Barrow on Sunday.

[DocH]

Thought we seemed to go to pieces after Thomas went off. Not that we would have even been close to a win. Thought Hutchins had a strong defensive game. Be great to see Stevie back but that wont make much difference.

Hacked off we lost Singleton for seemingly zilch in return.

[ivans82]

It was probably the first game this season where we really struggled to make yards up the middle . The Barrow pack were too big for us to handle (Forster causing all sorts of mayhem) , and thats why for the last 20 mins of both halves , we capitulated , constantly gettin battered by a bigger pack and being worn down .I along with many others thing Matty Henson would be the first name on the sheet , if he wasn`t available fair enough .In attack we were too slow and predictable , our kicking game was non existant , whereas Barrow constantly varied their kicks , often kicking back against the grain ,or just simply putting it over the line and getting repeat sets .We are bottom of the league so have nothing to lose , why not try short kick offs after conceding a score , we just seem to kick it down field , often to the same player who hasn`t dropped a kick all day .When we do kick it long , we often give a pen away or the ref resets the tackle count , so as we hardly ever pin the opposition in their own half , we might as well take a chance on a short kick off .Will still be down for the next game and hope to see a few things put right , all we ask is effort and commitment  .

[homeandawayer]

1 hour ago, DocH said:

Some familiar names calling for Thorman’s head as they have done for just about every other coach we have had over the years at the first opportunity - you know who you are - as if there is some great saviour out there.

This season’s recruitment and retainment has been a complete mess for sure and we will be in league 1 next year. I will see what sort of team we build around some existing excellent players (well… I could name 6 or 7?) before I give up on him. 

So you obviously think we're going to come good or he's a good coach who is in the unfortunate position of not having  the squad to do the job ? How do you get out of a hole?

stick together and ride it out - not the solution as there's a lack of size and quality.

or sack the coach - not a solution as there's a lack of size and quality.

or do nothing and get relegated.

or find some players from somewhere with size and quality.

Looks like plan D then.

[Nero]

It was an embarrassing performance by Town, Chris himself said that, he also said some players are not trying & need to buck their ideas up or ship out. Two weeks ago they were heros, but the trolls soon come out to knock every aspect of the club after such a poor performance. It's still the same people! It was a cringingly poor effort, particularly the last 10 minutes, when I think 5 converted tries were scored. It wasn't just us though, it was an excellent performance by Barrow & once they smelled blood they fought hard to nil us & succeeded, no wonder their fans were elated! Nothing much else to add, I've seen worse performances by Town, but not for a very long time. I'll still be here next match & next season & every season I can manage to. It's easy to support a winning team, not so easy to support Town sometimes! UTT

[chromedome]

23 minutes ago, ivans82 said:

why not try short kick offs after conceding a score ,

Did you nod off for a while ivans ??......think maybe so, coz the 'short kick off' by Town -which failed to go the legal 10 yards - quickly became another Barrow 6 points.....from that lesson next kick offs were long......not that it mattered much by then of course

[chromedome]

2 minutes ago, Nero said:

It was an embarrassing performance by Town, Chris himself said that, he also said some players are not trying & need to buck their ideas up or ship out. Two weeks ago they were heros, but the trolls soon come out to knock every aspect of the club after such a poor performance. It's still the same people! It was a cringingly poor effort, particularly the last 10 minutes, when I think 5 converted tries were scored. It wasn't just us though, it was an excellent performance by Barrow & once they smelled blood they fought hard to nil us & succeeded, no wonder their fans were elated! Nothing much else to add, I've seen worse performances by Town, but not for a very long time. I'll still be here next match & next season & every season I can manage to. It's easy to support a winning team, not so easy to support Town sometimes! UTT

Yes Ron..."It's easy to support a winning team"...The Barrow fans were probably shocked at how Town faded in the last quarter - I've never seen, or heard, as many  cul de sac crew at Derwent Park during my Town supporting days- i.e. decades....

And I personally can't recall seeing 'worse' home performances by a Town team...but away oh yesssss, so many it hurts to remember........thankfully faded with time though.

I've wrote some strong views on here once I got home yesterday, deffo in a foul mood, because honestly I'm a VERY BAD loser.

Like you though I'll be jumping in the car come the Widnes fixture and relishing another Derwent Park treat (ha, ha)

So yes UTT.

 

[chromedome]

19 minutes ago, homeandawayer said:

or find some players from somewhere with size and quality.

But they must be costly.....how much is it worth paying to avoid League 1?

[homeandawayer]

13 minutes ago, chromedome said:

But they must be costly.....how much is it worth paying to avoid League 1?

How much will it cost us in the long run when we disappear into obscurity again? So you must be advocating relegation then if you don't advocate the other three options. People are assuming a lot about how easy it would be to gain promotion again if our two good players leave in Barnes and Fitzimmons. 

[bobg]

1 hour ago, homeandawayer said:

So you obviously think we're going to come good or he's a good coach who is in the unfortunate position of not having  the squad to do the job ? How do you get out of a hole?

stick together and ride it out - not the solution as there's a lack of size and quality.

or sack the coach - not a solution as there's a lack of size and quality.

or do nothing and get relegated.

or find some players from somewhere with size and quality.

Looks like plan D then.

Plan D then no brainer, I just hope they haven’t settled for Plan C.

speculate to accumulate.

Edited June 13, 2022 by bobg
Missed text

[JMB]

28 minutes ago, homeandawayer said:

How much will it cost us in the long run when we disappear into obscurity again? So you must be advocating relegation then if you don't advocate the other three options. People are assuming a lot about how easy it would be to gain promotion again if our two good players leave in Barnes and Fitzimmons. 

A few rumours starting to go around about restructuring both the championship and championship 1 for the 2023 season, i wonder what brain wave the RFL will come up with now. 

[Nero]

6 minutes ago, bobg said:

Plan D then no brainer, I just hope they haven’t settled for Plan C.

speculate to accumulate.

I don't know how they can do that without a sugar daddy, who's available anyway? I don't think we can borrow our way up, we did that once before & almost lost the club! Somehow I don't think wealthy backers are queuing to throw money at the club!

[anok4u]

4 minutes ago, JMB said:

A few rumours starting to go around about restructuring both the championship and championship 1 for the 2023 season, i wonder what brain wave the RFL will come up with now. 

No sport changes so many rules and structure leagues more than rugby league.

[Bring back GB]

As a Barrow fan I obviously enjoyed yesterday but I also feel really bad for Town and the fans.

Must be hard to take such a defeat especially against your Cumbrian neighbours.

I really hope you can turn things around and that both yourselves and Haven stay up, as you can't beat a Cumbrian derby.

Met some great Townies yesterday and was impressed with the stadium. Just a shame there wasn't more there .......................what was the attendance ?  It's down as "not given" in the League Express. I would have guessed around 1300.

Edited June 13, 2022 by Bring back GB

[The Voodooguru]

2 hours ago, ivans82 said:

It was probably the first game this season where we really struggled to make yards up the middle . The Barrow pack were too big for us to handle (Forster causing all sorts of mayhem) , and thats why for the last 20 mins of both halves , we capitulated , constantly gettin battered by a bigger pack and being worn down .I along with many others thing Matty Henson would be the first name on the sheet , if he wasn`t available fair enough .In attack we were too slow and predictable , our kicking game was non existant , whereas Barrow constantly varied their kicks , often kicking back against the grain ,or just simply putting it over the line and getting repeat sets .We are bottom of the league so have nothing to lose , why not try short kick offs after conceding a score , we just seem to kick it down field , often to the same player who hasn`t dropped a kick all day .When we do kick it long , we often give a pen away or the ref resets the tackle count , so as we hardly ever pin the opposition in their own half , we might as well take a chance on a short kick off .Will still be down for the next game and hope to see a few things put right , all we ask is effort and commitment  .

If only we had Darren Holt to coach our kickers on restarts. He mastered them, whether short, drilled bouncing into touch, drilled bouncing over the dead ball, or high that landed just in play. He varied them all the time, so I know what you mean when we seem to kick to the same catcher every time. 

I feel the same with off loads. We struggle to score points and get up the pitch, yet persist with the same tactics and rarely off load. We have nowt to lose, we lose heavily most weeks so the points difference is already a moot point, and are heading for relegation. So why not in the right areas of the pitch use the off load to break the defensive line.

[DavidM]

On the subject of kicks are last tackle plays are very average . They can make a poor set a good one but often we  either exert no pressure ( aimless kick ) or it unravels to nothing .

[chromedome]

2 hours ago, homeandawayer said:

How much will it cost us in the long run when we disappear into obscurity again? So you must be advocating relegation then if you don't advocate the other three options. People are assuming a lot about how easy it would be to gain promotion again if our two good players leave in Barnes and Fitzimmons. 

Yep it's not gonna be easy  homeandawayer.......I don't advocate relegation but the odds lean in that direction, ever since the season commenced....not that I suppose anyone wouldn't have thought any different eh.

I'm puzzled, very much so, by what seems a complete ignorance from the powers that be at DP that the Championship requires more forward power, like you advocate? Think many on here have often indicated the need for physical presence in the squad.......ever since the Donny win.

It's a bit scary to even think of losing Barnes and Fitzsimmons.....I flippin' hope not..

But I've heard craics that money isn't available to help at present, and yet on the other side of the coin some 'experts' say otherwise.......

Money is the root of all problems....and answers....

[chromedome]

1 hour ago, Nero said:

I don't know how they can do that without a sugar daddy, who's available anyway? I don't think we can borrow our way up, we did that once before & almost lost the club! Somehow I don't think wealthy backers are queuing to throw money at the club!

Yep the car mogul came in with a bond to save the club in 1997.

[homeandawayer]

5 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Yep the car mogul came in with a bond to save the club in 1997.

I don't pretend to know the club's finances but i know we spent a lot of money after the Walsh years (i.e. the two seasons after) on absolute dross trying to stay in Super League. The difference is that a couple of choice signings could transform our season, if they can't be found or paid for then down we go. You're right we all expected it but in my opinion we're trying on the field (mostly) but if we don't do something now it will have been for nothing as we're behind the eight ball every game.

[Onreport]

3 hours ago, chromedome said:

Did you nod off for a while ivans ??......think maybe so, coz the 'short kick off' by Town -which failed to go the legal 10 yards - quickly became another Barrow 6 points.....from that lesson next kick offs were long......not that it mattered much by then of course

Absolutely didntgo required10, therefore should have been a penalty, you cant play on if ball not cleared 10 metres, but official obviously didnt know that rule, amongst others

[Derwent Parker]

22 minutes ago, Onreport said:

Absolutely didntgo required10, therefore should have been a penalty, you cant play on if ball not cleared 10 metres, but official obviously didnt know that rule, amongst others

Yes, not going 10 is always a penalty whichever way you look at it , if it goes into touch or comes to a standstill or touched by Town its a penalty to barrow.

If touched by Barrow first its a penalty to Town.

Does anyone have a link to Chris's interview after match - i was at match so missed it?

[chromedome]

54 minutes ago, Onreport said:

Absolutely didntgo required10, therefore should have been a penalty, you cant play on if ball not cleared 10 metres, but official obviously didnt know that rule, amongst others

Must admit I was puzzled why the ref let play go on much to Barras advantage.

[chromedome]

1 hour ago, homeandawayer said:

I don't pretend to know the club's finances but i know we spent a lot of money after the Walsh years (i.e. the two seasons after) on absolute dross trying to stay in Super League. The difference is that a couple of choice signings could transform our season, if they can't be found or paid for then down we go. You're right we all expected it but in my opinion we're trying on the field (mostly) but if we don't do something now it will have been for nothing as we're behind the eight ball every game.

Ray Ashton era was also a nightmare, after a good start....he then had Town signing every Tom, Dick and Harry to escape the drop.... which failed.

[anok4u]

9 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Ray Ashton era was also a nightmare, after a good start....he then had Town signing every Tom, Dick and Harry to escape the drop.... which failed.

If they had an Oldham accent they were in.

[homeandawayer]

14 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Ray Ashton era was also a nightmare, after a good start....he then had Town signing every Tom, Dick and Harry to escape the drop.... which failed.

That started with the signings of Mark Lord and Ben Lia who were hopeless followed by his nephew.

[Evs62]

22 hours ago, MIG45 said:

Not entirely sure how you can say top to bottom is shambolic. Yes today was a very poor performance but let me give you a bit of a more reasoned perspective....

The gap between league 1 and the Championship is absolutely huge in terms of quality. Barrow came up with us and have spent a hell of a lot of money to put a side together that's capable of staying up and even possibbly pushing for the playoffs. 

Town simply didn't have that type of money available at the start of the season so were unable to recruit that calibre of player. We know there's now some money available however there's a limited pool of players to recruit from (this is shown by us having to use the french league and loans). The lack of money available is through no fault of the board or the club in general. The club have tried many things to try and boost income, fan zone, reduced ticket prices, allowing kids in for free etc. 

We also need to remember we were the last team to be confirmed as a Championship club last year due to the playoffs, this in itself put us at least 4 weeks behind everyone else in terms of recruitment, immediately at a disadvantage to everyone else. We had a very good squad capable of earning promotion but everyone was aware that squad would struggle to make the step up and as highlighted above we've struggled to get the recruitment right for a number of reasons, most of these reasons being outside of both Chris' and the board's control.

Hopefully you might see things from a different point of view now, as said above today was very poor but your comments about the club being shambolic are also very poor and very harsh in my opinion. Would you rather we chucked £££'s we didn't have into signing players and likely still getting relegated anyway? Could be the end of the club if that was the case...

We have got to look at a few things here, most of us think very highly of Chris and what the Town board have done in the short length  of time we have had coming into the Championship. 

Barrow showed us what a Championship side looks like and what we have to do to stay in the Championship.  Barrow have been there and come down and gone back up stronger.  I think everyone knew that this year would be hard and yes some of the players we have brought in are not Championship quality players, but it would be unfair to name names.

Players have been brought it that have had potential but havent performed well enough to reach it.

I listened to a bit of the Barrow coach's interview and he said its hard to pick yourself up from being bottom of the  league and not winning games.  His game plan was to hit our right hand side then move the play to the middle which worked keeping the ball out of towns hands which this what happened. The main thing that we all stick together and support Town like I think we will and let's cut loose these  players that are not good enough and get back to playing the rugby we were playing a couple of weeks ago .