tbh i think owen should not be fullback we should of kept mathers and send owen he cant he attempt to get a ball witch costed us bradford first try

Nothing against Mathers, but I think that you might be on your own with your opinion on this one! There were many reasons that we lost to Bradford, and it would be unfair to single out any particular player. When you consider that Owen put in a strong performance against Salford the previous week and in many peoples opinion could easily have been man of the match in that game. It's a bit harsh to then talk of pushing him to one side after a bad 'Team' performance.

Bottom line....it's a bit too early to be pointing the finger at anyone just yet!

Agree with Grobs. Owen made one bad mistake in the match. Other players also made mistakes (dropped ball, bad discipline, etc). The lad will improve. Did you not see the mistake Mathers made against Widnes, that cost Wakey a try? All players make errors, it's how they respond to them that counts.

He had a laughable missed tackle for a KR try too.

Owen is just getting used to the full back position again after clueless Matterson stuck him on the wing, remember how good he was when he burst onto the scene as a full back? (missing a full season with a broken leg wouldn't have helped either)

Owens season as started off shakey, especialy at the start of each game.
At salford he let quite a few balls bounce and seemed to want to pass rather than run with it.
The bradford game he made a total ash, which cost us 6 points.

In both games he recovered , got his confidence back and played ok.

I'm sure with better and dryer grounds he will come good....hopefully.

As for mather hes a stroppy sod, watch the wakefield/HKR high lights hes constantly waving his arms about and having the hump.

Would you expect anything less from a Whino?

Owen is a star in the making - potentially. Give the lad a chance, mind you he was rubbish as a winger, FB deffo his position.

It's a bit harsh to blame Mathers for the Widnes error, given that players spent the rest of the match being unable to stop or change direction quickly due to the surface - I don't think anyone would have been able to pull up in time for that one.

He did miss a tackle for one of their tries on Sunday but so far, he's been less windy under the high ball than I expected and has added an extra dimension to our attacking line. The rugby gods giveth and the rugby gods taketh away.

As for Owen - it's a bit early for scapegoats!

So his failure to kick the ball dead is because of the pitch?



It was a classic Mathers brain fart.

I was there and I've watched it on Sky twice - he over-ran it a bit and was unable to pull up.

Give the guy a break Gronk - he has his moments, but that wasn't one of them; Sunday probably was, although it was at the end of a knackering afternoon - HKR were brutal in defence.

FWIW, I like Owen - he was a crap winger but I think he'll settle for you at FB and have a cracking season.

It's hardly fair to criticise Owen for their first try given the conditions. Further to this, given those conditions, it's hardly a fair to judge him on the basis of this.

Secondly, I seem to remember Mathers suffering the same fate v Kearney and probably McGoldrick the season before that. They try the same high bomb in every game against us and every time Kearney catches it and scores.

He's been offside at least twice too.