I think a big positive today was the Wire attack which really showed up. Having said that I think we were somewhat flattered by the scoreline as Cas really fell away in the last 20-30 minutes of the game as they lost their defensive structure and looked tired. But yes, we attacked well and should have gained a lot of confidence from that performance.

Widdop was excellent and for me it was his willingness to chase the last tackle kicks, provide support to runners making a break, and chase down the Car danger men that really stood out. He just didn't seem to tire and was head and shoulders the best player on the pitch. Ratchford also gave a fine performance both in defence and attack.

On the flip side I thought Philbin struggled to make an impact and left a gap in our defensive line that led to a try. I think he has looked a bit flat all season tbh. Young Thewliss dropped a couple of howlers which gifted Cas two excellent attacking positions, one of which they converted into a try. Pity, I wonder if Price may now rest him. Toby King was well marked but still managed a couple of tries. One aspect to his game that I really like is the way he runs the ball back - he nearly always seems to make decent yards.

I don't think it was a coincidence that we performed better today with players in their best positions, plus Inglis out for a while and Danny Walker still out of the mix. I think that team is very close to our best option when we play the CC semi in two weeks.

Philbin and J Clark to swap starting positions and Butler not on the bench and Lineham back in and that 17 would be our current best.

I had a feeling we wouldn't be seeing butler today, the we scored the quick double and he got 12 minutes.

Big lad, gets knocked back a bit

It's early days but so far Butler doesn't instil much confidence. If the rumours about Harrison and Bullock are true I can't see him having a future at Wire.

Referee called him not square so he didn’t get involved in the tackle, in the hope the other defenders would pick up the Cas man. Cas players seemed to constantly look to step 2 to 3m after tackle completed tonight to take the markers out of the game.

To be fair to the lad he didn’t play at all last season and hasn’t had many chances this year. He’s probably 6th prop right now, but to right him off after the 18 months he’s had might be a tad premature?

Butler is a work in progress he looks like he could be good but has a way to go. Made up with Mulhern though from what I've seen of him, absolutely the prop we have been looking for. Need a couple more though in the long term and to find a way of getting the best from Philbin.

Always the way, sadly. Look how many pages the match threads run to when we lose, compared to when we win. We are the first side to have scored over 200 points this season. Not bad going for "five drives and a kick to Toby King". Yes, I know we are far from perfect and there is a lot about our play that can justifiably be criticised. But it seems some people on here would rather say nothing than something positive.

Butler looks unfit and carrying more Timber than i've seen before. He needs more game time to get him up to scratch.
We won today but not amazingly, they are missing Watts, Evalds, Mata'utia, Holmes, Millington, matagi who pulled out in the warm up, and a few others. We scored in the back end of the match when they got tired but other than that it was 50/50 for most of it. Different squad when we face them in the cup wgich will be a much harder game if they are all fit.
We scored some great tries though and it's one to build on.
Thewlis dropped the ball twice but other than that had another good game. i wonder how long he will keep lineham out the squad for.
Philbin once again starting at 13 failed to have a big impact, he's the definition of an impact sub and needs to start games on the bench.
Widdop has been in superb form all year and Austin had a good game aswell.

Highly doubt Sita and clark will be here next year so I suspect they will be their replacements!

On the game itself Widdop, Ratchford and Austin became the holy trinity we all hoped for, for god knows how long for... they all played great, on the same wave length and along with Clark it was good to see us put near 40 points on a decent team. Only slight negative was Thewlis gifting them territory in our half after a couple soft knock-ons, as previously stated on another thread I think Lineham has done his penance now and should get back into the side next week.

Ratchford was on top form and the half backs were on song too. I think our best team is now pretty clear cut and I would make a couple of changes vs. Salford. My main concern is our lack of cover so that if we lose players we can't just bring in a straight replacement we have to shuffle positions too much. If we had got as many injuries as Cas had picking a team looks difficult. Centre and Second Row are my main worries re. lack of cover.

Didn’t really notice Austin much yesterday to be honest, maybe because I was focusing on Widdop who was outstanding. And maybe because Cas marked Austin well.

I’d still like to see a bit more happen on that right side though. It doesn’t really click like the left does.

We only have one natural centre in King, Mamo has done really well for us but he is centre/wing cover in reality. Roebuck is a natural centre but has not had any game time this year and was stuck on the wing in the only senior game that we saw him play. Similarly we have Connor Wrench ( who was BR and now playing centre) but has also had little game time at SL level. So partly because of Covid but also SP's conservative approach, our academy juniors are playing Championship standard to get them game time. I don't think that is a bad thing in itself, the academy prospects can get errors out of their system and get used to a higher game tempo, but inevitably it has left us in a position where we are vulnerable if we collect a string of injuries.

I was out celebrating a great Wire win. We all want the same thing at the end of the day: our team to be successful.

Much better performance. Thought Widdop was very good again. Currie and Mulhern too.

I watched York's game last week to see how Riley Dean was getting on. He certainly creates chances and has a good turn of speed. He also looks more mature and confident, but makes a fair few mistakes as well. I think at the moment he is probably in the perfect environment to grow his game and develop although he could as you have previously suggested cover for a HB injury. Austin is certainly putting in the effort, but he is erratic and easily loses his temper when he makes a mistake. He has not been one of our most memorable signings.