All in all, and taking the average of everyone's comments on board, it seems it is fair to say that Carvell cost us that game. If we had had one more top prop to compete with the Cas pack, punch some holes and take out some steam, it might have been enough. Carvell sing off a week before the first game was therefore probably the key. I don't think Sammut's absence was key, as once your pack is beaten and you are overtired from defending then what could he have added?



Agree with Gale's balls-up on the last, which indeed I mentioned in my original post. I am worried about him. I have always supported Gale as he clearly had something, he can control a game, his positional kicking can be very good, etc. But I'd hoped he would come out this season having worked all off season on his playmaking and getting used to last tackle decisions and plays. Yet now I fear that whereas everyone we played last year seemed to be able to put us under decent pressure with most of their last plays, we are again looking deficient in that respect. Is it just that he can't consistently do it?



And yes I know we scored from one of his crossfield kicks (Purtell) but I can't overlook his shiite punt into touch when we had an overlap on the right - if you choose to do the flash punt to the winger that's fine by me as long as you nail it. And also that ridiculous pen he gave away (they somehow missed the kick) was not what I'm looking for in him in pressure situations.



We were home to Cas. Did Gale force a single dropout? Maybe he did, but I can't remember one.

I don't think Cas are that big but Addy, O'Brien & Donaldson must be 3 of the smallest pack men in the league.

It does not sound great for you guys. Interested to hear how our old boys of Foster and Gaskell went for you, but it's a pretty depressive time for a fan when relegation looks so certain.



In 2013 it would have taken 20 points to stay up.

2012 14 points

2011 13 points



And that's the lowest it has ever been.



It's going to take a normal team 7 wins to stay up. If you get a points deduction that's more like 9 wins.

[code

Club M C TK OF AT DG TB MT CB FT E MI P DR

Bulls 1076 169 328 8 9 0 16 53 3 0 13 38 8 31

Tigers 1489 211 237 7 15 0 38 48 10 0 9 16 7 23[/code

To me those stats show we are missing match sharpness not fitness. As sharpness increases the squad numbers drop due to niggles etc. We need numbers to counter this, but due to our lack of numbers on the bank balance (assuming that incoming transfer money has gone towards our future) thats a pipe dream. I'm just hoping that the more games we play the more likely we are to score points, hopefully enough to suprise enough teams!

To me those stats show we missed just over 10% of our tackle attempts.



Nowt changes.



Oh, and Danny Addy is already joint 2nd in Super League for missed tackles with 7! (or 15% of his attempted tackles)

Donna and O'brien are fine. Great tacklers



Olbisons on the other hand is pointless. Sorry but he doesn't bust tackles, I've never seen him do an offload ever, and he misses tackles! I know we're skint but surely we can find a back rower in the championship who can do one of the above!



I'm dreading Thursday as I can see Kirkmond and lauatiti (spelling) running throug Olbison and Addy on Thursday.

Metres, Missed tackles and clean breaks tell the tale there...



400 more metres, 10 clean breaks... but 38 missed tackles!? good grief

Absolutely spot on assessment of yesterdays game

I got the feeling sometimes it was the first time they had played with each other, Nas trying to offload to Kearney was comical and resulted directly in their try also goes for the knock on which resulted in another try, if you didn't laugh you would cry.



Gaskell was a positive his kicked was much better than Sammut especially for fosters try, gale really needs to stand up he didn't have a terrible game but he is the vice captain and the player FC wants to build a team around he has to show much more for me.



That game was so depressing, looked like half the stadium was collapsing and the amount of crap and rubbish outside the turnstiles and exits was shameful, so goes for the low number of fans, cas where close to outnumbering us at home.

Anyone else slightly worried Cummins doesn't seem to be noticing this constant trend of high missed tackle percentage. Last year I remember us having 3 of the top 5 players in missed tackles. It just doesn't seem to concern him as Addy will play the full 80 the next game while our only decent tackler gets substituted.



Just find it incredibly frustrating seeing Donno tackling everything that moves, getting taken off and see Olbison and Addy making pathetic attempts at tackles for 80 minutes. Addy seems to be another one Cummins seems to like and can see no wrong.

Only just realised why Ferguson wasn't playing, he's still serving his ban from the world cup.



if I remember correctly, he got a 3 game ban, one was counted in a friendly, so he will not be available on Thursday. Shame