I thought Donno was good today getting back to his best, shouldn't be an interchange should start against castleford IMO

I'm generally a pretty optimistic fan but I'm pretty sure our season won't be reaching October! I'd settle for sneaking 8th place and crashing out in the first round after the last few seasons.

yeahhh if someone told me that was going to happen i would bite their hand off

I actually left today's game not too disheartened at all really. Yes we were well beaten, but what did you expect? We were missing our two first choice second rowers, lost another early in the game, and also had Manase missing. That would make it tough against any team, but Catalans have one of the biggest - if not the biggest - pack of forwards in the entire league.
Paea, Ferriol and Fakir are all absolutely huge, and we struggled to win the collision every time. And when that happens, the Cats were getting quick ptbs which gave Henderson and Dureau all the space they needed to work their magic.
Conversely, we were losing the collision almost every time when we had the ball, allowing for a much slower ptb and also a lack of offloading opportunities.

We looked a bit shellshocked in the first 40 minutes, but Mick obviously sorted them out at half time and the second 40 was far more competitive. If it weren't for some strange decisions by Child we'd probably have won the half.

It's easy to go overboard after a first 40 minutes of the season like we've just witnessed but we need to remember Scruton, Langley, Diskin, L'estrange are all coming back from bad injury plagued seasons. Gale and Sammutt, Purtell, Kear have barely played together before, and we're mssing 5 or 6 guys you would've expected to play. So I don't think the situation is as hopelesss as some make out.

Nevertheless, considering both have had full pre-seasons Bryn Hargreaves and Ian Sibbit were pathetic. Despite little or no platform all of the backs made more impact when going into contact than these two.

Our pack is worryingly light.

Not a great revelation I know, but we're going to lose a lot in the collision this season

You conveniently forgot to mention that the Catalans were missing Leon Pryce plus their two first choice wingers plus Pelissier...

That is correct but the game was won early on in the forwards.

We really need to see more from Scruton and Hargreaves IMO, and Donaldson is just too small.

Hopefully Joseph gets a go at Cas along with Whitehead.

yeah,they a big bunch up front at Catalans - Fakir,Paea & Ferriol take some stopping !

how did Menzies play ?

It shows the RFL's bias when they permitted Wakey's brand new starting 13 to gel from round 1.

we missed mnm Elima and Whitehead much more than cats missed their wingers. I was surprised that Joseph wasnt given a go instead of Donaldson Hargreaves LF Langley 2nd row, to provide a bit more grunt to a light pack. So no change to my opinion, first half of season will be mixed, 2nd half much better. As Hood says, half way through the season is the time to judge Potter, not one half against a very stable team.

Yes. I am not sure why it is only us that needs ten games for the new players to gel, everyone else seems to manage it.

"Wakefield turned the game on its head during a spell of six successive penalties in their favour"

It's probably because their teams aren't full of rubbing rags. Wakefield have recruited well this year and will be more of a force than we will.

It's down to the coaching too. Mick Potter doesn't look like he could get angry with himself never mind anyone else. Rugby players are primitive beings, they need a regular can of whoop ass opening on them. Our squad is top of the league at smashing a plate of Nando's but sadly they're like a brood of headless hens on the field.