Wouldn’t say Lino is our star, I believe Morgan Smith has been better then both Gaskell and Lino in previous pre season matches so far. Watched the game on Trinity tv, both teams missing multiple players though was a solid contest. I thought we were very sloppy in the first half giving away far too many penalties, which tbf we didn’t do too bad with the amount of ball you had in our half. Dean looks a decent player with ball in hand, hopefully goes well for you guys. Really not reading anything into this game other than a great hit out for both teams and the fact that we got bullied in last years game though this year felt very different especially in the second half.

That is absolute nonsense, you're just making things up now. Smith has played as many games at hooker as Kay and Bowes put together! We've also won as many games with Crowther at hooker as we have Kay and Bowes combined.

There's 11 other clubs in SL, name me one where Kay would be regular at hooker?

I thought Wakey were a bit slack, "friendly" slack early doors, just running their lines, making their tackles and doing the minimum.
That kinda set the tone for the whole half, quite a contrast to the first 3 or 4 sets of the 2nd.
I thought Fev played well, I'm not sure they dropped off that much towards the end from a fitness perspective, they were pretty consistent all game, but they were single paced.
I don't think a 24 12 loss reflected their effort in the game overall, but Wakey did have another gear especially in defence, really visible in the first 10-15 mins of the 2nd half which I think gave them the momentum to go on and win the game.
Not sure Lino should have gone back on tbh, he took a sparko and it was only a friendly...so....I dunno, not worth the risk I don't think.
13 for fev was a damaging player, bit iffy in contact all game but hey, we're not cake decorating are we.

We didn’t purely win on fitness. You would know if you’ve watched it we dominated the tackle, field position and play pretty much from the start of the second half throughout. Pretty sure fitness wasn’t an issue early in the second half.

A lot of it was attitude and we just lifted the intensity and shifted up a gear. Fev just didn’t have an answer for it. The second half was a promising performance. No need to be in such a glass half empty defeatist mood.

We won because we've got better players than Featherstone. There was nobody in that Fev squad that would make our 17.

Was a decent hit out...exactly what you want from a pre-season friendly with the season 3 weeks away.

Fev are a strong championship side and to come from 0-12 at half time and cope with the adversity of losing Hood and Lino in the space of about 30 seconds was quite pleasing...good signs in that we turned it around and whatever MA said at half time he certainly got a reaction which bodes well moving forward.

Been a good pre season so far though...as good as I can remember...we've put strong sides out against good opposition the last twice, so have been good tests and we've won all matches comfortably. Should put us in a good position to start the season strong, even though we've a tough looking start on paper.

For all the talk a few months ago of losing all our stars and hardly signing anyone I think we've recruited very shrewdly and have a feeling all the new recruits are going to have big impacts on the season and really looking forward to it.

One last point...

I also thought Dean played very well for Fev first half...looked dangerous every time he had the ball and think he'll be a cracking player for them this season in the championship!

To me as yet another arm chair coach , we stepped up a gear or two in intensity ,ran with more purpose and showed the differences in quality in the second period . I’ve been to Fev and watched our team get mullered in the mud ,the classic being fev kicking off and the ball dropping at Richard moors feet under the sticks , the fev play bet rich to the ball from the half way line .This team were up for it every bit as fev were the difference is that quality showed in the end between the teams . Great run out for both teams ,Fev threw the kitchen sink at us and we hit back with some purpose. Really liking Proctors constant barking at the players ,can’t wait to see him match fit , not too fussed like some on here where he plays just so long as he does , he will be a cracker for us .

Vastman, you are making things up again, which is funny because whenever anyone else does you seem to throw a hissy fit. He`s played 27 out of his 43 SL appearances at hooker so how has he "virtually never played there"?

Blind faith? Surprising from you PT.

It's interesting to see how fans of other teams see things. I like Morgan a lot, he has a terrific attitude and he'll never let you down, he'll stick to the coach's game plan 100%,and he's deceptively hard to stop near the line for a small guy but for me, at the moment at least, he just lacks that creativity and ability to create gaps for his runners that is ideal in a top-level half back. He played on the same side as Leilua all last year and rarely seemed to create an opening for him, and I think that's why Morgan was dropped in the play-offs.

He might be a good pairing with Lino though as Lino seems a bit more mercurial from what I've seen, capable of flashes of brilliance like the try he created for Battye on Sunday but also maybe the type of half who sometimes disappears for stretches of the game?

Pretty much spot on there, Horseman...that's been our main issue with Lino.
His best game by far was away at Warrington last year (think it was the cup game ??), when he won us the game almost single-handedly, but unfortunately that appears to have been a one-off as he doesn't do that often enough. Hopefully him and Smith can bring out the best in each other but it depends when and where Smith gets to play as Gaskell looks like being our first choice 6 so far

Hard to disagree with any of that, Jonh

Well FIL and Jonh, I'll have a go at disagreeing, because I think you're both wrong. Not so much about Lino, I tend to agree there, but certainly regarding Cas.

Widdop is where Broughy was when we signed him, only difference is Broughy always had more heart than Widdop.

Miller hs never regained his pace but he's still a decent player, but combined with Widdop that is one slow HB partnership by anyones standards. True Fin was slow but we are not Cas, Classy Cas as they love to call themselves play a fast game, and that team is no longer fast. Lino and Smith are far quicker, even Gaskell is faster than Widdop, and imho that will count. Added to that McShane is also now older and slower, though pace was not the cornerstone of his game.

The current Cas team is IMHO slower than the Powell model in certain key areas, if we can't exploit that then shame on us.

So yes Miller will do ok, but only if Widdop does, with Richardson out, Trueman gone, they are thin on the ground for alternative.

Widdop isn't fast but im sure he isn't as slow as you think. I guess we'll see.