I obviously set goals and targets at the start of the year and obviously I haven't met them, which is a real disappointmenmt as far as I am concerned.

But the buck stops here. I put the squad together and so I take responsibility for it.

We haven't improved on last year's performance in relation to where we are in the table so it is something which concerns me.

Last year we won eight games, this year we have won seven and drawn one.

Probably the highs were the wins against Bradford and Halifax, with only 12 men. The lows were Salford at home and Huddersfield away and a number of other mediocre performances too.

I knew about the lack of depth to the squad when I set my targets. I suppose injuries to key personnel probably put us under pressure but replacements that came in did decent jobs.

It was the team as a whole which hasn't come together as a whole. It always takes time when you make a massive reshuffle like we did last year but the results haven't, I believe, vindicated some of the decisions I have made so I have to take responsibility for that. Decisions were made in the light of information I had in front of me at that point in time.

The key was the turn of the season. Rightly or wrongly, I kept the players from having a holiday during the three week break from games in July.

We worked very hard during that time because I was very conscious of having to win that game against Castleford in Cardiff. I think we lost our way from there.

Once we had lost that game we dropped further away from the top five. Then the week after we dropped further away and the season capitulated from there.

I wasn't necessarily talking about a top five finish but the opportunity was there for us, had we won those games.

I think we could have won that game in Cardiff. There were other close games too that we didn't clinch, like the 18-18 draw at home to Sheffield Eagles. That was a disappointing result based on the fact that we had five or six minutes to kick a drop goal and didn't.

What we really lacked all year, and it was something we knew going into the season, was out-and-out strike players. The sort of players who would come up with tries from nothing when you are doing it tough.

Also the resolve to say we're going to play out the full 80 minutes was not always there. The resolve to say that is what we're paid for and that is what we're going to do. The resolve to hang in when things aren't going right. This comes down to attitude and has to be really worked on.

It's the old man in the mirror syndrome. The players have to look at themselves in the mirror. I've got to do it constantly every week so they have do it. I have to say each week 'Was that the best I could have prepared them for the game'. And they have to look in the mirror and at some stage say to themselves 'Have I gone out and played to the best of my ability?'

On the player side there have been some positives in that there are players I am comfortable with keeping at the club and we will now try to build a team around them. And we have to get the likes of Mark Hilton, Jon Roper and Toa Kohe-Love back on the field. Toa and Jon haven't played that many games since I have been here due to injuries.

The Adam Doyle situation was disappointing. Although people didn't realise he played for a long period with a groin injury. Maybe I should have said at that point 'let's get the operation done'. But I was trying to get him through to July when we had the three week break so that it could be sorted out then.

Jon Roper then played well for us at stand off and he got injured so it has been a key area.

But I don't like to dwell on the past because I can't do anything about it unfortunately. I have just got to look to the future.

That is why I have brought Scott Wilson over from Australia. I was trying to get him over here for the last three or four games, as Doyle left. It didn't work out that way but we've got him here now.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.