Positives for me; the performance and emergence of Ben Harrison and Mike Cooper.

Negatives for me is that we are one injury away from a crisis at half back. We lost Grix and Clarke and were stuffed after that.

You must have some halfbacks in the academy though surely?

Harrison and King were excellent.
Cooper did some good things, very encouraging.
Monaghan did some good tackling.

It was dissapointing to lose and players could be singled out for each try perhaps but i thought we did really well to be in the game after 70 minutes with a number of young players in the team and then losing players and having to switch it about further.

Again, we struggle with the kicking game when Briers is injured, would be nice to have more than one creative player

Harrsson played very well, both in terms of commitment and application.

However, it was actually Harrisson that got pulled out of position by Eastmond's dummy run which allowed Wellens to make a break from the short pass (from Graham), Eastmond scored from support.

I'm not criticising Harrisson, I'm just pointing out that heart and talent get you so far, but these days the team structure and coaching is more important than ever and, at the moment, that's where you're behind Saint Helens, they've just got that little extra in terms of structure and patiant play.

You've got some great players - I really rate brige when i've seen him lately ( I like him in the centre) and he showed a great step for his try.

Paul Johnson showed a lot of his old ability and obviously finished his try well.

Carvell, apart from being the fastest prop I've seen since apollo perelini, is an absolute monster. You've possibly got the best set of 4 props in the league with a very capable back row in support and you don't lack talent in the backs. You just need to put it all together.

I certainly fancy you over Wigan for the semi final, and you not relish taking you on at Wembley.

I, however, don't see you every week, and what I don't know is whether the completion rates, missed tackles, kicking game, defensive structure & repeat sets are improving - that's what I'd want to see from tony smith, and [ithat's [/iwhat will get you up the table.

Unfortunately no one who Smith thinks is capable of making the step up yet. Contrast to Saints who have Eastmond, Wheeler, Lomax and Ellis who I think is a half back and its quite depressing really.

We do, a young lad named Gareth O'Brien. Bit of a throwback to the old school, not particularly pacy, but can pick a pass and has a pretty accurate kicking game.

I've always thought it to be difficult to know if a young player is going to make it, sometimes it is obvious, eg; Sculthorpe and Harris as they make things look easy. But I do think O'Brien is only a couple of seasons away from making a go of it.

Just to pick you up on that, Smith has stated he hasn't had the time to check out the Reserves and Academy, so I think you are ab it off in your second guessing there.

How long has he been here. Surely TS is aware of the players in the reserves and academy, and if not he should be.

I've heard good things about O'Brien, but how much younger is he than Kyle Eastmond or Richie Myler?

Maybe that is an indication of the level of work required on the 1st team. I'm pretty sure he has the people in place to tell him who's ready to be tested, who he trusts.

I suppose if you wait long enough...