We could be 25 points clear and it counts for jack diddly squat come the playoffs. Nice as the mid season performances were, the focus at the moment is all about having a fresh squad for the last four weeks of the season.

They were in a much worse state injury wise at the KC. They had 2 kids at halfback and Crooks in the centre and then lost Martin early doors. They also has quite a few others out. We on the other hand were much stronger iirc so that result came as no suprise unlike Friday.

Our depth is fantastic at the moment and like a Hull fan pointed out that's due to our youth development. These guys like Thornley, Powell, Hughes and Crosby are slotting right in and it's great to see.

It frustrates me that nothing ever seems to get said about our injuries but that again speaks volumes for the youngsters. We had Richards, Goulding, Finch, Leuluai, Prescott, Flower, Dudson and Fielden missing from our squad on Friday yet we've beaten an 'injury hit' Hull side.

I suppose we should take that as a compliment!

I feel the game ought to be reaching a stage now where injuries are no longer viable as an excuse. It should all be about squad depth these days - all SL clubs should be in a position where they have enough first-team standard players to cover gaps caused by absenteeism. But the sad truth is that a lot of them don't, just the way some of them can't even put out decent Academy sides or pay wages up to the salary cap. It's a maddening situation.

True.

It was possibly one of the best things Maguire changed our this club that he never once highlighted or complained about any injuries. He bred a culture of one mans injury being another mans opportunity and Shaun Wane has continued with that (if anything he's stepped it up a gear because he's rested players this year in situations where I think Maguire would have patched them up and risked playing them).

As for other clubs where do we start? Some would rather fill their first teams up with NRL second raters then concentrate on youth development. It's something we used to be guilty of and it gets you nowhere.

I just wish the game has 20 Ian Lenagans knocking about.

+1

I agree to a extent but our academy didnt have anything spent on it and 99% of the team hadnt been near 1st team as Agar never played them,just shuffled the team around...this year we have had to play Bowden,Green,Kent,Crooks,Cunningham,Lineham,Nicklas and most of them made the debuts...Pearson is on record as saying our academys are way short and the facilities attrocious...cosy him £150,000 to get the training facilities right.

Yes we was woeful and injuries are biting us hard and we was down to 14 players on friday and 3 of those shouldnt have played.6 yrs ago,we was in a GF and you was battling relegation....you invested in youth...our old board was happy to live off our profits and let the team split up.