Here’s everything the Hull KR boss said after their defeat to Wakefield Trinity.
General thoughts
I don’t want to take anything from Wakefield but what we dished up in that first half was poor. I want to take nothing from Wakefield, they were outstanding, I knew exactly what team would turn up with their shapes and how they play. They ask a lot of questions. They had more intent, they were more physical. They pretty much beat us in every area. I want to take nothing from what they did, but we didn’t play well in that first half.
I asked at half time, why were we performing like this? I think it’s important players own performances. The staff will own what we need to get right and we will do that. I was happy with some parts of the second half, we asked more questions with the ball and didn’t let any tries in. That was an improvement, but Wakefield were far better.
Worst performance of the season?
The first 40 minutes was the worst performance for sure. We’ve only had a couple of poor performances. Leeds wasn’t great but that first half was terrible.
Some comfort from the second half?
It could have got out of control if we dished up what we did in that first half. But it’s easier if you’re not feeling it to try a few things and play a little bit. It can be a false sense of where you’re at. I look at that performance and we walk away disappointed, that’s for sure.
Why he went pitchside in the second half…
I just wanted to see and hear and you can do that on the sideline. I wanted to hear who was connected and in the game. Sometimes, messages; when you’re up top, you can see it unfold, but it was about seeing who wanted to dive into that second half. I could see and hear certain things.
Is he concerned with a performance like that at this stage of the season?
If you’re going to go by that game, of course it’s a concern. I don’t look too far ahead or too far behind, I look at what we’ve just done. What we dished up wasn’t good enough. We have to be better in five days time against Warrington.
Oliver Gildart’s return
He will take some time to get back into his groove. It was good to see him back out there. The main thing was him getting through, which he did. His performance, I’ll have to take a better look.
Joe Burgess’ absence
Joe has a slight strain so when he went back he did some tests and didn’t get through that. He may not play next week but it’s nothing major, he’ll be back for finals if he doesn’t play next week. But will there be headaches after that performance? I’m not sure.
Kelepi Tanginoa’s withdrawal
He didn’t get to warm-up. When he arrived he felt tight and didn’t want to risk it. We need to have a look at it. We did captain’s run yesterday and didn’t hear about it. We need to have a look at it.
What was said at half-time?
I’ll keep what we said in there but I wanted to see actions, that was the main message. Actions more than words.
What particularly irked him about the performance?
Everything. I though our effort, the way they scored their tries was far too easy. They ran harder, tackled harder, simple things in the game that they did better than us. When you don’t get that right you’re often on the wrong end of the scoreboard. 26-0 was a fair reflection of how poor we were. It was fair.
Second poor performance in four weeks, is that a concern?
We responded well off the back of Leeds. We’ve been consistent all year but if you’re going to put in a performance like that then you’re not going too far in the comp. As I said, I’ll only judge us on today’s performance and it’s not good enough.
Can tonight be seen as getting a bad one out of the system or not?
It’s a hard one because people always talk when you’re going well that you need a poor performance. You have that and then people say you should be worried or concerned. For me, you want to perform well every week, that’s it. If we’re doing that we’re in a decent spot. If we’re not, we have to be better and improve.
There’s always a narrative with what people are saying. When we were flying, we needed a loss. Now we’ve had it, is it a concern? There’s always something. The concern for me tonight is we weren’t good enough and came second. Is that a concern? Yes it is.
Thoughts about team selection for next week…
If you’re asking me right now, the disciplinary points are the furthest thing from my mind. We need to pick a team that’s going to go out and perform and improve. Whether we change our mind, we’ll have a look in a couple of days.