Post Match Thoughts on Leigh defeat

Writing this blog after midnight whilst waiting for the Redvee TV video to process, so just a few short thoughts.

Either our pack is a lot smaller than everyone elses, or we’re a bunch of shrinking violets. We’re getting dominated and bullied at times – it happened against Castleford in the friendly, it happened to a degree against Leeds and tonight v Leigh we got destroyed by Hock, Hanson and Aston. As an opposition player, which of our pack would you look at and think, ‘I wouldn’t want him running at me’? Very few if any. The players need to change that – the aggression needs adding.

Individual errors cost us big time first half – missed tackles from Fages on Vea and then a glaring miss from Tommy Lee and Alex Walmsley sent Aston through a huge hole for another and that gave Leigh a huge leg up….. they started flagging fitness wise after 25 mins of the first half, but by that point with an 18-0 lead the damage had already been done.

Our execution was poor –  Ryan Morgan try was chalked off for crossing on what was a set play and shouldn’t have occurred (if indeed it happened because it looked perfectly legit), and on a few other occasions in the first half when we had numbers the ball went to ground when we would have walked in out wide. I felt Live that both Douglas and Roby both touched the ball down for tries but both were adjudged to have been held up in goal – on the back of this Leigh went up the other end of both their following sets and scored points.. could so easily have been a different game, but it’s a game of opportunities and Leigh took theirs.

Peyroux was abysmal, both in defence and attack – If Cunningham wants to make a statement then he’ll be dropped next Friday and one of the younger players given chance to stake their claim. Brainless offloads cost us dear – a hospital pass to Lomax saw Jonny have to limp his way through the second half, and later in the second half a terrible pass out the back whilst on the goal line saw us lose possession when we were close to scoring. It was no surprise to see him withdrawn after the Higham try, which all started with a penalty given away by Peyroux to piggyback Leigh down the field.

We had enough ball and opportunities in the second half to win the game… more than enough. Roby absolutely ran the show in the second half and we immediately looked like we’d stepped up 2 or 3 gears. Stupid decision making, missed opportunities and a scrambling hard working Leigh defence meant we failed  to convert possession in to points.

24-16, 1:37 on the clock and we got a penalty. Why didn’t we kick the goal and bring the deficit to 6? At least we’d have got the ball back with around 40 seconds to try and snatch a draw. Instead we run the penalty… even if we score on the set then time runs out and we lose by 2. Ade Gardner ran on with the kicking tee, we should have kicked it. Instead he got waved away. It just sums up the stupidity and lack of leadership.

Too many senior players were anonymous tonight – simply not good enough and the players need to accept the criticism, take it on the chin and step up.

Lastly a quick thought on Leigh – worked hard for their victory and can’t begrudge their fans who were tremendous. The news that hit Percival as he attempted his first conversion was deafening. They’ll win enough home games and a few on the road to challenge the Top 8 imo.

Probably more to add but just a short ramble… give us your thoughts on the forum