I didn't think Cas were red hot (expect our forever resident Cas fans to start name calling me) we were just flat rather than crap.

Rest of what you say is spot on -now is the time for a wake up call not when the season starts.

First half we were very flat both on attack and in defence we got pulled into the middle on our right side and Cas took full advantage of that. We were far better when Wood came on gave us that quick play the ball and has that zip off the mark. Finn coming on gave us the organisation we needed that we didn't have and didn't look like having until then. At least it was a friendly and what they are about getting the side sorted and into its stride before the season starts

Anyone who thinks a friendly is a guide to how the season will unfold for their team is in dreamland. They mean nothing for the coming season.

You're right but, it's always nice to beat Cas, especially after giving them a 24 point start

I guess a pro coach will have a more measured and reasonable way to draw detailed lessons and inference from a pre-season friendly; largely because he designed the team and the tactics and knew what he was trying out and what he wanted to achieve.

That said, any sensible person can reasonably feel positive about a) Batchelor's barnstorming start to first team rugby and b) the team spirit and self-belief that's required to pull back a 30 point deficit in a friendly, when it would be easy to roll over after such a heavy first half defeat.

That's about it I reckon - anything else is just local bragging rights, which is nice, but means absolutely nothing in terms of the actual season.

Yeah exactly, we weren't really at it in 1st half but I noticed we were trying a few different early kicking options and set plays.

Useful to get a look at the new additions and see what they bring to the table, but can't really read too much into it. Please we managed to get the win though - always good to beat Cas no matter the setting.

Did anyone else notice that loud Cas fan who got quieter and quieter as the game went on... then piped down completely

I'd say we learned some good lessons against Cas.
There'll be times when we lose props during a league game. We found out Huby can go longer and Walker is not a bad replacement from what is probably 6th-7th choice prop.
We learned that we need to practise that edge defense more. It's just co-ordination and confidence in each other.
Half back combinations and concentration around the ruck too.

But we also learned we can attack from deep and we can throw the ball around if the forwards get a roll on. Fifita, England, Allgood, Hirst and Walker are all important to that.
Huby in particular showed he has some ball skills we haven't seen for a while. Once fit he'll be great for us.

And as said above, the team spirit to play on and come back from such a deficit is worth its weight in gold.

Based upon what I have seen in the friendlies so far, to me it has confirmed my thoughts on where the squad are from last year.

Just after the season had ended, I mentioned that there were some players who finished the 2016 worn out and busted, such as Sio, Ashurst and Arona, for example, and said that with our up and coming back rowers coming through, it would be good to be able to rest senior ones at various points of the season, without too big an impact on the team.

I think so far Batchelor and Crowther have shown that they are ready. I would have no issues whatsoever, in rotating these with the senior players, such as Sio, Kirmond, Ashurst and Arona.

This too I think can be said with the quad of Miller, Williams, Finn and Wood.

Overall, as a squad, I think we are in a good place

The result is never a guide but personal performance sand structure are so I think you're half right.

I wasn't all that alarmed in the first half tbh as my H/T post indicated.

Everything Cas did came off for the, first try awkward bounce etc etc - not taking away from Cas because they did look sharper. However there were a couple of moves that were really nice by us and on any other day we'd of gone in at H/T closer. Fringe defence was a bit suspect but will tighten up, losing Allgood didn't help.

S/H Wood showed what a good player he is and though not quite as talented as Moore e's going to be way more reliable than Moore.

Finn showed what many of us already knew that he's one of the smartest players in the game. Also I swear he looked quicker, not a yard quicker but certainly an inch or two quicker

Got to look at the positives, good crowd, pitch looked much better than last couple of seasons when it has been poor, Batchelor looks great, Wood looks much better than I expected, Walker has earned a place in the 17, Huby`s second spell was great.
Chester was not a happy chap when interviewed by MC in the dining area in the Benidorm flats, he noted that the first half was a shock he was not expecting such a poor attitude, lack of effort etc, he noted that from the first set when Cas marched us 65 yards with 5 simple drives that we were in trouble due to poor attitude, he was very concerned by the lack of physicality in defense. That said he had the good grace to praise Cas who he said were excellent, that they are a top 4 side and that Gale and McShane were men playing against boys, he refered to us falling in love with ourselves. Better to happen yesterday than when points are at stake. He said that they have a lot of work to do to fix things.

I think Chester will now know who will be his starting and wingers. Grix will play full back until Jowitt is back fit. He will have to sort out his starting hooker as Sio is just not the answer , good news is that Wood is a good option. Finn has to play for me.

From what I saw we still seem to have that typical Wakefield mental weakness of playing great one week and looking not bothered the next, this attitude needs sorting,

Got to say that I was wrong about Cas when I said they will be pushing the top four, they will 100 % finish in the top four, they look the real deal.

Hirst left the ground in a `boot `and is going for a scan today, hope its a quick recover.

Excellent post and bang on the money.

So you're back tracking on Wood already, if it were anyone else I'd say it was unbelievable but from you sadly it's not.

I said to my mate after about 10 minutes, that it looked like one team had come here for a good hard sold game of RL, while the other were taking the term friendly a bit too literally. We were just so lackadaisical in both defense and attack. Silly unforced errors, no aggression at all, plus the defense practically stood still letting Gale have time on the ball he could only have wished for before hand. Cas look pretty slick and dominated the half.

Anyway the positives, whether it was against some Cas players that won't make their Top 21 players or not, the way we gradually started to play some good RL was really encouraging to see. It would have been really easy in a friendly to go into their shells but the comeback showed excellent team spirit.
As has been mentioned before, Wood came on and just livened the whole team up. Plus Finn used his experience and that good rugby brain he has, to get the team playing the way we should have been from the start. Huby started to show touches of the player he was at Cas wit his offload game. Which is great because with Fifita we have a couple of good off loading Props, we just the players around to be always looking for them

From what I've seen of Williams so far, he looks like he's going to take a few proper SL games before he properly hits his straps. Like a long list of Aussies before him, he'll take time to get used to his team mates, plus also playing in a different Comp in vastly different conditions.

With the tremendous development of Batch and Crowther, we have this year a real competition for places in the back row, which will prove so important as the season goes on. We have Ashurst, Kirmond, Arona, Annakin, Batch, Crowther, Molloy, plus Sio if we play him at loose.
Same goes in the Prop department. We look as strong there has we have done during the whole SL era. Fifita and England have yet to play but Hirst looks like hes going to make that step up from what I've seen of him. Walker looks like he's worked hard in the off season as well and could easily step in for anyone. Allgood has been fairly impressive in the 2 games I've seen him. His defense down the middle is something that will do us no harm at all, especially compared to last season

In the halves, I really like the fact we have a few kicking options. Say if Finn's at Hooker and Miller and Williams in the halves it gives us 3 kicking options . Which is obviously a great position to be in & makes it harder for the opposition to know where the kicks, especially when we're attacking.

Hopefully we came out of the game with no more than a few bangs and bruises.