Sounds like a good run out.

Don't know what to make of Cas this year, they have some good fast backs and some real quality in their pivots with Horne, Rimbu and Asi but their forward pack is going to cost them big time this season Watts and especially Westerman are still great but both are getting on.

Just got back from a pleasent afternoon at the jungle. Overall you can't complain at our first hit out with the new team. Obviously second half playing all the youngsters in the backs we played our best rugby with lots if energy, scum half looked good (Kemp?) but I would say we did get a bit lucky with cas bombing lots of chances on our line. Burough I thought looked a bit slow and ponderous and seriously needs to speed up his distribution, Balmforth was much quicker and we looked a better team with him playing hooker. In fact what was obvious to me is how much quicker we played in the second half compared to the first when the whole team looked slow from hooker to both half backs. Cas aren't a great side and we struggled to even get out of our half apart from one occasion where we scored. Rapana was a bit quiet but in the centres for some reason, hardaker other centre was a bit more lively but made a few mistakes. Briscoe shouldn't be anywhere near the team imo - play Martin So in conclusion not a bad first hit out, think the right formula will be to play a mixture of young and old, if we play it safe then we could be too slow and whilst we won't get tonked won't b playing much exciting energetic rugby, we just need to find that formula.

[quote="Sebasteeno":i1lyci7j]Just got back from a pleasent afternoon at the jungle. Overall you can't complain at our first hit out with the new team. Obviously second half playing all the youngsters in the backs we played our best rugby with lots if energy, scum half looked good (Kemp?) but I would say we did get a bit lucky with cas bombing lots of chances on our line. Burough I thought looked a bit slow and ponderous and seriously needs to speed up his distribution, Balmforth was much quicker and we looked a better team with him playing hooker. In fact what was obvious to me is how much quicker we played in the second half compared to the first when the whole team looked slow from hooker to both half backs. Cas aren't a great side and we struggled to even get out of our half apart from one occasion where we scored. Rapana was a bit quiet but in the centres for some reason, hardaker other centre was a bit more lively but made a few mistakes. Briscoe shouldn't be anywhere near the team imo - play Martin So in conclusion not a bad first hit out, think the right formula will be to play a mixture of young and old, if we play it safe then we could be too slow and whilst we won't get tonked won't b playing much exciting energetic rugby, we just need to find that formula.[/quote:i1lyci7j] I agree with most of that Seb Kemp will overtake Charles as our next line halfback.Its just a pity that he doesnt have real pace Sezer and Cust never in the game and our lack of pace was there to see as Seb said. Martin should be in the team no doubt The worrying thing is that its expected when you change the team and add six young players as we did second half that the performance and scoreline takes a hit but today was the other way round and they won the game for us I know its a first hit out for the senior team but from what was on show today i wouldnt get too excited about what is to come

Here’s the rub NRL is so high level competitive that Coaches work on the smallest details to win games. Cartwright is truly in that model. We will focus on the absolute basics for at least 2 seasons. Attrition rugby, waiting for errors from the other side and make no errors yourself. High completion rates etc So it may well be boring but it’s what we need to win and grind out results. The pack has to get on top of other packs and that’s non negotiable. I’m happy to watch hard working lads try and grind an opposition down and win games 16-10 rather than 32-18

Echo, what most people have put, we looked rusty first half and was a great effort particularly by the kids to keep Cas scoreless. We do lack pace and maybe some creativity, but think our pack will do enough to win us games and we will have alot more Steel than previous years. Let's be honest very few fans expect us to get close to the play offs, but do think we should be aiming for 8th/9th, the advantage we have over every club except, the top sides is our youth depth, we have players who are SL ready to fill in just about every position. If we can slowly improve the next couple of seasons and our fans still we us, I could see us challenging in a couple of seasons time.

How did big John and zac go? I don’t expect chamberlain or holmes to play too much for you guys

[quote="oggy123":2uxwd2oj]How did big John and zac go? I don’t expect chamberlain or holmes to play too much for you guys[/quote:2uxwd2oj] Jon played well and was running things down the middle, played about 60 mins too. Zak had some nice touches but was well marked by Cas and dropped the ball a few times, Chamberlain suffered a leg injury and it looked quite serious tbh

Glad to hear about John, guy oozes class! He will carry you through games if he’s fit!

Is holmes injured already? He seems barely to have played the last couple of years

[quote="Jake the Peg":2pdz2s3g]Is holmes injured already? He seems barely to have played the last couple of years[/quote:2pdz2s3g] "Oliver Holmes will be monitoring having taken a precautionary stance on a knee injury from his time at Leigh Leopards this pre-season." Taken from HDM article this morn

Yesterday was a run out that was needed to put some of the things done in training into practice in game time pure and simple. Some stuff they’ll be pleased with and other stuff not so pleased and under Cartwright it does appear the ‘not so pleasing’ stuff will be worked on. Still a long road ahead, don’t think any of us are or will be getting giddy for some time yet. What I will say is that whilst we were clunky and timings a little hit & miss as you’d expect, it does look for the first time in years we actually seem to have structure about our play particularly defence. While it was still only a pre season game was pleasing to see the young players didn’t look too out of place which bodes well for the future.

These young players must now be properly nurtured and not over exposed. I have far more confidence that the club is better placed to do that now both from a financial point of view, the coaching set up and the fact that in Myler we have a knowledgeable rugby man at the helm. Something we haven't had for a long long time. Great start but nothing to get too excited about.

[quote="Jake the Peg":18nqq9wn]Is holmes injured already? He seems barely to have played the last couple of years[/quote:18nqq9wn] Thats why we signed him so he is fresh for 2026 season

https://youtu.be/HIQydsRjw00?si=v7yXMmSCxHNW945A 2 minutes of highlights. Hopefully they'll put the full game up

https://youtu.be/HIQydsRjw00?si=v7yXMmSCxHNW945A 2 minutes of highlights. Hopefully they'll put the full game up

[quote="BESTY":2xe28ylw]These young players must now be properly nurtured and not over exposed. I have far more confidence that the club is better placed to do that now both from a financial point of view, the coaching set up and the fact that in Myler we have a knowledgeable rugby man at the helm. Something we haven't had for a long long time. Great start but nothing to get too excited about.[/quote:2xe28ylw] Be very disappointed if the new coach sticks with Briscoe in front of Martin get Barron back on the right and Martin on the left with Rapana

Here is a radical thought regarding the signing and young players….maybe just maybe Myler and Carty have got it right by bringing in experienced players so that when the young players do play they aren’t exposed as much and have a lot more extend quality around them…I mean Mylere a ex player and carty a experienced coach may just know something more than a lot on here

[quote="The games afoot":1bhqd49q]Here is a radical thought regarding the signing and young players….maybe just maybe Myler and Carty have got it right by bringing in experienced players so that when the young players do play they aren’t exposed as much and have a lot more extend quality around them…I mean Mylere a ex player and carty a experienced coach may just know something more than a lot on here[/quote:1bhqd49q] Have you got a pass yet?

It's going to a long hard season this year but all we want to continue to see is the passion and endeavour we saw yesterday at Cas. The youngsters in that second half were so committed to not losing and how refreshing that is after the last few years. I think we'll improve but I won't get carried away however I don't think we will be on our own in the struggling stakes this season, as I'd be more worried at present if I sere Cas fan or particularly a Huddersfield fan. The latter were shocking today against Featherstone and have now lost to two Championship clubs in pre season. Our major strength has to be our youth and the work Adam instigated four years ago with regard to the development of our youth structure could well start to pay big dividends this year.

[quote="The Dentist Wilf":pw8qj96s][quote:pw8qj96s]It's going to a long hard season this year but all we want to continue to see is the passion and endeavour we saw yesterday at Cas.[/quote:pw8qj96s] The youngsters in that second half were so committed to not losing and how refreshing that is after the last few years. I think we'll improve but I won't get carried away however I don't think we will be on our own in the struggling stakes this season, as I'd be more worried at present if I sere Cas fan or particularly a Huddersfield fan. The latter were shocking today against Featherstone and have now lost to two Championship clubs in pre season. Our major strength has to be our youth and the work Adam instigated four years ago with regard to the development of our youth structure could well start to pay big dividends this year.[/quote:pw8qj96s] Echo this from Wilf. Have noticed that virtually every poster on here is very realistic about what the coming months are likely to bring for the faithful. We are all very aware (too aware by far!!) of the errors which have been made in the past and the amount of hard work that is going to be needed to rectify those errors, but there is unquestionably the feeling that the work to turn around this great club has already started in earnest. As Wilf says, all we are looking for is passion, commitment and endeavour, if we can continue to see those attributes each week we will be walking in the right direction once again (even if it's not exactly a full-bloodied march to the summit just yet!!). I'm also hoping to see more than three wins in the coming year! it surely cannot be as draining as 2024 was, even our patience (sorely tested to the maximum last year) has its outer limits!! As Chris 71 said earlier, no one is likely to be getting too giddy just yet, but let's hope we can continue to see positive signs of recover as the year unfolds, that really is what most of us are asking for in 2025.

[quote="The Dentist Wilf":1n4607z9]Our major strength has to be our youth and the work Adam instigated four years ago with regard to the development of our youth structure could well start to pay big dividends this year.[/quote:1n4607z9] We’re going to win the league, we’re going to win the league

[quote="Armavinit":ahlnp34a]:ROCKS: We’re going to win the league, we’re going to win the league [/quote:ahlnp34a] You're not in the Championship you know.

I think that most of us are just happy to take it game by game and not get carried away, just look for the positives per match and see signs big or small that we're progressing. I thought that the most telling thing to come out of Cartwright's post match analysis was that the players went in at half time knowing where they had gone wrong in the first half and what they needed to do in the second half to turn that around. That tells you a lot already about the change in attitude at the club and I feel that will win us a few more points this year on it's own.

What I'm looking for is the will to defend and overall resilience. If we can show some organisation and aggression in defence and not wilt when things go wrong it will be a massive step in the right direction. Put teams under pressure with defence and we'll get the opportunities to score

[quote="Roam Ranger":3eb2qi6o]I think that most of us are just happy to take it game by game and not get carried away, just look for the positives per match and see signs big or small that we're progressing. I thought that the most telling thing to come out of Cartwright's post match analysis was that the players went in at half time knowing where they had gone wrong in the first half and what they needed to do in the second half to turn that around. That tells you a lot already about the change in attitude at the club and I feel that will win us a few more points this year on it's own.[/quote:3eb2qi6o] Ironically it was the six changes and bringing on the young lads that turned the game for us in the second half. Pleasing but thats not how its meant to be The senior players may have known where they went wrong but can they rectify it on the field against much better opposition to come?