We are fourth in the league, having won four, lost three when not playing very well at all. It is only week 7 - there are 16 weeks of league ladder, followed by seven more matches to get into the top 4 (anyone who thinks we won't be in the top 4 needs their head testing).

The league seems very open this year - after these first seven rounds, can anyone really say who will be in the top 4, top 8, bottom 4 later in the season?

The stats from last Friday show we were pretty even with Huddersfield in metres made, tackles and clean breaks. We missed 23 tackles, they missed 29; we made 16 errors; they made 13. It [iwas[/i the kicking that was the difference - either in getting territory or in try scoring.

We are making too many simple mistakes - knock ons, passes behind players, ending a set with a dodgy kicker...

Our discipline is great. I've not checked but I bet we are very low on penalty count - best in the league maybe?

Our half backs are playing poorly overall. We know this, Smith knows it and he has tried different combinations. If Wheeler was fit, maybe he'd be in there and Bridge would be in the centre - I don't know. He has been critical of our attacking/kicking game, but naming names will not exactly help morale, will it?

Clark has not set the world on fire, but then again neither have many of our squad.

Sims hasn't bashed all and sundry. Well, it was only the close season that many were writing off Ben Westwood.

We should be rejoicing in the development of Laithwaite, Philbin, King. Currie is struggling right now and maybe he's suffering from being swopped between centre and second row.

Two weeks running we have been disappointed and that is colouring people's views. Let's see where we are in 5 or 6 weeks, after Easter and after Wigan.

Good post TanCW

I think our only problem is in the halves, some other easily remedied problems nothing major. A decent 6 or 7 would see us closing out a lot of games.

3 defeats --- St Helens away (until they moved to langtree this was always a guarantee), Catalan away (lots of teams are going to find it tough there. I used to see that Catalan might not win the league but they will have a say in who does), Huddersfield at home ..........very disappointing.

Its the lack of direction thats the worrying thing i think.. 2nd lowest scores in the league with 131 points is poor.

I was hoping we would kick on after the leeds game and go on a run... But we have gone backwards since that game.

Im sure Clark will come good, so im not overly concerned with him.. Sims also hasnt been as bad as alot are making out. Also the younger players have come along nicely, so deffo some positives there.

With no kicking game though, it appears that we are going to have to rely on scooting from DH to get us field position.... The last 2 teams we have played dealt with that fairly easily and won as a result of it... Leeds didnt see it coming.. lets hope we can find another way of giving the forwards a platform in the weeks to come... next 5 games are

Widnes A
Cas H
Wakefield H
Wigan A
Leeds A

If think we will need to win a minimum of 3 of those games.

Against Leeds we played some of the best stuff in we've seen in ages, 2 weeks later some of the worst. All the problems that were there last year are still there now ie in the halves, but our squad in general is stronger than last year imo and I'm confident it will show as the season goes on. Given how far we got last year with a weaker squad anything could happen. It was around easter time last year when we went on that long winning streak after previously looking hopeless, so keep the faith and let's wait and see...

I think another big issue is a lack of leadership. Joel does not come across as a genuine leader, and being stuck out on the wing makes it even more difficult. A few times last week I noticed players looking around waiting for someone to decide what to do, especially when attacking their line. The only player directing plays was Micky Higham, the rest of the time we were clueless in how to break down their defense. Maybe we should go back to throwing the ball around, at least we could score.

The problem is we haven't got our likely to get a decent 6 or 7 this season, so the same deficiencies will be there.

It will be a constant struggle to compete in my opinion

So think we're going to be beaten 4th and 8th

i`ll take 3 wins from that lot in a heartbeat

We really do have some miserable regulars on his forum and I am pleased to see the heading and a few different views. I think we ought to look back to the comments just after the Leeds game. Everything was looking so rosy ... and then two defeats and we are destined to the division below. Apart from St Helens & Leeds ... I reckon the season has been a bit of shock for all clubs. You cannot win every week.

I do have perspective, what I find frustrating about it is that I believe we are for the want of a good kicking half-back so near to being a super-strong team. I'm not all doom and gloom about the players we have, just find it maddening that we have several players apparently in the half-back position, whose talents point to them playing somewhere other than half-back IMO, and with a Dureau, a Blake Green, even a Danny Brough, we would be a complete team that I would back to beat anyone.

Hull KR are a bit of a surprise. They have brought in two new very creative half backs ... and they are a real handful on attack. Could there be another nugget tucked away somewhere who could really add to our attack. HKR must be dead chuffed what they've unearthed.

For me the issues are clear (as they are to a lot on here) pointless, hopeless, clueless, skill less half backs. Ok that's a bit harsh, but it is reality as described by many on here. The coaching staff and players are the ones charged with turning that around. Against Leeds they did and we looked every bit a top two side. Since then we haven't kicked on (excuse the pun), we haven't played at the same level, all we have done is regress. It hurts all of us to hear that we are only a decent half back away from brilliance, what hurts more is to hear the very people charged with sorting that out saying the same. The club have got this wrong, I would hazard a guess that there are half backs in the Championship that could do better than what we are trying to do,which is to turn none half backs into Andy Greg and Shaun Edwards. Personally I find it incredible that a top class coach and a top club is struggling in this way and for this to be the second season is mind boggling.