Isn't this a contradiction? Stevie has benefited from a couple of months of training and not playing week in week out. Maybe Delaney will benefit from a month of preseaon type training with some games with Hunslet. After all, we're pretty strong in the back row

The work you do in the off-season and pre-season is entirely different to what you do during the year. Pre-season is about building muscle mass and getting miles in the legs, while during the season is about recovery and maintenance.

Ward, with an off/pre-season finally not hampered by shoulder problems has been able to do that. He can maintain now during the season.

Delaney hasn't been able to get that muscle mass on or miles in the legs because of his various pre-season injuries. You could take him out of the first team group and give him a four to six week "mini pre-season" now, but that would mean taking someone from the conditioning staff away from working with the group to do it. Plus the intensity of pre-season isn't necessarily the right preparation to be doing for competitive games.

As for going out on dual-reg, the pace of the game in the Championship is really no preparation for how quickly things move in SL, IMO.

After the Warrington game where Delaney made his returned he said ideally he would've played a few more games for Hunslet before returning but the injury to Achurch meant he was recalled sooner. We could've always given Walters that bench spot instead. As regards to Delaney, I think he was solid enough on Friday considering he didn't play any RL for 6 months and was rehabing most of the off-season. If several games down the line you're saying the same thing about him then you might have a point.

Fair comment.

The incredible thing about Delaney is he actually played Centre, his ball handling is simply atrocious.