I think with Walker being captain he’ll figure in the backrow somewhere. I think we’ll line up like this....


Mullaney, Uaisele, Purtell, Baille, Ulugia, Gaskell, Siejka, Sidlow, O’Brien, Clough, Pitts, Walker, Addy. Shaw, Brook, Walshaw, Tahraoui, Davies, Halafihi, Conroy, Mellor, Olbison.

Lots of size on the bench.

Can't argue with that tactic. The sooner players come to terms with the new interpretations the better.

What are the new interpretations that could possibly lead to sin bins? I seem to recall some new interpretation regarding fighting. Given it was Wire vs Widnes last night there was probably some agro.

A Hunslet supporting pal of mine says that in the Championship we can expect a lot more “physicality” than in SL and officials seem to either miss more or let it slide. It’ll be interesting to see how we react to that side of the game given that many of our players haven’t played in the championship.

Well one of them was sin-binned for a ball steal, so I don't think it was fighting or any new rules that have come in this year. I think it might just be areas they are trying to 'clamp down' on, or it could just be James Child being a total c0ck as usual.

Quite a few have played down there though, and Karl has coached in that division, so I'm sure the players will be prepared.

Mullaney
Shaw/Ulugia
Purtell
Baile
Uisele

Gaskell
Siejka

Sidlow
AOB
Clough
Olbison
Pitts
Walker

Tahraouoi - replaces Clough
Davies - for Sidlow
Shaw/Ulugia -shuffle as necessary so Ulugia replaces Mullaney
Walshaw - for Olbison
Mellor - for Pitts
Addy - Walker
Brook - for Siejka
Halafihi for AOB/Conroy
Conroy for AOB/Halafihi

Not suggesting all those subs even if that were possible, and of course other options eg Walshaw for Purtell or Baile

I made a trip down to watch Batley and Dewsbury on Boxing day. At one point during the first half the game became farcical with the amount of scrapping going on. Roby was the man with the whistle that day and poilced it fairly well. Hopefully the Championship referees do that same.

I'm expecting a massive amount of physicality and 'Biff' next season.

On paper that teams looks pretty good. Don't think teams will like visiting Odsal. I think you lot will win the league pre merger.

It looks like Danny Williams has been added to the squad for Sunday, no news yet who he's replacing.

Bulls are 14-6 up at the break, with tries from Jay Pitts, Ryan Shaw and Adrian Purtell. It sounds like Lee Gaskell and Jake Mullaney are having great games so far.

Mullaney's been great so far.

Mullaney is playing v well and the halfbacks are combining well.

We've had a hurricane at our backs in the first half. Could be tougher playing into it now.

James Graham's fat brother is doing a good referee impression in his old Saints shirt too.

Plenty of reasons to be optimistic judging by some of the performances today. I thought Gaskell and Mullaney had great games and the latter was very nimble on his feet. Walshaw is a big unit in the 2nd row who I think will be a key player for us next year. Of the so called 'unknowns' I though Luke Shaw looked a decent player who can cover a few positions in our backline. He prevented a certain try with some great strength to hold the Cas player up over the line.

Jimmy certainly made use of his squad and we saw a lot of different combinations in the backline, particularly in the 2nd half. I know the result isn't really important but I think our lads probably feel they could of won the match if it hadn't of been for a pretty harsh sin bin which then led to a try and a suicidal offload by Ulugia that gifted Cas possession and ultimately a try.

Positive start though and we definitely gave Cas a good game.

Thought tahraoui and Davies had good debuts. Tahraoui in particular looks a handful. Mullaney was standout player being involved in all three tries. Thought the sin binning turned game to a large extent. Was certainly very harsh. Looked like a lot of time has been spent on defense which looked a lot better than last year. Only downside was injury. Looked like baille did his hamstring.

Overall think well take a lot more positives from game than cas who looked a shadow of last years team despite the result.