Oliver is the best young prop in SL - he is in the perfect set up, great coach and the best conditioner in the league. Could be a surprise call up for England in the WC if Wane can get past his Lancs. bias.

Huddersfield are a top 4 side and I wouldn't be surprised to see them in the GF - we were poor but they made us poor.

Ava is exactly the sort of player we need! I fear for Oledzki if the burden is not eased soon too.

Im still enjoying Smith’s pressers just for the disdain he seems to showing the rubbish questions from the journalists



Ive watched the highlights back now, Hudds were the better team by a distance but there’s a couple of things we can take from it, we scored some decent trys against a team with a very strong defensive record.

I think a few of their trys are things we can fix up defensively, take the calamity that was mcqueens try out of it and I think its s closer game - same with Prior dropping the ball from the drop out when we had the momentum.

Interesting to see how we fair against ssints in 2 weeks!

Indeed as practically every time we’ve played Saints in SL these past 4 years or so they’ve blown us away in the first 20 mins and the scoreboard has often looked like it did last night after 20-25 mins and got a lot worse from there.

We’ve not been able to stand up to Saints pack in recent times and often Walmsley has destroyed us on his own and as our front row options are still a major issue, I’m not hopeful.

I never said he would, certainly not at this point in time, with both clubs where they currently are. Just saying that he is distinctly what we’re missing to go alongside Mik and if he ever gets fit and unbanned, Holroyd.

Trouts also turned into a solid prop who we did have on our books.

If anything I’m complimenting Wilson who I don’t think gets the same praise as some of the Wigan forwards or even Mik.

Didn't get there last night and only seen the highlights, but I did fear the worst when I saw Leeming was missing. We got away with Myler in the halves at Wire because Leeming kicked well and shared it with Austin. As soon as we ask Myler to do any field kicking, things go badly wrong. Seven tackle sets, out on the full - there isn't a kick he doesn't do badly. Anyway glad to hear Newman came through unscathed and Fusitua did well. Hopefully next time we'll be as near to full strength as we are likely to get.

The effort from Tetevano and Dwyer for the last Giants try was an embarrassment. Tetevanos right up there with the worst signings we'v made in recent history. Sooner he's off the better.

Glad Smiths identified the lack of trust issues at the end of our line, Handley gifted them McGillverys try, the man he shot in on was already covered, no need to leave his wing.

we beat a poor warrington

It begs the question really of how poor are Warrington? I suppose we might find out when they play Wakefield tomorrow.

Also interesting to note from O’Connors interview that he was going to be 18th man before Leemings withdrawal.

What do you expect with Powell in charge - he has the ability to make a combined Saints/ Catalan/ Wigan squad relegation contenders - It always amuses me when Cas fans bleat about what Powell did for Cas - Well other than a minor premiership that no club values the answer is “Feck all”

The answer is shockingly poor.
As always, splash the cash on coaches and players and they are literally in a mess.
Only downside is that Powell will get the bullet soon.
I'm really enjoying his spell in charge there.

Where's DallasMead when you need him?
Don't worry Dallas - next year is definitely your year.....

Cas aren't Leeds, Wigan, Wire or Saints. What Powell did with them was massive, overachieving hugely compared to the available resources. Likewise his record at Fev was very good.

Handley never stays on his wing.

I get the distinct impression that Rohan smith is going to be the best coach we have had since Tony Smith.

Interesting. Why’s that?

Hope so,we need it

Ryan Hall mk 2

Big call..

He seems to be able to coach what is in front of him, rather than play to a specific structure and it either works or it doesn't. He seems to be a deeper thinker more than anything else. Also, let's be honest, other than Bluey and BMD there's not that much competition...

Hey that’s stiff competition. We’re talking about multiple SL winning coaches!

We’re not about to win the comp anytime soon, but you and I could have had some success with the bunch of players that BMD and Bluey coached. Of course they did very well, but I think Smith is exactly what we need right now, and so was his uncle. I wouldn’t expect BMD or Bluey to develop us more than Rohan will over the next 3 years.

Always difficult to compare coaches unless they have very close to the same teams. BMD had some great teams and even as someone who found him difficult, its hard to argue he didn't wring the last drop of quality out of the players. Having said that there was zero sign he had even the faintest idea how to rebuild the side. He started the process that saw quality players replaced by numpties, which was carried on by Agar, with a speed bump under Furner. It took a few years to get into this mess, and we've only just started to turn it around.

One thing's for sure, this isn't even close to being Smith's squad. Until we can say that most of the squad is down to him (including retaining players, I'm not talking about signing 17 new ones) we won't be able to judge him properly.

Agreed. Plenty of players obviously on way out so will be good to see what talent (southern hemisphere or otherwise) he can attract

My gut instinct is that he will be a persuasive guy when speaking to agents and potential players

If we got his uncle in behind scenes next year then surely we have a great scenario and the best chances to build the c ok ub back up

Agreed. Plenty of players obviously on way out so will be good to see what talent (southern hemisphere or otherwise) he can attract

My gut instinct is that he will be a persuasive guy when speaking to agents and potential players

If we got his uncle in behind scenes next year then surely we have a great scenario and the best chances to build the club back up