I thought it was strange that Smith chose to start the 2nd half without Dwyer as it worked well in the first half and we seemed to lose our momentum and intensity without him and Satae, Taylor or Evans.
I agree that Brown has to come back in and hopefully Sao and Savelio are back for Leeds.

TBF to McNamara I thought he did well was directly involved is acouple of our tries and although he was targeted at times by Cas he stood up well defensively to it on the whole, apart from when he jumped out the line for their 2nd try. Think I'd rather leave McNamara there and spell Lovodua with Dwyer at 9 to keep the speed/tempo up, as felt that dropped off with the introduction of Houghton.

Well that was fun. We never make it easy. Overall pleased with the 2 points. I reckon the tackle bags will get used this week . Some really good signs and also some weaknesses but early days. Throw Savellio and Sao into the pack and we will do better. Great crowd to.

Agree. Hadn't had one since Ellis.

Was McNamara involved, he passed to Houghton and threw a awful pass to Mcintosh which he had to control with his foot?

I think people are being overly critical. Yes it was disappointing to drop off so dramatically at the end, but there are a lot more positives than negatives to take.

I think lack of match fitness probably played a part. Yes Cas aren't going to be 100% either but at this time of year in particular every team is at a slightly different level of fitness.

I think complacency played a part, both from the players and maybe a little bit from Smith himself with some of his substitutes. Perhaps thinking he was safe to rest some of his big guns knowing it's a short turnaround to Leeds.

I think there is also still a bit of metal fragility there that won't go away overnight. We did dig deep in the last 10 minutes though so it wasn't a disaster on that front. I think Hull teams of the past would have maybe lost that game at the death in that situation.

You've also just got to give some credit to Cas. When a team has nothing to lose and just throws caution to the wind it's hard to stop when everything they do sticks.

Learn from our mistakes, but we should also focus on the good things and go to Leeds with confidence. Especially with Savelio and Sao to bolster the pack. There's lots to be optimistic about.

Said that about Macintosh at the time and having seen the highlights even more convinced he would have scored had it not been for similar kits. I’m sure he thought the FC players on his left were Cas players and he even handed off Cator. Thought he was also unlucky with the penalty for a high tackle. Looked like a good solid hit for mine but would need to see it from the opposite side.

Disagree about McNamara. Didn’t he get a couple of assists? Thought he did okay and it was our defence that started to let us down. Personally think Jordan Lane needs to up his game otherwise he is the one I would be dropping. Griffin was way ahead of him in performance.

Still very encouraging start with some good rugby played and plenty to work on which Tony has already spoken about.

You make a lot of good points which I totally agree with.

Think some fans expect too much too soon?

Yeah we tired missed Brown off the bench, nearly cost us but first 60 excellent, I'm going to be controversial but it's my opinion, I don't see what Lovudua brings to the side, he never really plays hooker and to have an overseas quota on a player without a set position is a waste, I know the Houghton haters won't like that but Lover should have been 18th man or Cator, Dwyer showed what we've been missing his pace out of dummy half was different class.

I've got reasonably high expectations myself, I think we will be playoffs and perhaps challenging a little higher than that, but you can't expect a complete performance in round one. You don't particularly want to see a complete performance in round one. It's a long season, if you are playing your best rugby in February then where do you go from there? I'm pretty content with what I'm seeing and hearing.

I think most fans feel he should be playing hooker though, that's the point. We start with Dwyer with his speed and energy and when Houghton goes to hooker it almost feels like we are giving the opposition a rest. In Dwyer and Lovodua you've got two really energetic and explosive hookers. Their skill sets are a little different but the important thing is they can both bring a lot of intensity. Don't give the other team any respite.

Steve, Lovodua should be the bench hooker instead of Mint to be honest. You saw a very noticeable drop in speed and accuracy of pass when Danny came on. He loops the pass, and also when Dwyer was on, he has the forwards hitting the ball at the ruck rather than passing it backwards.

I myself have said it, that if we are not going to use/play Lovodua as an interchange 9 then I really don't see where else he fits in in all honesty. Out of Dwyer, Lovodua & Houghton then for me Houghton is behind both regardless of how good a servant as he has been.

Agree. If Lovodua doesn't play hooker it's wasting a valuable quota spot. To be fair to him he's never been given a fair run at his best position due to injuries.

Agree about Griffin imo was our best player apart from Clifford

Hopefully get back to his best and make 2nd row his own

And smith deffo needs to get his subs right leaving taylor dwyer and satae off most of 2nd half until last 10 minutes was just ridiculous and having both lovodua and Houghton on bench is pointless

Cas will definitely struggle hope we don't but I'm not sure if we're much better

If the second half had gone on 5 minutes longer we would have lost the match