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Hornets boss seeking assurance over future

3/ 5/2008

Bobbie Goulding is hoping to revive talks with Rochdale Hornets over an extension to his current one-year deal.

Twelve weeks into what has so far been an enjoyable season at Spotland, there have been rumours regarding Goulding’s long-term future at the club.

When asked about this he said: "To be honest, when I came back to Hornets I thought I was offered a two-year contract at the club, but it seems I have only been given one year. I have been in talks about this but so far they have stalled."

Goulding has been linked with the vacant Leigh job but is focused on Bank Holiday Monday’s clash against struggling Hunslet at Spotland, when he hopes to see an improvement in the refereeing.

Perplexed doesn’t fully describe Goulding’s frustration with the manner in which Hornets’ matches have been officiated this season. After last week’s derby defeat against Oldham Roughyeds, which saw referee James Child award 30 penalties in an encounter that was never dirty, he was left to reflect on the future of the game.

"It’s inconsistency. Referees seem to be changing the rules week in, week out and that’s what’s getting the coaches and the players’ backs up. The officials aren’t approachable these days, not approachable whatsoever, they are very arrogant and there doesn’t appear to be any common sense at all between referees and players. There’s no camaraderie anymore."

Goulding believes it needs a concerted effort from all rugby league coaches to address the problem and prevent the game from going from rack to ruin, but feels he is a lone voice when it comes to highlighting these issues:

He said: "The game’s going. People are paying hard-earned money to go and watch a game. I know players make mistakes, but I’m glad I’m not a referee. I’m glad I don’t have to do videos about referees because there seems to be mistakes every single set.

"Why have a referee whom I have never heard of in my life in charge of the biggest game of the day in our division. And on Monday we have got a French referee.

"Every coach is concerned, and they have all got to stand up and say something. There only seems to be me saying anything at the minute. Mind you, what can you do when no one listens? It’s difficult."

The Hornets’ boss, though, wasn’t using the Dewsbury officialo as an excuse for his team’s appalling completion rate and inability to hold on to the ball, which was the major factor in their downfall. And with a fully-fit squad to pick from for Monday’s match against Hunslet Hawks at Spotland, he expects to ring the changes.

"There will be changes, I can guarantee that. Our ball completion is absolutely abysmal. We had a great training session on the Saturday and the following day we couldn’t hold onto the ball.

"I think we had 18 tackles to make on our line early in the game and it took a lot out of us. We got tired, dropped the ball and it became a vicious circle. "Every time we got it we seemed to drop it on the second or third tackle, and we weren’t getting to the end of the set. We were giving them the ball 30 yard from our line.

"Oldham had about 80 per cent possession in the first half, most of it in our half, and I thought our defence was absolutely outstanding.

"To keep them to 10-4 at the break said a lot about our commitment. But our attack was shocking. What can your strike players do when you are dropping the ball early in the tackle count?

"They should come in at fourth or fifth tackle when the defence is tiring a bit and you can exploit the gaps.

"I’ve watched Hunslet on video and, although they are struggling at the moment we will need to be fully focused. We can’t take them lightly.

"Hopefully I’ve got a fully fit squad and we’ll get back to winning ways."