[uThe franchise issue has been known since the beginning of the season, and if anything off the field issues have made our case stronger in the recent months, so off the back of that renewed optimism, it would be hoped that performances on the field would improve - which is what Kear promised when he said we would be better by round 27 [/u

Last week we won because we kept hold of the ball and didn't give so many silly penalties away. Yesterday it sounded like our ball retention was awful and we were giving penalties away for fun. If you don't respect possession you wont win games regardless of the tactics. I would imagine Kear is as frustrated as the rest of us when the players keep dropping the ball or giving away stupid penalties. We have played more expansive stuff at times but only on the back of getting the basics right first.

well we are better than at the start of the season

Are we though? IMO one of our best performances was Catalans away in the 2nd round. 3 out of our last 4 performances have been woeful. That doesn't indicate to me we are getting better, neither does the fact that we still don't do the basics right and continue to offer nothing in attack.

I think one of the big issues is the instability of the squad.



To have a successful team, playing as a team, week-in week-out, is very important. In the 20 games to press how often have we fielded the same starting line-up 2 weeks in succession? It's been in the critical pivot positions too.



It would be interesting to know how many players have played in each position during this season. Fullbacks: Blaymire, Tony, Murphy? Hyde? Vievers...did Griffin play there once?



Getting any level of expansive rugby is difficult if you're not building communication and understanding with your team-mates.

Based on starting line ups:



[code+---------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| Position | Players |

+---------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| Fullback | Aaron Murphy, Josh Veivers, Matt Blaymire, Motu Tony |

| Winger | Dale Morton, Greg Johnson, Josh Griffin, Josh Veivers, Kevin Penny, Luke George |

| Centre | Aaron Murphy, Chris Dean, Josh Griffin, Luke George |

| Stand Off | Ben Jeffries, Gareth Moore, Jeremy Smith, Kieran Hyde, Tommy Lee |

| Scrumhalf | Jeremy Smith, Matthew Wildie, Sam Obst, Tommy Lee |

| Prop | Kyle Amor, Michael Korkidas, Paul Johnson, Paul King |

| Hooker | James Davey, Julien Rinaldi, Matthew Wildie |

| Second Row | Dale Ferguson, Frankie Mariano, Glenn Morrison, Kevin Henderson, Paul Johnson, Tyrone McCarthy |

| Loose Forward | Glenn Morrison, Stuart Howarth, Tommy Lee, Tyrone McCarthy |

+---------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[/code

hyde's played FB this year

Thanks for that

Shows how unsettled our squad is

Well Kyle Briggs and luke Gayle looked better than anything we have had at half back all season and the former only arrived on loan this week.

Amazing these threads start after a loss. There as been glimpses this season that our lads can play good rugby. Kear is still the right man. Come next season when we are still in Super LEague Mr Glover will give KEar some spending money and see where we are then.

If and its a big if we are still in SL next year, then there is no way I would let Kear loose with the full salary cap. No point paying 1.65m for better players to play 5 drives and a kick.



Kear has been the right man in the past, but is no longer. I admit the squad we have isn't the best, but he still picks the team, coaches it and decides what positions they play. You have to admit that there have been some baffling team selections and positional choices. Weird tactical decisions and little improvement in our attacking game or how we do the basics. All issues where the coaching team are ultimately responsible.