Looking at the game, which this post is about,
we played ok for the first 30 minutes but never looked like breaking the gain line - it was like watching Widnes §!
you need to have running half backs that take on their line and scooting from dummy half to break up their defensive line and fast ptb
love to see us turn it round next week, but if we don’t change our tactics it will be the same result
Think we were just offering our thoughts on why we lost and not how we lost.
For what it's worth: my thoughts immediately went back to the 1978 Aussie Invincibles, and the subsequent discussion points behind that particular whitewash.
All I can say, is that the discussion points that applied then is almost as relevant today as it was back then.
It just comes down to the quality between SL and the NRL.
The gap has never been more wider, our best players in SL look like little boys against a team like Australia. I would argue that England is probably the biggest reasons why international RL can’t progress. You can’t have serious International fixtures when the 2nd biggest market for RL can’t even compete.
Aussie ref in the 2nd test. They're hoping for quicker play-the-balls and expecting a 40-point victory!
Goes against the grain but I thought that the ref was pretty good tbh. Their quick ptb caught us out too often, lie on tacklers left behind the acting half. You can't do that with Grant!!!
It's one thing that Widnes could use tbh. Use strength to get up and ptb or make the tacklers obstruct you.
I think it was Wilkin who pointed out that as soon as a break was on the support was there and the passes were on the button. Perfect practice makes perfect.
Don't agree with everything this bloke says but there is a lot of common sense in here. This is the type of leadership the game over here needs. I bet the Wire and Wigan Chairmen were gutted to hear this, probably trying to cosy up to him to grow their stock.
Super League heading for 'crash' without growing revenue, says NRL boss - BBC Sport
Only Nigel Wood could come out of a meeting that was basically saying you're doing a rubbish job to say it was an excellent meeting.
Old boys club, with owners doing what's best for them not the game. If the exec board takes as much money out of the sport a year as a team, whilst doing such a bad job it makes you wonder if they're fit for purpose...Never have they been paid so much for so little
After the letdown at Wembley.....................
Everton awaits on Saturday!
Am I confident? No! Am I optimistic? As I've said many times on here, when you're a Swinton fan, you're a born optimist, so a defo "YES!" to that question!
Train at 9.08 from the station just five minutes walk from home, should have us in Lime Street by 10.00, so a bit of brekkie, and a walk round Liverpool, before adding another venue to my bulging CV.
COME ON ENGLAMD!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spelly.
Just back from the game, and we are simply not good enough!
In 160 minutes of football, we've managed just one try, and that was at Wembley, when the contest was long since decided.
4-4 at the break today, and (as last week) the next score was massive, and (as next week) it wasn't us. They quickly added a second, and the Ashes were gone again!
We didn't even look like scoring after they were reduced to twelve.
Nowt but pride to play for next week, and I'm sure Walters will have his troops fired up to produce the whitewash.
Am I still going to Headingley? Course I am!
Spelly.
Why was Tomkins running around carrying a towel?
We just didn't as if we had working 'move makers' like Grant & co.
Why was Tomkins running around carrying a towel?
We just didn't as if we had working 'move makers' like Grant & co.
Maybe he was lost, like most of the players!!! The game really wasn't as close as the score suggests, although a better performance from England, but few scoring chances created even when Australia were down to 12 men. I thought that Farnworth and Young showed real aggression, together with Smithies and Knowles.
To be fair, Wane really had no chance with the limited preparation he had with the team. The problem with RFL and SL is that a few Clubs control the game and their priority is to secure maximum funding for their Clubs. There is no interest in the rest of the game or at international level. The game needs to look how our home grown talent can be developed from the amateur game through to all levels of the game.
The attendances at the three games against Australia shows that there is interest in international games, if properly marketed. Why not build a home international series, including France, within the season? Why not try and ensure that there are planned international games against the Australasian teams each season?
Having said that, with SL reliant on signing players from Australasia, who are mostly average at best in the NRL, as our "marquee" signings, does not help with the development of our own home grown players.
Should have gone for the try at end of first half instead of getting the 2 points - lack of ambition, bit like watching Widnes really
Bit more fire from England but there's just not enough quality. We don't ask enough questions of Australia. The series is gone, the Aussies haven't even looked that good yet. They've walked this in 3rd gear.
RL should consign games at Wembley to the bin. Much better at football stadiums in the north of the country. These 3 tests should have been at Everton, Etihad/OT and Elland Road. Would have been 3 sell outs and 3 excellent atmospheres.
Put simply, we aren’t good enough - the Aussies are streets ahead of anything we have both on and off the field. It’s 55 years since we won the Ashes, which speaks for itself.
Our whole plan for the series seems to be damage limitation rather than taking the game to them and one try (a late consolation effort in the 1st test) in 160 minutes of play sums us up.
You could write a book about how RL in England has got to where it is - the decline started in the 70’s when Jack Gibson and one or two others introduced proper fitness regimes and we missed the jump, through the decline of the game in schools, to the advent of Super League. The list goes on and as someone who went to his first Widnes match in 1963, with his dad, two grandads, two uncles and a cousin, the decline of the game is just too sad for words. Anyway, on to the 3rd test - let’s keep the score respectable and get it over with.
So Headingley now awaits tomorrow eh?
Only pride to play for, as the Ashes are remaining in Green and Gold hands.
The only change they've made, is to bring back Yeo after his omission last week due to the HIA protocol.
For us, it looks like Burgess will play after a decade's absence, with Newman treading his home turf.
Who'll be more fired up? Them to complete the whitewash, or us to prevent it?
We've come up short twice so far, meaning I'm not holding my breath, but.......
Again I say - COME ON ENGLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spelly.