I like Walker and I thought Hayes was great but I didn’t think Drinkwater was terrible…might need to watch it again

Watched Drinkwater closely throughout that game, seemed to avoid the ball more than anything. Credit for the chasing down that intercept though. Still stealing a wage though

As a guilty Currie basher, the lad shut me up tonight. Solid lines, good D and came back on after a nasty gash to the eye. Played smart at times too. Credit where it's due, he showed he could be an asset tonight.

And having just fast forwarded through, I entirely agree that it wasn't a red card and for once, I shudder to type this, I thoroughly agree with Jon Wilkin's little rant at half time. I think Carney was pooping himself while he went off on one, but he was spot on. The game is a shambles and every week we're left talking about ridiculous laws and rules instead of the "greatest show on earth (TM)".

Powell was better than all three.

Dreadful game, but got the win. If it was a pre season friendly, you’d accept it as a decent hit out, so maybe that’s where we are in our readiness.

We need to find some consistency on the right side. Wrench is the only constant, after only 2 games, and he is struggling in defence, both this week and last. Hopefully we can settle with Thewlis and Williams and patch that side up.

The officiating is dreadful though. That’s absolutely not a red card. Genuine question, if he would have accidentally clashed heads with his own man, would he still have been sent off? The facts remain the same, direct and forceful contract to the head. We could be sleepwalking into players seeing reds for friendly fire.

Lots to work on, including turning that cabbage patch back into a pitch for next week!

It was interesting seeing the Gulf in levels of experience between our left edge (Fitzgibbon, Drink water, King and Ashton) compared with our right edge (Holroyd, Hayes, Wrench and Thewlis)
It looked to me like Wrench kept drifting inside to protect Hayes from being trampled all over and then was often leaving his outside exposed leaving Thewlis with a 2 on 1 situation.
Luckily Wrench is rapid so was able to cover but this is all about trust in the fella next to you to make the tackle.
That trust will come and I think last night will be a valuable lesson for all of them and they will all be better for it. It might have been a smart move from Burgess and Co to expose them all together for a bit rather than mixing in experienced players.

On the whole at times it looked like we were playing to a very prescriptive script. We work to position X and do Y and at times it was a bit clunky but I appreciate that we have to work on that in order to control games so that we can open up and play and we sort of saw some evidence of that.

I know Currie takes some stick but I thought he was very good last night and if I am right he started at 13 and moved to second row and played all game apart from his time off the pitch to get a few stitches.

I am not too sure having 2 hookers on the pitch works. Maybe that is just temporary whilst we are without Crowther and Nicholson.
Good to be able to give decent minutes to Wood and Holroyd and Hayes and come up with the 2 points.

Even allowing for the 'red card bingo' and heavy conditions, that was a pretty awful match. I felt I had paid £20 to watch a reserves game at Vicky Park - except I didn't get a seat. Were there any positives ? Well Dudson was rested, and there were no diversions / roadworks on the drive back home. That's about it.

I still can’t see how we got a penalty try. My reading of it was if the tackle was a bit lower it wasn’t a certainty that a try would be scored (I’m fairly sure that’s the test).

Just reading Currie is stunned the lad got a red card, he didn’t even know it was head contact.

Guardian says 11-9 in our favour on penalties, can’t see how that’s right it felt like every set we conceded a penalty.

Especially when Sutcliffe got held up over the line in the first half in a very similar tackle and we didn't even get a penalty. There were some strange decisions all around. Both teams got away with tackles that arguably could have brought about cards, but they chose to make an example of an accidental head clash.

Hard to judge on last night but a few thoughts.

Musgrove could do with not sprinting and then slowing down just before hitting the line.

For all he got wrong, got to thank Powell for james harrison, he's a pearler.

Wrench is gonna need to sort his defence out and quick, he's been pin pointed in all 3 games and you can see why.

Wood looked very solid during his stint.


Holroyd did OK, but got pulled after that knock on, didn't return other than curries hia. EDIT, JUST WATCHING THE GAME BACK IT WAS WOOD THAT CAME ON, TOO MANT MULLETS

Dufty is a frustrating player, he really is.

9 is still too many but possibly indicative of where the game is at the minute in terms of clearing up head contact and the ruck.

More frustrating to me than the penalties was where they were conceded, we seemed to constantly give away penalties in their 20m area, that coupled with a sub 70% completion rate meant we couldn’t build any pressure. Wigan & Saints are the standout teams, they build pressure well and points come off the back of that.

A couple of notes from me for last night.

Powell is better than Walker.

Dufty is still a lazy defender when sweeping

Musgrove needs to get fit or get out.

Wrench is a winger.

We need to see an attacking improvement when in the opponents 20m.

I’m still waiting for any tactical differences from last season.