been a cracking game which we lost by the odd kick, 18-16 or similar then nobody would be overly concerned. What really worried me was our players reaction to adversity.

I personally thought Thaler was absolutely dire, I got the distinct impression there was a message being sent out to Baloo about criticising refs. The guy didn't do us for anything that wasn't a penalty, but he let Wire away with murder, countless times stepping back over the player in the ruck. Wires 10 was skinny ours was 11 or 12. Ratchford takes a long time to kick and stands deep when he does, Wires chasers were often 3,4 or 5 meters offside. Higham blocked someone on every kick of ours and there was a clear obstruction at a high bomb none of which were penalised - yet he saw Bruno make a block (which he did, it was a penalty) As for Ratchfords knock-on-athon which he gave as a try? I was speachless. The chant of "you don't know what you're doing" was so very wrong, he knew exactly what he was doing.

As players there is nothing you can do about that, as professionals you have to ignore it, which in fairness our lads did well in France the previous week. It is ok for me or any of us to get excited about such decisions, our tempers do not impact the play. Professional athletes have to be different, icy cool, a detached, winning mentality is needed. Our lads let what they could not control affect thier performance, understandable on a human level, but that will win us nothing. Danny Brough, Scott Grix, Robbo, Craig Kopczak, Ukuma Ta'ai and Larne Patrick all appeared to me to be badly affected by refereeing decisions, a petulance that brought back memories of the worst traits of Nathan Brown's days.

A worry and something Baloo needs to sort.

I think we are a much better team when Fielden plays, the biggest difference being his mental strength. I think he and Lunty are absolutely vital to our teams composure.

Agree with Bo and Jools,it was the manner of the defeat,not the loss itself.You only need to check the stats on metres made by their forwards compared to ours,and not just that,we lost the collision and the ground wrestle.We were totally unable to prevent a quick ptb.The way our forwards were knocked backwards at first contact was a reminder of the worst of NB's final season.We needed one of our own forwards to really give Wire some of their own medicine,but no one was up to the challenge.The stats of our own forrards make grim reading.Outcoached yet again by TS,who knew a quick ptb was vital,and not to get held upright in the tackle to allow a third man to join and stop the leg drive.

About McGillvary's defence,if his centre 'jams in' then he has to go in with him,otherwise if he hugs his touchline he will only leave a huge gap inside him.The problem is more to do with what's going on inside him.

Dont think Im alone on here as a poster who takes part competitively in sport on a regular basis ?

I do -Bo as well and Im sure many others

Ok -these days with me its the gentle side of table tennis --but cant go onto the table with a "well its a night out !" approach
And my team mates -fortunately- are the same or else Id feel disgruntled
Last season we got promoted "back" into Div 2 and though we KNOW darn well its above our standard - we still go out to compete ever game

The games we know we should win --we try to win easily to allow some "cushion "! against the "top" teams
The games that will be nip and tuck we work hard to take the spoils
The reajjy hard games -we still try our damndest
Bottom line -they all matter
We know there are teams that ARE better but we cant just lie down

But whilst we still enjoy playing we are well aware that our ages (all of us senior years) are a highly limiting factor and after hard matches we all "ache like hell" the morning after and puff and blow during the course of the game --but thats sport IMO

If its not for fun and a league -what is the point of discounting games
The very unpredictability of sport means youll win games you really ought not and vice versa
But if the max effort is put in --you cant have any self criticism other than you were off on the day

Thats what I think upsets such as Bo Jools DL and moi

I come free !!

But people (and times can be hard ) are spending their hard earned cash to watch lack lustre performances like last week (KD a fair amount!!!) from individuals who get paid "anyway" by their contract agreements

With performances similar to that at work Id have been sacked!

And ........... if its on "instructions" .........it really beggars belief
Rant over

If yer picked --get yer kit on .....and go out there to do THE JOB !!

Totally right mate, The Wolves forwards are no bigger or fitter or faster than ours, the difference was in the head, They believed they were better, so they were, We have beaten Leeds often enough for the team to go out believing they are at least as good, We know we can beat em, lets do it , and lets get behind them ,let them know we are there.