Sat 16th Mar: SL: Huddersfield Giants v Hull KR KO 15:00 (Sky/SuperLeague+)

[John Drake]

Please stick to discussing the match in question and do not accuse match officials of being biased or corrupt or you run the risk of being immediately banned from the forum.

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

Hudd by 8.

[meast]

Could be an interesting game, as bad as Castleford were last week, we were pretty good, we've not been too far off in most games but we're nowhere near the real deal.

Rovers on the other hand are the new media darlings and are expected to rule the world soon

Could be close, but I'm not sure.

[daz39]

The scoreline doesn't reflect how dominant KR were against us, it was only the fact we threw the ball around late on and scored 2, albeit very good, tries that made the score look close, it wasn't, we were 2nd best all over the park.

Peters and his team did a right job on us.

I'm not one to slate ref's but i am still totally baffled by their 2nd try and how and why it was awarded, which kicked us while we were down - The 'try' went up as no try, quite rightly too as Halsall had possession but was being pushed, pulled, yanked and grabbed by 3 or 4 KR players, the ball suddenly came out, quite fast and Litten touched it down, now the VR said himself  -" it looks as though the ball as just been spilt", he had no idea how the ball came free, did Halsall just drop the ball which caused it to squirm out via 4 opponents onto the floor? - now to give a try that has gone up as no try i thought the VR had to have sufficient evidence to overturn it to be a try? he clearly said he couldn't see and 'thought' it had been spilt, did the VR simply give a try based on a guess rather than sufficient evidence or am i just talking with Claret & Gold tinted specs on?

I know we weren't good enough but surely with the score only 0-4 at the time it was a match affecting decision to just give a try without evidence?

It seemed to spur KR on even more and knock our already wilted confidence.

Anyway well played KR, back to the drawing board for us - Again!!

[Bull Mania]

It's amazing what some coaches see in players some times. Olly Russell is a good championship half but never  SL standard in a million years. 

Will never understand Watson signing Milner either. His skill level for a Hooker is woeful. Hooker is your most important position and starts off your whole attack. At what point did Watson see Milner and think "yeah that will get our attack going" 

[daz39]

15 minutes ago, Bull Mania said:

It's amazing what some coaches see in players some times. Olly Russell is a good championship half but never  SL standard in a million years. 

Will never understand Watson signing Milner either. His skill level for a Hooker is woeful. Hooker is your most important position and starts off your whole attack. At what point did Watson see Milner and think "yeah that will get our attack going" 

I don't think you'll find a single Giants fan who will disagree with that comment, we had Peats who was a slow, just pass it from dummy half hooker and we replaced him with Mllner who is the same just slower!!!.

As for Russell, he is a steady, calming influence on the side and is the one who calms it all down when Lolohea/Clune/Connor are trying too hard to make the wonder play.

I like Russell, he isn't a flair, attacking player but what he does is vital to the team at times, i'd pick him over Lolohea or Connor at half back and clearly so would Ian Watson.

[meast]

Rovers were good value for their win and were dominant for most of it, but for me, the biggest difference was that every time we got in their '20, we fluffed our lines, dropped balls, badly timed passes, wrong options etc whereas KR were clinical and kept their composure.

Their line speed was far better than ours and we had no time to do much, yet, ours was lethargic, slow and just invited pressure on us, which the likes of May, Lewis, Litten and Parcell will always take advantage of, we didn't really give ourselves a chance against a well drilled side that did the basics very well.

Agree with Daz, not sure how the 2nd try was awarded when there appeared to be even more insufficient evidence for a try to be given, I also thought the ref was very lenient in some quarters and not so in others.

 

[meast]

I think Russell is underestimated in the role that he plays, even by many of our fans, he's an organiser not a runner, not a maverick, he does a job that SHOULD allow the likes of our 1, 7, and 9 to do their jobs well, sadly, I agree about Milner, he's a  veteran workhorse, a steady player but he won't get us on the front foot which is where I think we are sadly lacking, Connor for me, hasn't shown nearly enough quality to unlock defences either.

[GIANTSTRIDES]

20 hours ago, meast said:

I think Russell is underestimated in the role that he plays, even by many of our fans, he's an organiser not a runner, not a maverick, he does a job that SHOULD allow the likes of our 1, 7, and 9 to do their jobs well, sadly, I agree about Milner, he's a  veteran workhorse, a steady player but he won't get us on the front foot which is where I think we are sadly lacking, Connor for me, hasn't shown nearly enough quality to unlock defences either.

With any luck mr Watson will be gone by the end of this season, this is year 4 now and if anyone can see any improvement in our team they must be watching a different side to me.  We were ok with his safety style of play for a season but as soon as sides worked it out they simply ran round us.  I bet Hkr of Salford sides cost nothing like what Watson has had to spend and yet they both leave us for dead. 
  We still keep playing players who are championship standard in vital positions, can you imagine players getting picked in a Wigan or saints side or any other side because they calm things down  can you see hkr dropping Lewis for someone who calms things down  , players like Lewis open up defences take on the line and are exciting to watch  who wants that, not mr watson

[Blind side johnny]

On 18/03/2024 at 15:31, daz39 said:

The scoreline doesn't reflect how dominant KR were against us, it was only the fact we threw the ball around late on and scored 2, albeit very good, tries that made the score look close, it wasn't, we were 2nd best all over the park.

Peters and his team did a right job on us.

I'm not one to slate ref's but i am still totally baffled by their 2nd try and how and why it was awarded, which kicked us while we were down - The 'try' went up as no try, quite rightly too as Halsall had possession but was being pushed, pulled, yanked and grabbed by 3 or 4 KR players, the ball suddenly came out, quite fast and Litten touched it down, now the VR said himself  -" it looks as though the ball as just been spilt", he had no idea how the ball came free, did Halsall just drop the ball which caused it to squirm out via 4 opponents onto the floor? - now to give a try that has gone up as no try i thought the VR had to have sufficient evidence to overturn it to be a try? he clearly said he couldn't see and 'thought' it had been spilt, did the VR simply give a try based on a guess rather than sufficient evidence or am i just talking with Claret & Gold tinted specs on?

I know we weren't good enough but surely with the score only 0-4 at the time it was a match affecting decision to just give a try without evidence?

It seemed to spur KR on even more and knock our already wilted confidence.

Anyway well played KR, back to the drawing board for us - Again!!

I was also at the game, as a neutral I must add. From the screen at the ground, of which I had an obscured view, it wasn't obvious what had happened. On watching it later on TV it was clear that Halsall was holding the ball clear on the tackle but in one hand and he simply dropped it. It was clearly a try. What is less clear is why HKR were awarded the scrum in the first instance for a Giants knock-on when the player seemed to be clearly tackled in mid air.

Those decisions notwithstanding HKR were clearly the superior side especially in the halfs and round the ruck.

There is clearly a fair bit of disgruntlement with Watson's coaching and team selection.

[Yonder Province]

1 hour ago, GIANTSTRIDES said:

With any luck mr Watson will be gone by the end of this season, this is year 4 now and if anyone can see any improvement in our team they must be watching a different side to me.  We were ok with his safety style of play for a season but as soon as sides worked it out they simply ran round us.  I bet Hkr of Salford sides cost nothing like what Watson has had to spend and yet they both leave us for dead. 
  We still keep playing players who are championship standard in vital positions, can you imagine players getting picked in a Wigan or saints side or any other side because they calm things down  can you see hkr dropping Lewis for someone who calms things down  , players like Lewis open up defences take on the line and are exciting to watch  who wants that, not mr watson

Well I for one am seeing exactly the same as you Mr Strides.

I have reluctantly resigned myself to another year of underachievement before the inevitable takes place, but I would love it to be otherwise.

Along with agreeing with your analysis of the playing side, his after match 'Blah Blah' just leaves me bewildered too. No passion, No - so sorry for the fans, No - things will have to change next week - or else!

The only sort of thing we seem to get from him is:

"Well we just turned the ball over in the wrong areas mate" - "Well he's a good kid really" - "A little bit of a bump today, just some fundamental skills" 

I just know it won't happen, but if I was Uncle Ken, he'd be having to win the next 3 games, or be sent packing back over the Pennines with his P45 following close behind.