Am I right in thinking that teams train differently between games than in pre-season? I know Catalan will have been doing their pre-season stuff as well, but I assume that the game was on the back of a pretty intensive week, perhaps more so than Catalan, because we will have been making the most of what they always have: the weather.

This is very true, if Agar gets us playing like Hull played against us at BV last season then how can we complain ? I don't think Hull F.C fans know the tactics we had to endure under Kear last season, if they did I'm sure they would shhhhhhhh and get on with their own projects instead of snearing at us at every given opportunity. I get the feeling Hull fans will be on here gloating every time we post a loss, ban them all !!

It also suggest picking up injuries in that game would not have helped this game.

Would the result have been that much worse with a few missing? You can't protect the team all season Al, pretty soon they all will be playing every week! I think we have the quality, they just need the experience of playing together and they missed an opportunity by fielding the youngsters.

And if Agar had not fielded any youngsters in pre season the give the youngsters a chance brigade would be hounding him.
He cannot please everyone.

Other positives.
As I said straight after Agar was appointed, a few early season thrashings and Agar will be out before it's too late to spoil the whole of 2012.
As above for Kyle Wood.



Although I agree with the swap coaches idea, how difficult is it for any coach to just tell the Cas squad to "Just give the ball to Rangi!"

Try to keep a lid on the positivity old lad!

here is a little bit more perspective for you mate. we went there last year with a team that had just come out of administration and didn;t know if they were going to get paid or not , including the coach. a load of young boys thrown together on a shoestring budget from the academies and lower league clubs. wrote off by everyone, against all odds, pulled off a great win with gritt, determination and a lot of bottle. i watched that game. thats perspective mate. this season we go there with supposedly a better side, a full weeks warm weather training behind us, new coach, spent up to the cap. never mind defence around the rook rubbish. the catalans front row dominated and rolled straight over us.that mate is going to keep happening unless something is done . there is no substitute for grunt power and determination.imo , the score flattered us.

Lovely (not) use of 'perspective' how about you go and learn the meaning of 'context'!

wow!glad you let me know . not really bothered though , only interested in rl. english and grammar . no interest at all but thanks

The point about our front row is a valid one, it lacks presence. We could really do with a destuctive prop to get us going forward and to give the opposition something to worry about. Right now our props are much of a muchness and against cas next week without wilkes, raleigh and possibly southern we look threadbare.

To put it in perspective, we got well beaten by a very good SL side who have made a few changes to their squad and quality changes at that. Salford got well beaten by what will be a very good championship side in Leigh (which was put together late in the day and without an appointed coach.

If we were in Salfords position with a relatively settled sqaud from last season and getting beaten by Leigh, then I would be more concerned.

There is undoubtedly something pyschologically about friendlies in any event. These are competitive athletes were talking about and knowing there is nothing at stake is bound to affect their approcah to the game whether we as fans like it or not.

The time to start judging is when the season starts. I personally am not expecting everything to click at once given the large number of new signings. I will be happy with gradual improvement on a week to week basis and as long as I see the team putting the effort in to make that gradual improvement, then they will get my full support.

For the last 10 years I've been saying I'm not going to any more friendly matches as they aren't a true reflection of what is to come for the season. Year on year I've stood freezing watching two teams give about 65% effort. I'm sticking to my words this year and will make judgment of the team in the first match against Widnes.

Personally I'm happy to lose friendlies as they mean nothing other than they provide training. You want to start your winning run in matches that count. It also means we won't start the season thinking we are better than we actually are.

Result from Catalans

Catalan Dragons 44 London Broncos 22.

Puts our result into perspective