It's 2 months away a lot could change between now and then.

Not for a minute defending the fixture list but the players will recover. Let's face it, the three games in question were hardly the most attritional ever and while they were unquestionably and unsurprisingly knackered, the 8s and playoffs will be worse. IMO of course.

To be honest, just "players" doesn't concern me. Interested in Cuthbertson and Parcell, as that is the difference in this team between top four and bottom four.

the team with least injuries to key players come play off semi final time will win it.
cas lose shenton, gale and mcshane, we lose cuthbertson, mcguire and parcel and both teams are stuffed. same with other sides.

Yes, agree with this. And while I also agree with Gotcha's views on the importance of Parcell and Cuthbo there's little point in resting them if we drop points and miss top 4 as a result. Simply making the 4 has to be the target, anything after that could well be a roll of the injury dice as you suggest.

Spot on. Gotcha talks about us losing Cuthbertdon and Parcell and Saints catching up, what if they lose Walmsley and Roby?

I think its wide open this season. also I agree with printer. the teams making the Wembley final will be at a disadvantage come old Trafford time

Because I am not a Saints fan, they don't interest me. What does is my team challenging. I repeat, without Cuthbertson and a Parcell we are a bottom four team. It doesn't matter about the opposition, we still are not challenging with those players missing or shattered to none performance. We are flogging them, and further down the line we will suffer because of it. We have had every chance to rest those players and avoid that, Barrow, Widnes, Leugh, but no the same thing.

They don't though. This change in fixtures had nothing to do with the mid-season international.

I've done a bit of a about face on the game. Posters on here pointing out that it was our 4th game in 12 days are right. How can we expect a quality game under those circumstances?

My only real concern is that against the bottom two of the league, we've looked less fit than our opponents and badly run out of steam.

perhaps they have been rested and rotated more?
both have had lots of injuries so it could be a lot of players haven't played many games

If you rotate your squad effectively, and please bear in mind we have played Doncaster and Barrow before this spell, then you can expect a quality different to Friday. That is the point been made. Nobody has said the same players playing all these games should still produce quality.

Cas get their results out of competition for places. Our first seventeen picks it's self and continually plays without rest without an injury stopping that.

26 penalties in the game which wasn't a rough house.
Bloody ridiculous.
Child needs to put his whistle away.
He gave a penalty on the first tackle of the game for goodness sake. Set the tone for the entire game.
He needs to watch how Thaler & even Bentham use a bit of nous to allow the game to flow.
I'm sure nearly every decision he gives is technically correct but he has no feel for the game nor any rapport with the players.
So everyone ends up being frustrated that then boils over into a niggly stop/start affair.

spot on. I reffed pro football. we are coached abut managing games. its when to give fouls. obviously bad or clear fouls have to be penalised.
bentham was brilliant when he did leeds v cas at magic. could have penalised more but as they were minor he let it go. the game had a great flow.
refs will make errors, sometimes big ones. that's life, so do players.


the younger refs know the laws but they don't know the game, and they don't know how to manage games. they have no rapport with players. you need dialogue.
I worry about the advice/coaching they are being given

Yes I was thinking Fridays game wasn't ill disciplined to the level Child blew for. It never should've been 26 penalties, put Thaler or Bentham in charge of the same game and they'd probably reached only half of that 26 figure.