If Sheriffe's not fit, I would play Crookes on the wing, so we don't disrupt the squad too much.

This "very poor" business makes me cringe. The opposition is only as good as you let it be, and both Cas and Salford have shown this year that they have capacity to trouble even the best teams.

The next 2 weeks will not "show whereabouts we really are". We already know where we are. We have a brand new engine room in Orford, Kearney and L'Estrange and whilst we don't have that luxury, realistically a season playing together would be when you might start to expect the best from them. As it is, they and we will be better as the season winds on.

I can't [irule out[/i us being shown up again, like v. Saints, as it has happened on more than one occasion in recent times, but given how the pack is playing (notably Langley) and what we have seen from esp. Orford and Kearney means that we should be able to give anyone a decent game, and shouldn't be shown up.

The truth is that we are at the "reasonable grounds for optimism" stage, and are looking to have a reasonable season. If you come every week expecting to see the unbeatable all-conquering champions of the universe then you've a long wait coming.

If on the other hand you would be happy with a couple of workmanlike industrious wins, with some nice touches, then I reckon the prospects for the next 2 weeks are good.

Well said!!

Bang right FA, but imo these next three weeks will be critical to our season. We have arguably 3 of the toughest fixtures in 3 consecutive weeks, I think it would be a lot to ask to win them all, but I'm hoping that we can be competitive in all and win 2. I don't think we'll let Wigan run away with it on friday, from what I've heard Cats were very poor, so I'm hoping we come out all guns blazing and show that we can mix it with the best.

That's aimed at me so I'll respond. I'm optimistic. I'm always optimistic. I was optimistic all last season and all the way up to the first game of this season, especially with our excting new signings. But the Huddersfield game, which I really thought we would win, put some of my optimism on hold and the Saints mauling blew a lot of the rest of it away. But yes, 4 games in and 2 wins, better than last year, so lets celebrate.
I would be happy with 2 wins from the next 3 games, they could be one point wins for all I care, then yes I will be really optimistic for the season, but as yet I have not seen anything to show that it is not going to be another season of scraped wins, followed by dodgy defeats. I am dearly hoping to be proved wrong on Friday, especially at home.

I don't come every week expecting to see unbeatable champions, but I come expecting to see 100% effort every game, you can't ask for more than that. I saw that against Cas. I saw nothing like that against St Helens. If we play 100% week in week out then I expect us to win more than we lose.

But wins over Salford and Castleford, commendable though they are, are not enough yet to get me excited about our prospects for the season.

im not taking anything from your win over us last night, but i dont think you can put our nilling down to great defense, we did absolutely nothing but knock on when we were ner your tryline.

was impressed with orford though, his kicking was imaginative.

im just grateful we had a step up in defence too.

all in all a pretty good match

Debaser...despite saying you are optimistic surely you cans see that you HAVE come across as (for you) unusually negative and down this last week? IMO anyway. And if it was M.E. making those posts, I'd be having my inevitable frustration attack. You really sound like someone who has had any confidence and fight knocked out of you, and I'm pretty puzzled cos that's not you at all!

Adey - yes ok, I accept that I have been negative this week. That's not a crime. I am just not as carried away as some on here over our two victories. If we win some of the next three then I'll be buzzing again. But at the moment, I'm sorry, its looks like more of the same. I am behind the club 100% as always but I had such high hopes for the season that its hard to get that back after the first two games.

And when I watched certain players against Saints not even being d to try and tackle, it p****d me off no end. I can accept losing, we have no divine right to win every match, but why should I watch players who look as if they don't want to play. Having said that, as we all have season tickets, we will be there every week and away too if we can. So I guess I'm not that negative.

Obviously pleased with the win but agree with Macca that it was far from being a great one to watch. A lot of our players were slipping around early on so although the pitch looked pretty lush it was still a greasy one.

Through the first half I thought our defence was very good, with Beaver and Sykes making a few great hits. Salford didn't really offer much in attack though but we did manage to stay in their half for the majority of it. One small grumble would be a very late (if at all) 5th tackle call from Child which resulted in us surrendering posession deep in our half. Also don't know what was up with Nero as he had a mare.

Second half we had to absorb some pressure partly due to Glenn Hall either knocking on, mouthing off or putting in high shots. Sure he will get better but he needs to cut out those penalties as a better side would have made something of them.

I thought Orfords kicking was great if you ignore the conversion attempt, he even managed to pick me out of the crowd with his penalty that put us 6-0 up, although I do think it was a great catch but I would say that!!!!!

Next week is a big game as Wigan are on a roll and whoever plays on the right wing best start catching practice now as big Pat looks to be on form.

Don't recall anyone being 'carried away'. Though Cas was good, and even better on video.


You see that's your problem right there. You're sternly lecturing us all against getting carried away, while all the time it was you who'd got yourself overly carried away before the season even began!


... in which case you may get, and will richly deserve, another moment or two of the 'Saints away 2009' variety. Which moments were pretty much reserved for us travellers last season. I agree you're not that negative. You're just giving a great impression!

Exept when Saints play Bradford and its all about how poor the Bulls were.

It's not ALL about how poor Bradford were at all. Saints were very very good and we responded badly.
This week and last week we were up against teams who are not as good as St Helens so it's easy to dismiss the wins as easy points against weak teams.

We started very well against Cas and they never got the chance to re-gather themselves. That match showed how creative our team can be and how well they are beginning to communicate on the field.
Friday was a different kind of game. Salford threw all they had at us and we showed how well we can defend. The number of tackles in the game was phenomenal and the heavy pitch won't have helped our energy levels. We played for the full 80 though and they didn't get one really decent break all night. Anyone who didn't see the game could be forgiven for looking at the scoreline agains the second bottom team and thinking we weren't that good. The team were 100% better than this time last year though. Last Feb we would have lost that game.