It was disappointing today, but with the team we had out, and a lot of players playing out of position, it wasn’t surprising. We also had 4 tries disallowed at least 2 of them looked like tries.
I imagine in the second half, being well behind, the players were saving themselves for next week and trying not to get injured.
Hopefully with Baker and Farnworth back next week and players who have just come back, having a run out this week, will be fitter next week, and we will beat Dewsbury
I predicted 50 - 6 when the squad was announced, so slightly worse. Salford are a bottom 4 SL side but we are now mid table Championship.
We will have to try and get our heads around it, Widnes fans are used to success, either the older ones from the late 80's or the slightly younger ones from winning the Championship grand final under Neil Kelly or the cup at Blackpool. We will be competing with the likes of Batley and Dewsbury for 6th to 8th place this year. We will also be relying on Warrington to lend us some academy lads as the squad is too small and at some point in the season we will run out of players.
It takes me back to the mid to late 90's when the stadium was being rebuilt, tough days. Let's get the fans back in and rebuild, without an academy or reserve side it will be tough, but our time will come again.
Our supporters have to realise we are at present a mid table championship side at best. Some patience has to be in evidence. Hopefully we can improve our financial situation going forward but IMO we need to develop our relationship with the local amateur sides to ensure we continue to get new players coming through now we have lost the academy. Otherwise I cannot see us progressing. At least we are trying to play expansive rugby when we have the ball in hand to entertain our fans.
Everyone laughed at me when I said pre season that 5/6th finish would be a realistic finish. Crazy the blinkers that some people have on, we look really un fit in my opinion. Attack looks great granted but defence wins games.
I hoped you'd have got a lot nearer than that against a team with a P2, got stuffed 2, record in SL, and.................
Naturally, I'm disappointed at the result.
Spelly.
I am not judging the coach until the end of the season but for me, any team that can offer a spine of Owens, Craven, Smith, Tomkins and Baker, should be more than competing at championship level.
We need more from half backs.
I am not judging the coach until the end of the season but for me, any team that can offer a spine of Owens, Craven, Smith, Tomkins and Baker, should be more than competing at championship level. We need more from half backs.
Smith’s done nothing since he’s been here. If he doesn’t step up in the coming games I’d put Lyons/Owens in the halves with Craven.
He doesn’t look remotely fit enough.
Lets put this into perspective. We travel to West Wales, they have a man sent off and we manage to put up a score of 58 - 4. We then go to Salford, get 68 points shipped past us and Salford barely got out of 1st gear, but its ok because we passed it along the line a few times and it looked nice!. Shipping nearly 70 points is not acceptable.
Looking at this team it should be doing better, But it seems if we miss a couple of players we can almost excuse any kind of performance. Today was not good enough. We have not put in a single good performance this season. West Wales were right there with us until they lost a man and fell apart, and we still were not all that impressive against a weak league 2 team
Whitehaven, until they dropped the ball with the line begging and we raced up the other end to score just before the break we were pretty poor. They are then left chasing a game in horrendous conditions, which both teams managed poorly.
Newcastle.... Not good enough at the end of the day, We get nilled in the second half and look clueless and incapable of managing a game.
The we get today.
How are we looking at any of our previous games and saying, things look promising for the season to come? Our next 3 games are Dewsbury, Batley and Swinton. I doubt we win all three of them.
Get to june and July and i dont see where our points come from at all.
I didnt expect to win today, but we should have been within the 20-30 point range not the 60-70 point range
Look let’s get real. I don’t think anyone on here thought we had a chance against them really let’s face it they are a super League team that play rugby day in and out we aren’t plus we have a load of injuries all ready. It just shows now how far we have to grow as a team and as far as I can see we are in a decent position with the youth we have. I thought tilleke did well and hill.
You would expect a SL club to put 68 on an amateur team, but not a so called Championship contender.
It will be interesting how we can come back in our next games against Dewsbury, Batley and Swinton. Spelly must be dreaming of a Swinton win!! Those three games will likely define our season - and level of support when crowds return.
Hopefully, we will have a full squad and perhaps a couple of loan players available.
I agree that the young players have shown promise, but the problem we face is that if a young player shows talent throughout the season, they are likely to be picked up by clubs offering full-time contracts.
Vikings supporters got a reality check today as to how far the club has sunk.A threadbare squad , supplemented with Academy players is not the place a club of our size and fan base deserve.The Directors need to invest or support will fade away.
Problem is we haven’t got mega rich directors, just local business men who can’t afford to put loads of money into the club, and buy some top players. They spent quite a bit of money saving us from going bust, so not much money left over to buy a good squad of players.
it didn’t help when some of our good players left to go to Ottawa for big money, then Ottawa don’t play, and the players become free agents , when they would have probably remained with Widnes.
Biggest ever defeat to Salford. Considering for most of the time I've been watching Widnes the two clubs have been pretty similar and we have had times when we were in the ascendancy, that is grim.
That being said, next 3 games will be more of a yardstick of the squad and the club. The last full season, we lost at home to Dewsbury and at Batley. With a full time team.
Think we have a situation where the reality is we won't be troubling the Top 3/4 this year. The radio commentary said middle of the Championship to describe us, that's fair comment. Whether we just get into the play-offs or miss them will depend on games like the next 3.
The wider issue which has been addressed on this thread is the status of the club. Accepting we will finish midtable this year doesn't mean that should become the new normal. That's the challenge the club has, demonstrating that yes this season may not be a great one (we still may get Top 6 and Wembley) but there is a clear plan and direction of travel to be a Top 4 side next year.
The wild idea that some rich bloke will suddenly decide to invest has been around since Adam was a lad, and he hasn't found us yet, other than SOC.
When the going gets tough some stick with it, some moan and run away. Since administration it was always going to be hard and hard it is. The season is only two games old and some have given up already, thankfully they don't play for us!
Hopefully no more injuries, and we go again next week.
Time to look forward not back. Looks like we will have the majority of our absent players back next week giving us a much better pack and stronger bench with some proper rotation options. Dewsbury at home obviously a must win game already if we are going to push for the playoffs.
There is a huge gulf between full-time squads and part-time. I think that needs to be appreciated. Let alone a part-time squad that's decimated with injuries.
Salford scored 40 of their points in two very brief spells, which made the scoreline a lot heavier.
I think there's some grave overreactions, and people seem to think other Championship sides get better and better every week.
Reality of the situation is our aim is the play-offs. There's nothing to suggest we won't be in the mix for the play-offs.
Getting beat by Salford does absolutely nothing whatsoever to change that. If any one of Baker, Farnworth and Tomkins played last week, we'd have beat Newcastle.
I thought Jewitt did well. If he can stay fit, then he will be a good addition. Felt a bit sorry for Tyrer who having played part-time Championship centre for a decade, was chucked in at back-row against full-time forwards.
The biggest issue remains at hooker, and it seems that this will be resolved shortly. However, I think given the current situation you have to cut the club some slack - there's barely any movement in the market, SL clubs are reluctant to release players, and Leigh have recruited very late which has taken some others out of the market.
We need to get Lyons out of the firing line in the middle and he could well put some pressure on the two half-backs for a starting spot. I wish we could find a way to wind Adam Lawton up and getting him running and tackling his weight, him and Grady in the back-row should be a handful for any team in Champ.
Players missing today that will hopefully be back next week: Baker, Farnworth, Cook, Dwyer, Doro + AN other. Maybe O'Neill and Hatton too?