Played some good stuff against a mediocre Cougars.
Douglas played like a man on fire, big hits and strong carries and was my M.O.M. Joufrett just carried on from last season. Mcomb brought what he does, 100%effort enthusiasm and carried strongly. The new lads all showed up pretty well. Salty managed some walk ins and when confronted with a 40 m clear run decided his hamstring might hurt.!!The backs looked pretty solid and with Calcott back should have a very competitive pack. The captaincy seemed to bring the best out of Crooks, a good decision I think. Not sure swapping positions of JWH and Joufrett brings the best out of the team, a work in progress?
The line speed was much improved from last season which was good to see.

All in all a good day at the office for our new coach.

Any truth in James Lowes there as number 2 ?

Managed to watch it on a livestream from keighley ( unfortunately halifax decided not to tell us about that , infact they don't communicate a great deal at the moment) might do this next bit as a mick gledhill parody

A gigantic performance from the unstoppable Bradford Douglas, i mean Brandon ( although he once visited the alambra theatre i believe) The ex Bradford stalwart james saltairestall romping home with 4 barnstorming tries . Ex Bradford talisman Thornton rd hooker adam obrien setting the tempo for a ten try romp . All in all a satisfying performance for kyle eastmonds men albeit against a school aged keighley side with no first team players whatsoever on the pitch .

https://youtu.be/PuyyUbjFI1s?si=SmHxcIBvP74KsBrL

https://youtu.be/PuyyUbjFI1s?si=SmHxcIBvP74KsBrL

For a friendly i enjoyed that, we played with intent with and without the ball making plenty of metres every set while restricting Keighley's. Rolling just the 1 sub for about a hour before Restall came on for the last 20, we look fit and unlike us we did the basics well we Just need some extra bodies now.

Yep agree with that assessment. For a first game, it was good to see us have some good shape in both attack and defence, everybody seemed to know their role and where they should be for each play. Not having the numerous subs you normally get in a friendly helped us keep that consistency throughout the game without a load of chopping and changing. But yes we need more bodies, as shown yesterday, 3 suspensions and 2 injuries and we can't field a full 17.

Are the suspensions served or were any more than one game ?

From what I can gather Maccarron, Graham and Dixon all got 2 games for grade C and Dixon got an extra game for a separate a grade B. Trying to factor in the number of games deducted whilst they were still at their previous clubs Maccarron and Graham could now be clear with Dixon still 1 to serve?

Think that's how I interpreted it.

A couple of thoughts on Sunday's game - what a difference a fit Brandon Douglas would have made last year, Charlie Graham looks to have the makings of an excellent centre, and Jouffret in my humble opinion is our most influential player, whether he's at fullback or half, although I'd still prefer him and JWH in their traditional positions. Very promising start, especially in

view of the limited number of fit players - not meaning to be negative but the quality of the opposition means I'm not getting too carried away just yet.