Seems Chester blames his middles has being one of his major problems yesterday but this is what I thought i witnessed yesterday

Fifita tried hard,did big minutes. Took ball standing still and was easily nullified by hudds

Green, nothing spectacular but cant remember doing much wrong ,but seemed to have little involvement in anything.

Westerman, started Ok but as game went on went missing a bit,not his usual self.

Arona, blowing out of his back side. Could hardly walk off the pitch at end of stint. Way past it ,stupid re signing

Batty,10 minutes on pitch ,did very little but little opportunity to have any influence.

Batch young slightly built second rower asked to do a job . Did OK ,but Chester doing kid no favours. I bet he looks at his brother with envy and sees how his career is blossoming under a decent coach at a top club. Get out while you can batch,Chester is killing your career.

So Chester had all his chosen middles available to him. I admit they were not impressive at all. However a bit of coaching could change things. But in the end ,they were his chosen players,he signed them and he coaches them. Funny how he never mentions that .

Arona stumbled off in the 45th Minute. Thats 5 minutes of work and he was absolutely blowing out of his behind. How desparately unfit are some of these players?!

Not sure if anyone saw but there was a play where Westy took the ball in and got absolutely clattered but the ref had called play back to the 4th tackle. After that he came off and when he returned, didn’t seem right at all.

Arona has been a great servant but he's too old ,not big enough and his time has gone. Ditto Ashurst.

God knows what has happened to the Eddie Battye we signed on loan. Chris Green has been poor ever since he arrived.

Totally agree about Bachelor. His development is going backwards at an alarming rate. Seems impossible for him to get a start in his natural position and is shunted all over the park to fill gaps. Also seems to be one of Chester's favourites to leave out. Really sad to watch as I'd hoped he would be a cornerstone of our pack for years to come.

I would not be surprised if Batchelor was not offered a contract and will be one of those sacrificed as part of the squad reduction. I just get the feeling he is not a player liked by Chester.

The squad is not unfit, that's a total red herring, in fact, they are the fittest I've seen them in a while.

Arona like a few others is just gone, it's that simple and no amount of training can fix that.

Let's get this straight once and for all, there are only two things wrong with the team, they are dumb and they lack any resilience.

The only question is who's to blame.

Most players are slightly dumb or you wouldn't need a coach. They are not necessarily dumb as individuals but they are as part of the team if that makes sense. Sorting that out is a shared responsibility, the players have to want to be smart. However, the lead must come from the coach, and for whatever reason, that isn't happening and the two are not connecting.

Resilience tends to come with winning and we simply aren't winning and CC just doesn't seem to be able to address that.

I really wish he could, it's not personal and I've stuck with him way beyond any other coach, even JK. I've done so because IMHO the seasons 2017 and 2018 were the best two seasons I've ever seen from Trinity with the possible exception of 2004. It was sublime at times and I have been hoping that eventually, we'd recapture that. We have not, in fact, we are going backwards now, even an optimist like me can see that.

Hate to have to gang up on the bloke but I can't see it changing now, for me he just has to go. I wish him all the best.

I think you are wrong about that. He's very much a CC player in that he can play many positions moderately well which means Chester will never play him where he plays best.

Chester is destroying the lad but not because he doesn't like him but because he sees him as a band-aid player.

I have to agree. Battye is a shadow of the player he was last season, the perfect example of a player who initially looked good when first signed now looking nothing more than an average plodder. Green is the same. When he signed on loan in 2019 he looked good and helped keep us up. Since then, a lot of not much. What is causing this situation? Arona is probably on the decline but Chester is still trying to use him as a big minutes prop, when the new rules make that pretty difficult for most ‘middles’. He also played his best rugby for us at loose forward where the workload is a little less intense. He’s got a year left on his deal and he isn’t going to walk away for nothing thats for sure. Fifita is still decent but those lung busting bursts are no more. He is still difficult to get to ground due to his sheer strength and can offload well but the speed of the game is catching him up as he gets older. He’s good enough to see out the last year of his contract but that should be it. Even Tanginoa (one handoff against the smallest player on the park yesterday apart) doesn’t have the same impact these days. Batchelor is the one that annoys me the most. He looked a rare talent when he came onto the scene, ended up getting picked for England Knights and was seen as one of the hottest prospects around. Then he stalled. Other players were constantly preferred and his confidence was eroded. Now we have Chesters go to move ‘we’ll make him a middle’. Sorry but no, how about you COACH him in his best position and develop him. You wouldn’t think he played most of his career in the second row would you! So yes a couple of our players are past their best but you signed them on long contracts Chris, you pick them and set the game plan including the game time. Take some ownership of your actions.

Well Vasty, I disagree about fitness. We have a head of conditioning who is pinching money. However that's another discussion completely.

You are right many are dumb, they do dumb things and make mistakes. A smart coach should look at who he signs and pick up on these traits. But even dumb players can be improved to make them better . That's where the skill of comes in. But when players come to us they seem to get worse and go down hill. Eddie B a good example. Another is tanginoa, terrific when he arrived but slow deterioration ever since.
Then there are players a good coach would never ever consider bringing in or giving contracts to ashurst and arona both fine examples.

My final point I dont follow the juniors as much as I used to . But any aspiring back who is knocking on the door of the first team must be down hearted when he sees the likes of Innes Senior being brought in a played infront of him.

Fitness of body is fine apart from those players who have obviously gone over the hill.

I agree on the rest, but for me it’s fitness of mind that’s gone to pot.

Fit

Ok let me expand my point. Conditioning is the term I should have used. That also includes the mental and attitude side of the game.
We will have to have the discussion between ourselves as we could talk more openly but not on here. I will leave it at that

You don't need to I know exactly what you mean. I was answering a post that stated purely 'fitness', what you are on about is the whole thing, all forms of match preparedness, which is a huge issue.

As for our conditioner, I think you're correct, he has never inspired me. But how do you get rid?

I assume he's an employee rather than on a contract? In which case it would be hard to find the justifiable cause as far as employment law goes to get rid, as we both know these days being crap is not always enough. Then we'd have to pay him off because you can't make someone redundant without making the position redundant, he's the safest man at the club!.

It's funny but for years people wanted clubs run like businesses, now they are it's just opened up a whole new can of worms. The club management has far less room for maneuver than it once did.