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Thread: Kristian Woolf

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    This board is a pile of contradictions at times.

    We go on about the regular season not mattering then some of us start stressing about losing one of our toughest away games in week 2 with five regulars missing.

    Some of us moan that we might not sell out the WCC game, calling it embarrassing if we don't, but then say it's a glorified friendly which they don't care about.

    End of the day, we are in no trouble here. Wire had the odds stacked against them away at Wigan with the Hill sending off and got beat. We had the odds stacked against us away at Wire with key injuries and got beat. If our top comp is to be competitive and challenging then both of those results should happen nine times out of ten because playing a big rival away from home with 12 men or with loads out injured means you should lose. It would be fantastic to beat those odds and win games like Friday night, but it generally doesn't happen in those circumstances, and if it did I'd worry about the quality and depth of the comp.

    Woolf is in the unenviable position of replacing a popular coach that just won the league. The only way he can do better is to win the double, so on a week to week basis he is on a hiding to nothing because nothing we do outside of big Cup or play off games is going to be as good as last season really. So, maybe he's trying to tweak things with the style of play, the wrestling etc. Too early to tell whether this will be a positive, a negative or if it'll make no real difference. But I reckon we'll be fine.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Reacher View Post
    Are we not slightly overreacting here a tad?
    Just a tad!!!


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    In The North Stand With All The Old Folk Scouse Don's Avatar
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    Woolf will be fine. He has taken on a job that from day 1 will be very difficult as others have strengthened significantly and he has a host of injuries to top players. We won't win the league by 16 points again-it would have been 22 if we hadn't played under strength teams in the games we lost. So he will need a few games to get the hang of superleague.

    Having chatted to him I got the feeling he is a top quality bloke who knows what he wants and appreciates what the club and the fans want.
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    He has walked into an injury crisis as a starter for 10. What this allows him is a very quick process of evaluation around the squad players and if they are capable of replacing the quality but ageing incumbents.

    I as a passionate fan do worry about the appetite of the club not the coach to build a legacy. We need to follow up and build on last season in the way we did in the late nineties and the early part of this decade.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cyprus View Post
    He has walked into an injury crisis as a starter for 10. What this allows him is a very quick process of evaluation around the squad players and if they are capable of replacing the quality but ageing incumbents.

    I as a passionate fan do worry about the appetite of the club not the coach to build a legacy. We need to follow up and build on last season in the way we did in the late nineties and the early part of this decade.
    I think building a legacy in the hope of a dynasty is few and far between these days we might see clubs having 2 or 3 good successful years then they go into a transition phase because of the lack of quality players. For us this will happen next season and we hope that the youngsters Dodd, Welsby, Lees, Knowles, Eaves will be prominent for the next seasons to come topped up by 4+ more overseas players that still leaves quite a few positions to fill and I should imagine its similar to other clubs as well.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Scouse Don View Post
    Woolf will be fine. He has taken on a job that from day 1 will be very difficult as others have strengthened significantly and he has a host of injuries to top players. We won't win the league by 16 points again-it would have been 22 if we hadn't played under strength teams in the games we lost. So he will need a few games to get the hang of superleague.

    Having chatted to him I got the feeling he is a top quality bloke who knows what he wants and appreciates what the club and the fans want.
    Without wanting to tempt fate, does anyone really want a repeat of last seasons dominance?

    Bear with me for a second before you knee jerk......

    Being so far ahead of the pack last season and having already got one hand on the LLS and two bites of the cherry at the GF MAY have had an effect on the CC semi and final.....

    We made hard work of it against Halifax but they would be galvanized that they had absolutely zero to lose and everything to gain.

    Likewise in the final where Wire’s season was pretty much over based on their form and we were so far ahead of them they had no chance of catching us and a hard slog still ahead to make the playoffs never mind the semi’s/finals. They clearly threw absolutely their whole season into that cup run (quite rightly it was their best chance of success) as we’ve seen them do previously and Catalans in 2018, plus Hull FC before.

    Being pithy, it’s what “Small clubs” do.......


    Maybe the players/club (and fans, me included.....) thought that all we had to do was turn up and we’d blow Wire away and we certainly didn’t carry that mentality into the playoffs or GFinal where in the first half against Wigan we took them to the sword and in the GF played “Finals” rugby to a tee....

    Complacency is perhaps a strong word but when you’re so far ahead of the pack there is a certain inevitability about it.....
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    Quote Originally Posted by RJM25R View Post
    Without wanting to tempt fate, does anyone really want a repeat of last seasons dominance?
    I agree with the theory, and whilst our own club should be of more concern to us than the state of the comp it can be argued that more competition at the top would be good for the game in general.

    Being clear and away at the top in a comp with a play-off system does have its annoyances as the victories pile up, the gap widens and you realise it doesn't mean a jot if we don't win the play-off games. And you may be right that the gap we generated at the top maybe did let a complacency to set in which meant we were undercooked at Wembley, although I reckon loads of reasons contributed to that defeat.

    Our attitude in the play-offs against Wigan and at Old Trafford were basically shaped by Wembley though. Our all conquering image was shattered and we had a 'chokers' tag to shake off. Had we won at Wembley would we have had the complacent shock to the system in September instead? Hard to say.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gray77 View Post
    I agree with the theory, and whilst our own club should be of more concern to us than the state of the comp it can be argued that more competition at the top would be good for the game in general.

    Being clear and away at the top in a comp with a play-off system does have its annoyances as the victories pile up, the gap widens and you realise it doesn't mean a jot if we don't win the play-off games. And you may be right that the gap we generated at the top maybe did let a complacency to set in which meant we were undercooked at Wembley, although I reckon loads of reasons contributed to that defeat.

    Our attitude in the play-offs against Wigan and at Old Trafford were basically shaped by Wembley though. Our all conquering image was shattered and we had a 'chokers' tag to shake off. Had we won at Wembley would we have had the complacent shock to the system in September instead? Hard to say.

    That's why its always entertaining when not-rights moan about loop fixtures; at the moment loop fixtures are the only justification for play-offs. I'm not a fan of play-offs but having such a format when everyone is playing exactly the same fixture list would be bizzare. May as as well bin off the whole season. Put simply which other self-respecting comp has play-offs with everyone playing exactly the same fixtures? None.

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    Quote Originally Posted by eddiewaringsflatcap View Post
    That's why its always entertaining when not-rights moan about loop fixtures; at the moment loop fixtures are the only justification for play-offs. I'm not a fan of play-offs but having such a format when everyone is playing exactly the same fixture list would be bizzare. May as as well bin off the whole season. Put simply which other self-respecting comp has play-offs with everyone playing exactly the same fixtures? None.
    The NRL?

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    NRL doesn't either. regular season is only 24 rounds and there are 16 teams. They don't play everyone else home and away

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    Quote Originally Posted by eddiewaringsflatcap View Post
    That's why its always entertaining when not-rights moan about loop fixtures; at the moment loop fixtures are the only justification for play-offs. I'm not a fan of play-offs but having such a format when everyone is playing exactly the same fixture list would be bizzare. May as as well bin off the whole season. Put simply which other self-respecting comp has play-offs with everyone playing exactly the same fixtures? None.
    The Cricket World Cup and the IPL. The RU Premiership. I'm sure there are lots of others

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    Quote Originally Posted by eddiewaringsflatcap View Post
    That's why its always entertaining when not-rights moan about loop fixtures; at the moment loop fixtures are the only justification for play-offs. I'm not a fan of play-offs but having such a format when everyone is playing exactly the same fixture list would be bizzare. May as as well bin off the whole season. Put simply which other self-respecting comp has play-offs with everyone playing exactly the same fixtures? None.
    Every division of the football pyramid bar the Premier League. Cricket one day and 20-20, Rugby Union Premiership. Gaelic Football and Hurling.

    The reality is that loop fixtures do bore a little. You can play a team too often.

    Maybe the best of both worlds would be to have 14 teams playing each other home and away, plus Magic. 27 games. Everyone happy. Those who think that you have to have an odd fixture list for play-offs, plus us mental not-rights.

    Meanwhile, re Woolf. I've been a little concerned about one-up rugby in the first half especially. I'd like to think that it's simply a product of Bentley playing at hooker, though. We shall see when Roby returns if we really do have a difference in styles. Either way, playing Bentley at hooker will crucify our attack and it cannot be a long term solution. The modern games needs fast, accurate distribution and dummy half running to get the team on the front-foot. Lose a split second of pace and thought at hooker and the whole team simply cannot get a roll-on.
    THIS YEAR LENDING SUPPORT TO:- St. Helens RLFC, Manchester City, Celtic, Alemannia Aachen, Steps 1 to 6 Non-League Football

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    Quote Originally Posted by DD View Post
    Every division of the football pyramid bar the Premier League. Cricket one day and 20-20, Rugby Union Premiership. Gaelic Football and Hurling.

    The reality is that loop fixtures do bore a little. You can play a team too often.

    Maybe the best of both worlds would be to have 14 teams playing each other home and away, plus Magic. 27 games. Everyone happy. Those who think that you have to have an odd fixture list for play-offs, plus us mental not-rights.

    Meanwhile, re Woolf. I've been a little concerned about one-up rugby in the first half especially. I'd like to think that it's simply a product of Bentley playing at hooker, though. We shall see when Roby returns if we really do have a difference in styles. Either way, playing Bentley at hooker will crucify our attack and it cannot be a long term solution. The modern games needs fast, accurate distribution and dummy half running to get the team on the front-foot. Lose a split second of pace and thought at hooker and the whole team simply cannot get a roll-on.
    Youve missed the point.The winners of the Football Leagues are promoted, they dont contest the play offs. Thats as bad as me forgetting RU adopted the bullshit that is play offs.
    Domestic Cricket only have play offs because teams are split into North and South groups, so in other words teams have different fixture lists. Im not even going to bother why using the cricket world cup is a moronic example (though i know you didnt make it).

    Even the NRL has no cup competition so the end of the year is a mixture of both a cup and league shootout. I cant comment on the fixture schedules of Irish sports, dont watch them.
    The point is credibility of any play off depends heavily on an uneven fixture list. I agree the loop fixtures can bore; they also undermine the excitement of a derby fixture: familiarity breeds contempt. What I was trying to expose was they are a symptom of a poor system. We play nearly 30 games and decide the champions by a couple of matches at the end of the year. Crazy.

    I agree on the Bentley point. You just cant have slow, loopy distribution at top level. Especially in the 20 zones.

    I thought youd given up following rugby anyway
    Last edited by eddiewaringsflatcap; 13th February 2020 at 19:58.

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