He was limping before he went off. Wouldn't of minded him getting a rest this week with how heavily strapped that knee is.

For me Agar is using Donaldson in last 20 to shore up the defence. He's put in some big tackles when he's come on and seems to get the team going again.

If Ava's injured could see Prior back at prop, Smith starting and Greenwood on bench.

Spot on Biff, true test will come against sides that will dominate your forwards.

He has started to mature physically now, doesn't get dominated in the collusion anymore and if he continues to develop he could become one of the best in the world. It appears the club have timed his development perfectly.

Of course Sinfield is in charge of who stays and goes, that was announced that he would be in charge of recruitment when Sinfield came back wasn’t it?

Sinfield has only taken that role from Hetherington who has been in charge of those affairs for the last 25 years

Give over. The club haven’t timed anything. We would have had this a couple of years back had we done the same thing. McDermott was the problem for Smith, everyone who knew Smith and his game knew this.

We play him properly in his right role, and what you see now is exactly the player he has been for last 10 years at different levels. Agar already knew the talent Smith had, so knew exactly what should happen. Simply done that. But had McDermott not gone, Smith would have gone, and not planned by club. You have to remember Smith has been on first team cap money since 16, his first contract. No one can surely think that was done to plan to wait four years.

We just have to accept we are finally getting the real player now and enjoy it. Could have been earlier, but we have it now.

Got to remember how young Cam still is and i see more maturity in him now than in his academy days. In terms of feeding him games at this level i think the club has brought him on nicely but they had him playing as another battering him and while he can do the tough stuff Cam is a ball handler at heart.

Watching him last night i was seeing a lad who has it all and is arguably the best young forward in Super League right now. I walked out of the ground thinking hes now ready to be in the international squad. Hes top class.

As Gotcha says McD was using him all wrong but he did give Cam some game time at a young age and that has helped his development in terms of experience. Kids need to drip fed in to get them to the point Cam is at now.

Really pleased and excited in what weve got with this kid now. Going to be special i think. Thought he was absolutely outstanding last night and hes been excellent all year.

Thought young Mikolaj did well last night again too. Were heading in the right direction at last.

Very good all round performance last night from 1-17.
One player who cops some flak on here is Donaldson who might not make the yards but boy does he run it in hard and makes the tackles well above his weight and size.
Would be a shame to leave him out of the 17 for Greenwood but again it`s a squad game and great if we can rotate players.
Team spirit is good too but the test will come when we are losing and what better than a tough away game in France to keep it going.

Whereas we can expect to lose games this season, there isn’t anyone I’m fearful of playing because we are competitive now.

We have to keep the pack moving - we have good halves who can play a bit now, so if we provide a platform we’ll be thereabouts in most games.

I agree with most comments over Smith. What I would add is that he looks physically better this year. He has always had the skill, and he would beast lads his own age, but it’s taken him time to adapt now everyone he’s playing is stronger than him. RL is a very simple game in most respects, and it looks like Cam is now competitive physically again, which allows his skill to shine through. Could be a very good player indeed.

It’s not all about the club. I do wish people would stop McD bashing - most of the lads doing so well last night came through on Brian’s watch and will have had significant input from him. Who’s to say McD wouldn’t also have put Smith at 13 before now had he stayed? Maybe he was just trying to toughen him up to compete at open age, and add something more to his game? Maybe he does know what he’s doing a bit?

Anyway the key difference for me is the balance of the team this year. Everybody Agar / Sinfield has brought in is skilful (possible exception of Hurrell at times) and it’s now showing in the reduction in errors and our ability to apply consistent pressure.

mcd tried to turn everyone into a prop......

The biggest point for me is I'm looking forward to games again and not dreading them.
Yes we will lose games this year but I can't see many more Hull type capitulations on the horizon as last year.
A+ for effort and team spirit, will be a succesful season if we can keep that going.

Hang on a minute. Most of the lads came through on McDermotts watch? Most of the lads? What Handley, Oledzki, and Smith? that is most out of 17.

Smith would not have been playing 13 had McDermott still been here, because Smith wouldn't have still been here. You can hide from the problems of McDermott all you like, but it doesn't change the postion then.