We did defend quite well but the amount of holding down and the laughable 10m made fluent rugby a challenge. I thought the way we worked for the first try by Pitts was superb with both halfbacks working together really well – hopefully that’s a sign of things to come.

The offloading for Uaisele’s try was excellent too. Pitts has a great offload and given he’s not the biggest it’s a great asset.

We did make far too many errors and I expect Halafihi will get a telling off for the penalty he gave away while we were in possession.

Some of our big lads are a still a bit off the pace (I’m thinking Fleming and Lauaki). From what I’ve seen they’ve missed out on the pre season so have some catching up to do.

Any news on Davies? He looked good versus Leeds in pre season.

Nothus ... I think Adam Henry is gaining more confidence with game time. Dropping the ball overall in good weather is a bit mystifying. It is well known about my views on defence. There is nothing wrong with having the "opportunity" to defend our own line, we will have too come more determined and skilful sides.

Which other players are going to appear to take responsibility for running the game outside of Gaskill? I thought Addy would be more decisive and influential.

Bullseye ... Is it that Refs are allowing a slower play the ball because it is recognised that teams are part time and given the differences in fitness?

On what I've seen so far, it is that the Championship refs and the Championship teams have mutually become accustomed to laborious PTBs and to them, that's just how it is. And if that's how it is, and everybody does it, then it's easier to just let it go than try to swim against the tide. Compared with watching SL the difference is really obvious. In this league you generally would have to peg the guy down with six guy ropes before the ref would blow.

I think that's about right to be honest. And I think it's a big reason why we're not posting big scores.

A lot of our players aren't used to such a slow PTB and are struggling with it at times. Perhaps need to start playing like they know it's going to be slow, instead of complaining when it is.

There's no doubt there's a difference in this league with the PTB speed, it's clear to see. So adapt to that, rather than expecting the referees to adapt to our style.

It can't be that otherwise Leigh would be having the same problem.
I think the refs in this league have to allow some compensation for the fact that the majority of teams are part time. It is only natural that their fitness levels will be lower then SL, so some leeway is given around the ptb for this fact.

Speaking of refs we've got Joe Cobb on Sunday.

That should be a popular appointment.

Sure it is. We should all be willing to be welcoming to those of a lower mental ability that ourselves

You can't get any lower than you lot.

The fact that Leigh are posting big scores means they’re having less problem with the slow PTBs than us – but then they’re a well drilled side that has been used to playing together for a few years and they’re very familiar with all the opposition teams and grounds. They’re a shade ahead of us and this is reflected by them being top. We’re not a million miles behind them though and we have plenty of improvement in us.

I think the speed of the PTB in the championship is probably suited to the part time sides. It’s just a fact of life. There’s a heck of a difference between that and SL. It’ll be interesting to see how games are refereed in the middle 8s. Will those matches be assigned to SL refs? Or will it be a mix of Champ and SL refs? If it’s a mix will we see the championship refs asked to speed things up or the SL refs to slow things down? Could be a real recipe for inconsistency…

On Adam Henry I thought he had his best game in a while for us on Sunday. He takes the ball up strongly but I do have reservations about his defence. Halifax managed to score through the gap between him and Siejka twice on Friday. I’d say when everyone’s fit he’s behind Baille, Blythe and Purtell for the centre spot.

On taking pressure of Gaskell I think it’s also a matter for Gaskell himself. He obviously pushes himself forward but I think sometimes he needs to take a step back or allow himself to be used as a dummy runner because opposition teams have him marked as our main playmaker. I think Addy, Siejka and O’Brien can play a role here but it’s down to Lowes to make sure It happens. Sometimes players need to be told to “butt out” when they want the ball too much.

Why would they? They've been in that league for years and have adapted to the slow PTB. The only other team that might be struggling with the difference would surely be London, who had a poor start.

It may even have nothing to do about PTB and simply a fact that Leigh are a better side and score more because of this.

It's clear to see the official's intent...

Why should the PTB be kept to the lowest level? I can't think of any sport where referees are used to 'even out' the competition. SL refs [largely] keep the PTB to the speed of the quickest sides and that's how it should be throughout the league, you can't seriously have parts of the game downgraded to the lowest common denominator.