London will be the acid test, if we can hold our own against them then we will have made progress. Clearly they can concede as Whitehaven showed, but they still bounced back. That dreaded 1 point win in the playoff game still hurts!
Hopefully we will start to benefit from the links with Warrington!
I thought that Grady, Smith and Tomkins had very good games. Moran looked a bit out of his depth at prop and I’m still unsure of what Leuluai brings to the team.
Surprised about the criticism for Moran. His first half stats of 11 carries and 21 tackles are more than good enough. He obviously wasn’t brilliant, but he didn’t strike me as out of his depth. Think he’ll prove to be a good addition for us
Criticism, maybe more of an Observation...I hope you turn out to be correct!
To me, his carries didn't seem to make much ground.
Tim Sheens knows what he is doing so I'll back his judgement every time.
Oh, next week against London. I hope Craven recovers from his ankle and finger injuries. TM's post match chat indicates that he is having scans today.
Not the first time I've seen the first kick-off of the season go straight out!😣
Moran is an excellent defender, his tackle which led to the drop out which Grady then scored from pretty much sealed the win for us. His attack will improve with games, he's only a young lad and will only get better but he'll be a very good player for Widnes. To have a prop that can play the minutes he did yesterday is a major boost for us.
I thought that Grady, Smith and Tomkins had very good games. Moran looked a bit out of his depth at prop and I’m still unsure of what Leuluai brings to the team.
Surprised about the criticism for Moran.
His first half stats of 11 carries and 21 tackles are more than good enough.
He obviously wasn’t brilliant, but he didn’t strike me as out of his depth.
Think he’ll prove to be a good addition for us
11 carries, but how many metres?
Thought we've been fairly solid past two games. We lost our way strangely at 12-0 off the back of some poor Craven kicks. But apart from that blip, we did well.
Smith's kicking game excellent again, Tomkins tackles everything. Surprised Baker was on the bench, I'd be starting with him every game.
Atmosphere inside the ground was as flat as a fart. In the first half the 3500 Widnes fans were out sung by half a dozen (literally) Batley fans. What's happened to The Drummer.
Thought Moran went well. His work rate is tremendous, young and looks promising to me. Didn’t really see Chapelhow and Farnworth making much gain after contact. PM will be one of our best performers this season.
our go forward seemed to come more from Grady and Baker who I was especially pleased with the lines he was running.
craven according to his Instagram has sustained an injury which doesn’t look great according to the x ray. Smith and Tomkins are quality players who look to spread the ball across the field. Very pleased with these signings. I think with our lack of size, I’m not yet sold on having both Edge and Lyons taking up 50% of the bench. I can see him gauging some kind of rotation but we need more size.
This is where our squad depth will bite us on the backside. Not sure who Warrington will be willing to let go that would improve the front row like we need.
Good performance and hopefully the same against London.
Thought Moran went well. His work rate is tremendous, young and looks promising to me. Didn’t really see Chapelhow and Farnworth making much gain after contact. PM will be one of our best performers this season.
our go forward seemed to come more from Grady and Baker who I was especially pleased with the lines he was running.
craven according to his Instagram has sustained an injury which doesn’t look great according to the x ray. Smith and Tomkins are quality players who look to spread the ball across the field. Very pleased with these signings. I think with our lack of size, I’m not yet sold on having both Edge and Lyons taking up 50% of the bench. I can see him gauging some kind of rotation but we need more size.
This is where our squad depth will bite us on the backside. Not sure who Warrington will be willing to let go that would improve the front row like we need.
Good performance and hopefully the same against London.
Agree.
Doesn’t make too much sense to me.
If his first choice 6&7 are Craven and Smith then Lyons should be in the reserves. Moving Jack to 9 and Lyons at full back doesn’t work. Dugdale is a much better 9.
Edge on the bench strikes me as somebody just to fill the spot. O’Neil went well in the reserves this week, so I’d like to see him play against London
I think Matty Smith could still hack it at Super League Level as can Logan Tomkins. The strength of the team is the spine 1,6,7,9.
Owens, Craven, Smith, Tomkins all good players. Joe Lyons good cover for 1,6,7 and getting better. Jacob Dugdale young but getting there and good cover at 6,7,9.
Big test against London. Still questions in some areas but we are in far better shape than I could possibly imagined at any point in the last 18 months. Small squad and a run of injuries would bite but hey ho look where we have come from.
I think Warrington are short of props as well as us. Chris Hill is a bit over the hill now. I don't know much about Latu the Prop they signed from the Gold Coast, he won't come to us but maybe take a place to free a younger player up. Samy Kibula doesn't / didn't look ready for Super League if all all our Props are fit I don't think he is better than we have. If we are injury free we should play our own players.
I think Warrington are short of props as well as us. Chris Hill is a bit over the hill now. I don’t know much about Latu the Prop they signed from the Gold Coast, he won’t come to us but maybe take a place to free a younger player up. Samy Kibula doesn’t / didn’t look ready for Super League if all all our Props are fit I don’t think he is better than we have. If we are injury free we should play our own players.
sheens mentioned he wont put young wire players in front of our own
Must have had a good team talk by the coach at half time, they came out and played a lot better . I grew we are short of some big players that could cost us against big teams like Bradford, hopefully we can get someone from Warrington
Big teams like Bradford?
Batley's pack was VERY big. They had two guys in particular in their pack who were as big as anything we've played against in the last couple of years.
We do need size, but Batley certainly weren't lacking in that department by any stretch of the imagination.
I personally think Moran looks lazy. If you watch the highlights. For the break that led to the 1st try, Moran is the furthest player back apart from the winger, within 2 seconds 6 Widnes defenders pass Moran to try to stop Batley scoring. For Batley's 2nd try Moran is caught napping at marker and although he attempts to make the tackle, he gets brushed off.
I think I'm right in saying that early on in the game when it was just 4-0 Batley made a break down the middle and it was Moran who they broke through for this break. The reason why I noticed is because again he made no attempt to get back to atone for his mistake.
I've got to admit this is the 1st time I've seen him in a Widnes shirt and any player can have a bad game, but I don't like the look of him at all. May as well have got Adam Lawton back if you wanted a big lad who isnt all that bothered.
He's not the only man a Widnes shirt occasionally guilty of watching an attacker run past him. I've seen him in all but one game and thought he was great in attack. Let's give him a chance to show what he can do.