13 Sept: Super 8s - Huddersfield Giants v Warrington Wolves KO 3pm

[Dave T]

Monaghan has looked a coach in waiting for some time. He is part of the Warrington fabric and has done it all in the NRL. Agar should have been nowhere near the set-up. I agree Smith is a great coach but he needs to make some tough calls. Clark to 6 was ridiculous, the musical chairs in selection needs to be addressed. Like you mentioned with Ratchford, if he can't cement a single position then maybe he needs to be shifted on for someone who can. He has also bought Mr Versatile Kurt Gidley which isn't a good sign for the end to selection shuffling. 

I think Monaghan's credentials are being overstated somewhat, and I'm not sure how he can look like a coach in waiting for some time. I'm not a fan of jobs for the boys, especially when they took Briers onto the coaching staff, doing the same with Monaghan could be a major risk. We will see after a couple of years how he rates as a coach, but there is literally zero evidence of his coaching ability so far, not that I don't think he will do a good job. 

 

Smith likes utility players, so obviously will like Gidley, but personally I think your team should carry a couple of these max. In our squad he has played Russell, Penny, Evans, Ratchford, Monaghan, Wheeler, Clarke, Currie, Johnson, plus probably a few others in their non-favoured position.

[Scubby]

I think Monaghan's credentials are being overstated somewhat, and I'm not sure how he can look like a coach in waiting for some time. I'm not a fan of jobs for the boys, especially when they took Briers onto the coaching staff, doing the same with Monaghan could be a major risk. We will see after a couple of years how he rates as a coach, but there is literally zero evidence of his coaching ability so far, not that I don't think he will do a good job. 

 

Smith likes utility players, so obviously will like Gidley, but personally I think your team should carry a couple of these max. In our squad he has played Russell, Penny, Evans, Ratchford, Monaghan, Wheeler, Clarke, Currie, Johnson, plus probably a few others in their non-favoured position.

 

Exactly right, if you are playing all over different positions are you actually playing for your place if you under perform, or simply moved from that slot into another? 

[GIANTSTRIDES]

That was a very poor show from Wolves and coincided with a few Giants players coming back to a bit of form, It's difficult to say what's gone wrong for them but they still have a lot of good players, T Smith is a very good coach, he will be working to sort it, Maybe he is falling into the Nathan Brown system of swapping the whole team about to cover one injury.

 

Anyway the Giants are finding a bit of decent form at the right time, I think they could have given the best teams a good game today and it was certainly entertaining stuff they played. McGillvery looks stronger every game and Murphy is a quality player who tends to go under the radar, Hope they keep it up.

[meast]

well i didnt expect that!, that warrington monkey is firmly off our backs now.

 

im going to start with wire, i have a lot of time for a lot of their fans, going back to wembley and i feel for them because their team is a shambles, today they looked the most disorganised, disinterested, talentless, lazy, pathetic rabble i've ever seen from a warrington team, in fact from any team, and supporting Huddersfield for over 25 years ive seen a lot!

not even Hill can be excused, i rate him very highly and in my eyes he should be England captain, but today he was unbelievably poor, monaghan looks like an old man who has suddenly had his legs, and his heart, amputated! sandow looks like a pretty good way to ridicule the marquee ruling, clark looks like an amateur never mind MOS, the rest of them were just so poor and heartless it was a sad sight, ashton sims was comical!

summed up perfectly for me when westwood tried bullying young connor, who was having none of it, westwood then went missing for the rest of the game, i never thought i'd see ben westwood raise the white flag!

 

anyway , us, we were far from our best, but we showed once again that on form, our backs are the best around at the moment, jerry and leroy are frightening, wardle, murphy just class, brough and ellis kicked them to death and i imagine wires back 3 take days to stop turning around and running!

our forwards are finally doing the business, and properly mullered warringtons pack, who didnt want to know after about 10 minutes.

 

as ant said, they had a brief spell on the back of some generous reffing but apart from that i thought the scoreline truly flattered warrington,

 

and i do feel for the long time fans, it showed by the poor turnout today that the fans have given up.well their team gave up after about 60 seconds so you can't blame them

 

but we are looking good!

[longboard]

Im happy to give Smith some time, and Im not sure why Monaghan is deemed ready, what has he done in coaching?

Smith does need to take some accountability for the decisions to refresh the backroom staff though, and offloading Poching and Marshall hardly looks like a masterstroke, for Agar.

Smith has always had a weakness in team selections imho, but he has had some bad luck with injuries, meaning our spine has changed week on week.

He could do worse than move Ratchford on like he has with Myler, and Currie maybe needs bringing back in line. We need to stop messing about moving Clarke to 6 too. Smith seems happy to make 5 changes instead of 1 at times.

All that said, a touch.more luck with the likes of Russell, Monaghan and Grix and we win a few more.

Another year for me, like Leeds after their 6th place a few years back. Heads down and get back to it.

 

I agree that Tony Smith needs time. Wire are in a transition period and yes they have been unlucky with injuries. Like other clubs they are finding it a struggle to replace experienced players in the pivotal roles. My money would be on Wire having a better season in 2016..............