Getting in to the positions to expose him will be difficult if the forwards get mullered, so it’s all on them. I think you could see in that second half today though that we have some plans in place to run plenty of pace down that Saints right flank and we’ll possibly switch players around to keep them guessing a little.

I just hope we go and give it one hell of a go and throw plenty at them. It’s an opportunity to really lay a marker down and mentally turn a corner but it’ll be extremely tough.

Looking forward to it anyway.

Looking forward to it just a little bit more after today!

I believe that defence will win the cup-tie and we need to match Saints with our line speed. Give good players the time to think and they will destroy you, get in their faces and they are like anybody else they will make mistakes and their judgement will not be as effective.

Marshy has an hamstring problem so it might not be worth risking him.

Every team should have at least 2 players who can kick with precision and with depth.
Today we had a free kick deep in our 20 at an acute angle on the left hand side of the pitch after defending for I think at least 2 sets of six. We’d been under the cosh for a while and needed some respite. We needed a good 30 metre punt into touch. We got a 10 metre plop from a left footer kicker in Cust. It screamed out for a right footed kicker to give it some leather or Cust to have the technical ability to kick long from the the left with his left foot. It just irritates the hell out of me. It’s a simple skill to acquire a good results but to gain excellent results it needs years of repetitive training. I never hear or see any young players want to acquire such skills. I never hear a coach compliment a good kicking game or even suggest the desire to develop such skills.

As a sport (in the uk) I can’t think of one player who kick with a consistent quality. Lino is the best I’ve seen for a while but his kicking into touch from a free kick is pretty average.
Strength, fitness and tackling ability are the “gods” of rl but kicking is an afterthought. It isn’t coached or I would suggest even encouraged.

Your knowledge of nrl is infinitely superior to mine so I accept your comments on Moses but would ask how many other players in the comp even get close to him?

I’m an owd fart Moto but a Bill Ashurst today with the 40/20 rule would be an absolute world beater.

Our effort in defence was superb and the intensity felt like the old days.

I still believe we are a number of steps away (we will find out in the next few weeks) but we are definitely heading in the right direction.

Agree 100%.
Build from a good defence gives you a chance.
We aren’t brilliant but I see incremental improvements most weeks so I’m quite happy. We feel like a team again.
I’d like us to move up quicker at ptb but overall our defence has had a stepped change in recent weeks

It helps that after defending multiple sets you know we actually have the x-factor to score as we did today.

Like you say.....incremental improvements.

It’s just good to enjoy a game once more.
I’m not expecting silverware this season but so far on the whole we are playing better than I expected so I’m a happy fan.

I won’t be too disillusioned if we lost on Friday but I’m expecting a good pop.

Hopefully they will concentrate too much on Field which will give French or Hardaker a chance to shine.

I’ve got a feeling Friday is the day when Cust will come of age. I think the atmosphere will spark him onto a new level. No rationale at all to that but I’ve got a good feeling he will step up.

You forgot speed.

I’m an owd fart too really but Bill Ashurst is a bit before my time, I know his son, but have only met Bill once, He is quite a guy.

great guy, speaking to him Saturday gone, he wouldnt be very good these days he said as he wouldnt be on the pitch 2 mins

I agree. I still do think that, If we could bag a mid season signing and bring in a forward who can make decent yards & defend like we do - we'd challenge anyone.

That's the missing piece for this season imo.

That was a good performance all round from your guys. Solid in defence, and devastating on the counter attack. We were always going to struggle without our strike players, but kept trying to put pressure on through a good kicking game.
Field and French are special players and look so dangerous at the moment. And every time we play you Farrell plays well!.
I dont think that Saints look as hot as they did at the start of the season. I think your match with them will be a cracker and reckon you will win it.

Good luck in the semis

Congratulations on a very good and clinical performance. Outstanding defence first half set the platform. My heart sunk when I saw our 3 key players missing but the other lads stepped up and and had a proper dig. You got a try with a foot in touch but I’m not sure that would have changed anything to be honest. The Gaskill no try could quite easily have been given Bateman did very well there haha. Would have put a different perspective on the game but again not sure the result would have changed, orals all ifs buts and maybes. Johnstone would have probably got 3 had he been on but he wasn’t so that’s that, no qualms about the result you deserved it and showed us how to play a cup tie. Great to see so many home grown players on the pitch for both sides it bodes well for the game going forward. Good luck for the rest of the season and hopefully next time we’ll have our full squad available.