George Williams upset.

[JohnM]

Still not making my point clear. It's my age, probably!

I'm not picking out any individual player or individual action or individual mistake. There is a plethora of topics where that is being er..."discussed". Williams just happened to be the player that TRL.com quoted.

I'd just like the team (incl Manager) to think of us poor fans!  I'd really like to see us win a world Cup before I die.  

France is 3 years off and time is running out!!!    

[Jill Halfpenny fan]

3 hours ago, Dave T said:

Williams can be proud of his efforts this WC and came up with many big plays the other day. 

When we list the huge blunders, he doesn't appear. 

He didn't drop the ball over the line. 

He didn't throw an intercept. 

He didn't fail at marker to concede a try. 

He didn't offload in the last minute in dg position. 

He didn't pass to himself and knock on in sudden death. 

He didn't throw a basic forward pass from DH in sudden death. 

When he says they didn't play how they wanted, I'm sure none of the above was in the plan. Errors happen, but some of the above were quite extreme errors that wouldn't normally happen over half a dozen games, never mind all in one semi final. 

You forgot "didn't drop a bog standard kick that you'd expect an under 11 to catch".

[Dunbar]

We can discuss individual performances and errors all day long but Saturday was all about attitude. 

We simply didn't have the intensity in our game that should have been there for a World Cup semi final.  Our line speed wasn't good enough and our contact didn't sting.

There was a 10 minute period late in the second half where England upped the ante but that should have been the first 10 minutes of the game.

All through this tournament the Australians have hit hard in every tackle and had discipline in their defensive shape and line speed... for 80 minutes. That is what took them to victory in a tough semi final.

Yes, one or two players can be said to have had a good game but as a team we simply didn't turn up.

[bratman]

Another big failure was the kicking game, short and long. Would Sneyd/Williams with Welsby at 1 been any better? I'm not convinced tbh, seemed to be a mental/attitude thing as much as anything else.

[Damien]

40 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

We can discuss individual performances and errors all day long but Saturday was all about attitude. 

We simply didn't have the intensity in our game that should have been there for a World Cup semi final.  Our line speed wasn't good enough and our contact didn't sting.

There was a 10 minute period late in the second half where England upped the ante but that should have been the first 10 minutes of the game.

All through this tournament the Australians have hit hard in every tackle and had discipline in their defensive shape and line speed... for 80 minutes. That is what took them to victory in a tough semi final.

Yes, one or two players can be said to have had a good game but as a team we simply didn't turn up.

I said this on the match thread. We were very flat and sluggish and there was zero intensity until we went 2 scores behind. As a team the performance was terrible.

[Derwent]

The thing we lacked most towards the end of the game and the golden point period was organisation and composure. Neither of the halves are the type that will organise the team and play the percentage stuff to minimise risk. If I had been coach then for the latter part of the game I would have swapped Tomkins and Welsby round. Not because Tomkins is a better 6 than Welsby, just because in that situation I would have wanted my most experienced player to have the ball as much as possible in the expectation that he would assess the situation, bring some calmness and cohesion, and make the right decisions under pressure. Williams and Welsby are by nature the type of players who instinctively go for the "Hollywood" plays whereas what was needed in that last 10 mins was boring systematic rugby - kick to the corners, try and force the errors, establish field position.

[MatthewWoody]

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/warrington-wolves-star-george-williams-admits-england-panicked-in-golden-point-62304/

[Chris22]

I thought Williams was outstanding on Saturday. One of our best performers if not our best. But for his contributions, we would have not got close to golden point.

A few of our players were off their games but you win as a team and lose as a team!

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

6 hours ago, JohnM said:

 

Of course, it's natural for them to be upset, but it would have been useful if he'd appreciated how the fans feel ( he'd know, if he'd bothered to read these pages) and if he'd expressed some sort of desire to put things right.

 

This idea that players need to show some sort of contrition to fans, to in some way apologise and what's more explain how they're going to do better next time absolutely does my head in.

Honestly, the sense of entitlement is unreal. Of course they wish they'd played better. Of course they will all rack every brain cell to understand how to be better, and stretch every sinew to do so next time. They're elite athletes ffs, who've worked since they were 6 or 7 to get where they are., beating hundreds of peers along the way through dedication to their craft and extreme levels of goal orientation.

They don't need our help motivating their drive for continuous improvement, they've got that desire in spades, and they certainly don't "owe" us anything. 

 

[JohnM]

It might "do your head in" and generate an animated snd defensive response but it doesn't make you right. It's jus your opinion amongst many. 

Three of us, sitting on row 3 , just feet from the pitch, hung around after the final whistle, waiting , in vain as it turned out, for our players to walk round the perimeter track and acknowledge the fans. 

[Tippytoe]

33 minutes ago, JohnM said:

It might "do your head in" and generate an animated snd defensive response but it doesn't make you right. It's jus your opinion amongst many. 

Three of us, sitting on row 3 , just feet from the pitch, hung around after the final whistle, waiting , in vain as it turned out, for our players to walk round the perimeter track and acknowledge the fans. 

It was poor form.

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

41 minutes ago, JohnM said:

It might "do your head in" and generate an animated snd defensive response but it doesn't make you right. It's jus your opinion amongst many. 

Three of us, sitting on row 3 , just feet from the pitch, hung around after the final whistle, waiting , in vain as it turned out, for our players to walk round the perimeter track and acknowledge the fans. 

Cool, I'll see if I can get Williams to come around your gaff, kneel and ask for forgiveness then. Seems proportionate.

The idea that players don't already share our disappointment, and feel responsible for others' hope being dashed, is nuts.  They don't need to performatively demonstrate it to anyone. It's just there.

Let's be honest, much of our own mood comes from decades of failure... none of which is the current crop's fault. It wasn't George Williams who let Ricky Stuart broke through the line to run 75 years before feeding Meninga to stop us winning the Ashes in 1990. That's for us middle-aged men to deal with. 

[JohnM]

1 hour ago, Hull Kingston Bronco said:

Cool, I'll see if I can get Williams to come around your gaff, kneel and ask for forgiveness then. Seems proportionate.

The idea that players don't already share our disappointment, and feel responsible for others' hope being dashed, is nuts.  They don't need to performatively demonstrate it to anyone. It's just there.

Let's be honest, much of our own mood comes from decades of failure... none of which is the current crop's fault. It wasn't George Williams who let Ricky Stuart broke through the line to run 75 years before feeding Meninga to stop us winning the Ashes in 1990. That's for us middle-aged men to deal with. 

Don't be so prickly. A quite disproportionate response and a deliberate misrepresentation of what I wrote.  Fortunately, I don't have to read your stuff any more.

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

18 minutes ago, JohnM said:

Don't be so prickly. A quite disproportionate response and a deliberate misrepresentation of what I wrote.  Fortunately, I don't have to read your stuff any more.

Cool. Some people can take an alternate viewpoint expressed in a tone matching the original post, some can't or somehow want to define how others speak. C'est la vie, no loss. 

[SUPERSTUD]

7 hours ago, sentoffagain2 said:

   I see Welsby as a centre adding a bit of beef to the position,and in a few years hopefully an old fashioned number 13 who appear to have vanished from the game.To have a skilled ball handling loose forward who could get other players running off him would add to the team.Feel sorry for Young who has had an almost faultless series until Sat.The dropped kick and then probably trying too hard to make up for his mistake by shooting out of the line even  inside  the centre position was unbelievable.Williams was one of the better players trying hard to create something but support from 6 was very poor.Still think these Aussies are the worst i have seen for over 40 years.It just shows how are game has stood still or gone backwards in the same period.As said in some earlier posts we need to start from today to expand playing strength and numbers.We won't see the benefit for years but we have to start now.

I did warn that Dom can’t defend. People have been blinded by the mainly easy walk in try’s. 

[redjonn]

9 hours ago, Dave T said:

I don't disagree with the principle of this, but it's clear it was tactical. I think it could be argued that we played with four halves throughout the game. Williams, Welsby, Radley and Tomkins. And only one of them has a running game to speak of. The other three were just moving the ball side to side, and then when that didn't work put panic grubbers through. 

I think we had too many cooks tbh, I think we need a more standard half pairing who will control play. I've always been a fan of Tomkins, but his time is up and in reality was probably up a year or two back. Only making 75m with 7m in kick returns is bizarre when we look at what fullbacks do nowadays. 

It was clear we thought we could go round Samoa, and Williams was the only half that offered anything different to the three that ere just loving the ball sideways. Even in Sudden Death! 

 

Don't forget our only hooker who only passed to the side, not putting any Questions in defenders minds.

Also who made the decisions not to take the early penalties...

[Alan Robertson]

The Aussie who wrote the following seems to like Williams' efforts:

https://www.theroar.com.au/2022/11/15/five-aussies-three-poms-three-samoans-and-a-surprise-kumul-heres-the-team-of-the-rugby-league-world-cup/

 

[Barley Mow]

25 minutes ago, Alan Robertson said:

The Aussie who wrote the following seems to like Williams' efforts:

https://www.theroar.com.au/2022/11/15/five-aussies-three-poms-three-samoans-and-a-surprise-kumul-heres-the-team-of-the-rugby-league-world-cup/

 

Isn't Mike Meehall Wood British?

[Alan Robertson]

1 hour ago, Barley Mow said:

Isn't Mike Meehall Wood British?

Based on your question, presumably, yes. I've seen him write for Aussie media and then I got carried away when he talked about 'three Poms'.

[Gomersall]

17 hours ago, Hull Kingston Bronco said:

Cool. Some people can take an alternate viewpoint expressed in a tone matching the original post, some can't or somehow want to define how others speak. C'est la vie, no loss. 

You are Robbie Neville and I claim my 5 francs.

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

33 minutes ago, Gomersall said:

You are Robbie Neville and I claim my 5 francs.

No I’m Ronnie Pickering