The 2nd half v Cas saved my criticism of our performance, especially in D. Prior to that we were all over the place, running out of ideas and/or looking like we didn’t have a clue.

That came back tonight for the majority of that game. Our attack was poor, no direction or cohesiveness. The mistakes we made, which were all too often, will be punished by Saints next week by way of points. We perform like that next week and we’ll be looking at a 12-24 point deficit by half time.

Since Catalans we just seem to have taken a backwards step. Not so much in D admittedly but more so in attack. I thought our subs were managed poorly, IIRC at one time we had no dedicated prop on the field with SOL and Farrell going at prop. Then just after Clubb had his little head to head with Hastings we came out of our own 10 and there wasn’t one forward there to take a ball in. It was taken in exclusively by our backs and then unsurprisingly a poor kick went in.

Improvement, and a vast one, needed by Friday to get any chance of going to OT, never mind winning it.

Defence great but attack too slow and indecisive.
We missed Partington tonight. Clubb is too slow and can't do minutes and at times a liability

It might just be me but all I seem to see Clubb doing these days is taking out the kicker late or doing grubby little things (elbow on Hastings). Yet when the going gets tough he’s nowhere to be seen. He did have a drastic upturn in form and credit to him but he really needs to stop being the grub. It does nothing for him or the team.

I know it's early days and he's only played half a game at HB, but I'm not convinced about French in that role.

The guys exciting and absolutely electric, but is he too off the cuff? He was certainly a live wire when he came on but the team shape seemed to suffer.

If we signed Lam for next year then, apart from on the wing, I'm struggling to fit French in my side.

Same. I did talk about putting him at HB a few weeks ago but after seeing him there tonight it’s clear a HB he isn’t. The only player I can see him forcing out is Budgie who was bang average again tonight

Bit of a mess tonight. Don’t know whether to feel bad, or be happy that we didn’t play well and still won a play off game against a team who played well.

Powell going off created issues. Don’t get why Lam moves George to hooker instead of Tommy.


6 Williams
7 Sammut ( if fit, if not French)
9.) Tommy

14.) French/Sharrocks

French should be nowhere near a HB shirt for me. Same with Sammutt.

One of two ways I would go;

6. Williams
7. Tommy
9. Bourouh

Or

6. Williams
7. Harry Smith
9. Tommy

I really want to say we’ll win next week but honestly I just can’t see it, same with winning the whole comp. So it’s purely on that basis I’d go with either of those selections. Plus we’ve exceeded all of our and many other RL fans expectations, we have nothing to lose.

I’d be tempted to start Lockers at hooker next week to help solidify that middle area of the field in defence. It’s going to be one hell of a job to try and contain their front row getting on a roll, as I felt we struggled to even stop Dudson and Mossop doing that tonight. We can’t afford to be blown away early and if we play Williams at 9 and French in the halves, the game could be over in the first twenty mins.


I’d go-

Hardaker
Marshall Sarginson Gildart Burgess
Williams Leuluai
Flower Lockers Partington
Isa Farrell Smithies

Subs
Byrne Clubb Greenwood French

He certainly didn't take his opportunity tonight. That's not to say that he didn't look dangerous either, but Lam needs to weigh up his unpredictability Vs the structure of the side.

Interesting to see your comments on Burgess. I thought he went ok. He was solid under the high ball, made a break in the 1st half from the Salford spill and gassed his winger for what turned out to be the match winner.

Compare that to Marshall who seems to get a lot less flak - was burgesses performance really worth singling him out?

Much improved from Burgess tonight I felt. He looks well down on pace but his energy was up and he caused problems. I thought Marshall was fine also. Solid under the high ball although a little quiet in attack. He’s earned his place over the last few months though with some good displays.

Two players who’ve worried me a little these past few weeks have been Hardaker and Farrell. They both look a little down in form but they’re big game players, so hopefully they’ll turn it on next week.