I missed the Barrow game but from looking at the various posts it went as I expected.  We move on!  Hunslet on Friday isn't likely to be a big crowd puller but it's a game we ought to win.   In the last meeting we played them off the park for 40mins then got bogged down in the second half where a lot of the usual failings were displayed.


I'm expecting something similar again.   I hear we lost Armitage and Bayliss to injury last weekend, are they likely to be fit.  Also Gill played and scored twice for Batley - are we recalling him or persisting with Hurrell?  

I'll be going, but I've just no enthusiasm for this game.  I'd love to see a young player be given a run out olin this game. 


Just feels like De ja vu. The same players who are doing the same mistakes will be picked. We'll get a response against a poor side and be pleased with how we applied ourselves and got a response. Hurrell will look OK against the bottom side and we'll proudly announce an extension of his loan. Then he and the team will get torn apart by York as we continue to slide our way down the table. 


Maybe I'm being cynical and still sour at the recent performances against any half decent opposition. But there's a pattern emerged and we seem unable to resolve it. 

Hallelujah. Doro is back. That enthusiasm should lift the pack, and the team as a whole. The other way of looking at it is a prop who just can't quite get into the 17 of the top team in SL, is playing for us again. 


I'm ok with Hurrel vs Hunslet, less so vs Oldham. But he cannot play vs York. Another option is needed. Taufua may be back? Gill took a bit of a hit from the fans for the York SF defeat - did the coaches think the same? Is that why he is suddenly out of favour?

If Hurrell isn't good enough for York and Gill is out of favour, would Myers be a better option?

It's a difficult game to get enthusiastic about, but it is still an opportunity to make a statement.... By that i mean putting on some serious points against a team having some real problems at the minute. The top end of the table is tight and as disappointed as i am by recent performances i still remember our performances against Cas, Fev, Fax and Oldham (i know the opposition weren't always at full strength), but there was some real determination and effort in those games. If we win the next two games we make a statement of intent, if we lose the next two we also make a statement of intent, just not the one we want! I'm not panicking just yet, but my hand is poised over the button.

Doro is a good loan in but the other one...We are not a respite home for chubby lumps with some sort of secret issue we don't know about. Offensively ineffective and defensively suspect. What the hell are we loaning people like that for?

I can only hope Saints are paying us a fee, rather than the other way round. 

On Gill when he came back from his last injury he looked out of sorts.  Sheffield opened us up down the left a couple of times and then away at Batley they did the same.  Given that we won both games perhaps it wasn't seen as a big issue but I had reservations about him playing at York and so it proved.    Even so, if he's fit I'd rather have him in the side than Hurrell who isn't our player and moves like an octogenarian.    Myers would be better on loan if we're going down that route.  


Doro coming back is a big plus.  He won us the game at Fax remember and was player of the year by some distance last season.   We've not come close to replacing his enthusiasm and impact.  Losing Pele too means we rely too much on Scurr to get us on the front foot.    Our halfbacks and backs need space to play and we need to dominate the collision to do that.  


Seeing as we're now without Donaldson for the season it'd be good if we could bring someone in.  Baitieri and Segeyaro were huge for us when we brought them in mid season, we need some players of their ilk.  

Squad on rfl site. 


Nothing major. Liu and Gill included (which just makes a farce of the loan system) 


Should have been a game to give a young one a chance. Sometimes they can be a bolter (Myers a couple of years a go) if we're not going to do it in this game then we never will. So looks like only option is  Noble resolving the issues for the York game with the current players because we've nothing to fall back on.  That or more panic loan signings SL clubs don't want. 


Anyway 40-10 win. 

Our juniors haven't exactly been ripping up trees in the academy or reserves have they?  But on the whole I agree, if they're not being picked vs Hunslet then we're not going to play them.   No Armitage I see so expect Hooley on the wing.  

Great to have Doro back, he will also provide some much needed impact versus York.


Could do with a longer term option but as short term cover he is the best signing we could have made. Just hope the injury to Armitage isnt serious as he has been a really solid presence for us. I'm guessing it will be Gill or Hooley on the wing.