The Voodooguru

I definitely don't blame Walker, nobody has 10/10 games every week, and he wasn't alone in being below par. If anyone has to take responsibility it has to be Muzz, it's his job to get the players ready and up for the game. If the whole team is playing badly then it has to be down to him. If our forwards are receiving the ball standing still, or are missing tackles then they need told or subbed. The Midlands coach has his team fired up and enthusiastic, they had done their homework on our plays and neutralised our attack set after set. We seemed to have no idea that Callum McLelland likes to take the line on and waved him through. Maybe if we had a ref that would have let us get a quick PTB we could have got some field position and got a roll on, but especially in the first half we played a lot of the game in our own half as they pinned us back with the big bombs and the wind at their backs. Predictably the wind dropped in the second half but we still struggled to get a lot of field position, and when we got into good positions we dropped the ball. I think it's tough calling Sammut out as he tried to make things happen, kicking out on the full aside I thought he had a decent game. His chip over the top took a wicked bounce which would have been a try and us within a score of them. They say not to over react whether you win or lose, Midlands have a decent team, they played well on the day and deserved to win. It's up to our lads to show the reaction in the next game, and Muzz to get them ripping it up. UTT

It's not acceptable to be out enthused like that. Midlands fully deserved the win and we were the masters of our own destruction. The amount of lazy attempted tackles was embarrassing. The referee was bad for both teams and by not stamping out the dirty stuff he ended up losing control. Scholey was very lucky to escape with a yellow, but one of the officials had to have seen the Midlands lad leave something on him off the ball, terrible officiating. As has been said, McNicholas was nowhere near MOM for me. Every part of our attack and defence was slow and ponderous. Looking for positives I thought the 3 new lads had decent games. Poor Galea being put outside Mossop was never going to get a pass though

I think our noisy neighbours have a bit more to worry about than our players. I'm sure Tabu will prove his worth in a blue & white jersey. I'm looking forward to seeing our new players integrated into our squad. Exciting times! We have cover for injuries and competition for places which can only be good, it's up to those not selected to work harder and when they get their chance to take it. Special mention to the BOD, the club keeps moving forward both on and off the pitch

Oh I've set a rouge thread off! To get my two penneth in. Kay was a very different animal to the likes of Fawcett, Kerr etc. He just used to glide and then accelerate through gaps you couldn't see. All of them were fantastic to watch. And agree Chris Taylor has that bit of something that classy centres have.

I'd like a Phil McKenzie, Tony Kay & Des Drummond in their pomp please! Or if I have to be sensible IMO I'd like another hooker that can lead us round the park pulling the strings. I know others will say we have Marwood & Saunders but I don't think either are at Matty's level or better yet at game management. A flying winger / fullback would be the other position we need strength in depth especially after Eccleston's devastating injury. Personally I have no problem with us going the Southern Hemisphere route as long as the lads coming in are better than what's on offer locally and they aren't here for a holiday. It takes a big commitment for lads travelling from Yorkshire 3 times a week and at a cost to the club in wages to attract them and travelling money, so bringing lads in that will live in the town and add to the community makes sense. Both us and Haven have great memories of some of our best players coming from the other side of the world. It's up to our local lads to roll up their sleeves and keep the jersey off them. If they are good enough they will. UTT.

I am shocked it has got to this stage tbh, he's supported the club over many years and deserves more than to be banned over something as stupid as a flags position. Surely there's some common ground to be had here with a member of the board and Andrew ffs.

Just a laal bit breezy marra, still t-shirt, shorts & flip flops weather up here. I know you southerners are a laal bit soft like! Seriously though it is windy and will affect how the game is played but I've seen games played in strong winds before, it's that judgement call at what point it becomes a health risk.

Awesome news, let's hope both visas are processed quickly. Welcome to Town to both the lads, won't be long before they are eating XL and saying "Eh" after every sentence. UTT

We have a full back at least and that will allow JS back into the halves. UTT

The crack at work was that training was cancelled on Tuesday as we couldn't even get enough for a football team. Serious stuff if it's true and we are struggling to field at team.

I agree, we were tapping the ball after a kick to touch and we were lined up so deep that the receiver of the ball was struggling to make it to the play the ball mark, so one tackle down and zero metres made. Surely you need a big drive and quick play the ball to get a fast defensive line on the back foot. And when you are playing against a bigger team on your goal line why do we wait for them to come to us? We were always taught to get at least a couple of yards off the line as quickly as possible. It's madness to me our line speed in our own ten metre as it seems so easy to score against us. Anyway I hope we can play somebody else at full back as my heart can't take Sammut at FB any more

Yesterday was a tough watch. Oldham played straightforward rugby very well and their bigger better players made a big difference. They made good yards, kicked well and their line speed and tackling was good. A different referee might have pinged them a lot more as he was as bizarre as they come for how and when he decided to blow for pens. We were off side and not square in tackles, but he wasn't consistent when he decided to blow, and what he penalised us for he often let Oldham away with. Oldham targeted our weakest defender and we really struggled to stop them in our own 15m. Our line defense was again very poor. For us despite the injuries and running out of players, players playing out of position etc I couldn't fault the effort from the lads. Bradley was well deserved MOM. Lets hope we can scrape a team together for next week as our injury situation is dire already. We will really miss Walker and Burns so fingers crossed they aren't as bad as feared. UTT.

I see there has been a "major step forward" in the borough park revamp. £235k has been released so plans can be drawn and planning submitted. I hope that the drawings are almost already done, as by the time a spade goes in the ground the money release deadline might have expired. I wonder if there will be a period where fans can both clubs can look at the plans and suggest improvements, or have they left it last minute on purpose so they can say "here it is like it or not as we have a deadline to meet"? I have to be honest in that when I came out of the Carnegie many moons ago I was enthused and sure that it was the future for both clubs. But I've completely lost faith in the project. Looking back at the website in February 2023 the update was "We can now report that our project has been allocated an initial fund of £50,000 from Allerdale Borough Council to complete work necessary to satisfy the final funding conditions. Within weeks this will enable us to begin to drawdown from the £6.4m and proceed with the real work of specifying the detail of the stadium. We will keep you posted at every stage! So the "within weeks" is now over 52 and there's still nothing to see other than a conceptual drawing that be be nothing like reality. I understand that there will be work going on in the background as they must have spent the £80k somewhere, but why say within weeks? In the last 18 months Town have gone from strength to strength, especially off the pitch. Will this shared version of Borough park allow us to keep growing? I understand DP is old and has high maintenance costs, but we are the masters of our own destiny there, I'm starting to wonder if the Borough park bus shelter project will stop that. Hope I'm wrong. UTT

The whole team were outstanding today. Henson going to hooker made a huge difference to our game, I know mad dog puts 100% in but Matty is wasted at 13. I don't want to start naming folk as every player was superb. It was a joy to watch after we started playing sets out. Some defensive frailties to work on, but it was nice to watch at times. If it wasn't for Aiye & JD the jam International select had nothing. Newton and Castle celebrating with the crowd when they went 16 up like it was over, and the Haven boys dancing with their tops off after 15 minutes.....then the wheels fell off in spectacular fashion The Ike is back home! UTT

Well deserved and thanks for all the hard work you put in Graeme. Good to see the club progressing both on and off the pitch. UTT