Wind up Merchants

I have not watched the game back but I am pretty sure that we had a spell in the second half when
A) musgrove came off and Powell came on meaning our middle was Philbin, Currie and Powell. Then
B) Philbin comes off for Max wood and our three middle forwards are Wood, Currie and Powell

now did anybody think that we would win a game with even a 5 minute spell when our middle 3 were Max Wood, Ben Currie and Sam Powell.

Then it gets even more bizarre as Drinkwater comes off and is replaced by Vaughan. With Currie going to right centre and Ratchford to halfback.

Now that is where I think Sam Burgess is taking the mickey a bit. He has basically said to those players no matter who is on the pitch and no matter what position you play in the defensive system works and it did.

Now no matter what happened with dropped balls etc that team played unbelievably well as a defensive system whoever was on the pitch. It wasn't fancy and it wasn't exciting but it was effective and credit to all the players and the coaching staff because I have not seen that cohesion for at least 10 years.
Credit to them all.

Thought Currie was absolutely excellent at 13. Great hands, great lines and great defence, I think he has found his new position. Interesting to see what happens when Nicholson returns

Built some pressure finding repeat sets too. Something I’ve been critical of is kicking dead from close range grubbers, but none of that last night.

Dufty really put himself about. Walker looked lovely. Currie superb.

Some good signs, I thought, against a Cas team who were better than I had expected and scored a very nice opening try. Our attack was notably better, and I echo what others have said about Dufty and Currie being excellent. I wonder if Thewlis' off night has something to do with him having a new baby at home? It's a big life change for a young lad.

Agree with all these comments and especially with Currie. That set up for the last try was classic centre play and his running is more purposeful with better lines.

Another positive was that each game has seen improvement. There's still a way to go but things are really encouraging.

Thought Holroyd didn't look out of place either and Hayes was excellent.

Some really interesting posts here.
Impressed by you guys who could see how the team evolved with the various interchanges. Thanks.
I watched it on SL+ and couldn't see that. Maybe those changes contributed to (my perception of) a drop off in performance on the 2nd half.

I thought Cas deserved to be up after 20mins and then we hit a purple patch.
I think we still have a lot to do defensively, but total respect for a penalty-free 1st half.
Now we need to back that up against a tougher team next week. If they can do that when they're under real pressure I'll be super-impressed (almost irrespective of the score).

Yes, Hull KR will be a good test and should show us where we’re at.

Cas were at 100% completion in the first half last night but we were still ahead, their last tackle kicks could have been better, but they did play quite well, we were just better. I think unfortunately for them that's will be a recurring theme in a lot of games this season.

As previously referred to there were some good performances last night & Leon Hayes is the closest thing i have seen to perpetual motion ,involved everywhere. I would like to see Thewlis get enough confidence to stick to his wing & back himself on the outside a bit more often ,he is wasting opportunities coming inside. Let's hope he picks himself up for next week.
Very entertaining game though & great to see the youngsters doing so well.

Yeh he makes me nervous at times looking ready to be in a fight.

I was almost disappointed with him at first, as he didn't seem to have much aggression. But I'm glad that his indiscipline isn't getting the better of him and that he's slowly getting into the grind of it. He's definitely improved week on week. It's very easy to look under-impressive playing in the same side as Vaughan.

Yes, screaming "Ratchford!" as Ashton flew in at the corner was quite embarrassing. I found the presentation quite poor all round, really, especially the director's obsession with showing replays of nothing incidents when the game was still live. I lost count of how many plays I missed because of this.

The "main" match is covered in a much different way than other games. Secondary games have a commentator & the "expert" to help out ... so it's a two man team which must be quite a shock for them. When I see the interviews at the end I think there is a lot can go wrong here.
I've noticed a few cock ups in identification. "Ratchford" scoring in the corner & great play from "Harrison" when it was Fitzgibbon. I've never done a match commentary & it would put the s up me.

I'm not sure but I tbink Fraser dainton is primarily a yawnion guy.

Listening to him do the Salford game yesterday, lots of 'recycling' and other ru style terminology