Oh I agree

But I just think at times we've been lackdaisical and we haven't had a comprehensive performance.

Erm, I think you are.

We are far from a one man team. Just about every member of the squad has been excellent. We have three members who have been picked for the England teams. Mathers has been brilliant, Craig Huby has been one of the competitions form props. Nick Youngquest is scoring tries for fun. Kirk Dixon is playing the rugby of his career, and these two are having to compete with Richie Owen for a place. Young Daz Clarke has really burst onto the scene. IMHO the biggest factor has been the signing of Danny Orr, he really knows how to organise the team. There is a lot of quality there.

We're only a one man team because even our own players don't know what Chase is going to do at times. Hell, I'm sure even Chase surprises himself at times.

Billed by Who?
Castleford are the surprise of the season....6 of their 9 games have been at home and Huddersfield are the only "top" team they have played....Wigan, Saints and Wire will be the best way to see where Castleford are (Leeds are fast becoming a Joke under Mac).
Surprised conspiracy theorists from Wakey haven't picked up on your "easy" start to the season...with Quins and Wakey to come meaning you could well be on 18 points before you play another "top" team

....and you will be in the top half of the season by the time a decision is made on Licences

My honest opinion?

9 rounds in, a game in hand, and …


we're top of the league. I'm having a laugh.


(wherever it goes after thisicon_smile.gif





We were due to, but they were frit and blew us out to play some meaningless friendly instead

We've only played 8 games.

Yes, 5 of those have been at home but Huddersfield and Hull have also played five home games out of their first 9. So what? We're no different to other clubs.

I'm sorry but at the start of the season, regardless of form, I'd have said Hull, Bradford and Hull KR are all difficult games and we tend to lose at least once against each of those sides. Needless to say, we also have close games against Catalans too.

We may not have played Wigan, Saints, Leeds, Wire yet but you still have to play each side twice no matter what order they fall.

Chase might be getting all the praise but the unsung hero for Cas has been Jake Emmitt, him and Huby have been superb and without the forward pack dominating Chase would've found it much harder.

Well done to Cas also for bringing through Daz Clark, an exciting prospect.

Do not twist my words tb.

But seriously, I think Cas have looked quality, I don't think it would be fair to judge them untill they have played all the top teams at least once.

I would love to see them top of the league and see their crowds fly up. It will prove to the council they should have built a stadium for them long ago!

a couple of years ago Catalans went on a great run (later in the season to cas's early season form) but they lost a couple of games in the middle of that run.

Cas might slip up, but they could keep going too, confidence should be high about the place.

Over easter they face Leeds and Saints, then Warrington a fortnight later, all these sides have been beaten in the league and should hold no fear for cas.

It will be interesting to see how they go, as they have shaped up to be a bit of a surprise package to me, from the outside.

Cas in my opinion, and I haven't missed a game are that we play some great footy and our defence has been good. The problem is at times we have played real poor but still got wins. When we play wire saints or wigan if we play poor like we have at times we will get battered. We were shocking at bulls and only lost by 4. I know us cas fans think our defence has been good but we are still shipping a few points. These 3 teams will turn a few points into a lot of points.

Sort our defence out at times and stop sacking off for parts of the game I think we will get a home tie in play-offs. That's our aim along with a good CC run.

I don't really get this, we have the second best defence in the league and the second best attack, what more do you really want? The moon on a stick?

with jam on top please.

You have the best attack so far. Wire have scored 265 in nine games, you've scored 261 in eight.

I don't think anyone can argue with the fact that we're playing well at the moment, and in a league where standards are improving and there are few easy games. We've a decent squad in which the players are working hard; for eachother; and with a lot of confidence.

The positives are our defence - big improvement on last year; more balanced squad - sharing the workload and taking some pressure off Rangi Chase; kind fixture list - more home games and more games we'd possibly be expected to win early in the season from which the squad have gained in confidence.

The negatives - a couple of very tough fixture runs at the end of April/beginning of May, and in July; the fact that whilst our defence has improved we still concede some soft short-range tries.

I think we've put in a few poor performances and still managed to pick up wins, but at times we've played some really fantastic rugby. I still feel there's some improvement in the side though given the points we're leaking at times, and that with a fair few attacking plays, the timing and execution aren't as refined as they hopefully will be later in the year with practice.

I'm looking forward to playing the likes of Warrington, Saints, Wigan and Leeds because those games will give us a better idea of where we are. But if we get beat it'll be no major disaster (although I really do believe Leeds are there for the taking at the moment), and we'll still be on track for the playoffs. I've said from the start I'll be happy with top 8 this season. I can't help but think now, that to finish 7th or 8th may be a little disappointing, but a couple of defeats could knock the confidence a bit and send us on a bad run. Equally if we pick up injuries to any of Chase, Orr, Mathers, Huby, Emmitt, Arundel, Dixon; it could leave a bit of a hole. We have adapted and learned to play without key players in the past though, so who knows what might happen. I'm just going to enjoy the ride...

As a Hull Fc fan I would just say good luck to Cas. Fair enough, they haven't played the so-called top teams yet but they've beaten what's been put in front of them and have some very good players in the key positions. I think they'll be top six but not sure have they have the depth to be top four. Nevertheless, they're a great team to watch and are scoring points for fun which is something I can't really say about my own team.

It will be shocking if they don't make top six from here.

Why? Look at their fixtures from here.

Well done to Cas and playing youth to boot. Hopefully it will crumble on Fri and Danny Orr will feel another loss at the Stoop

It wasnt so long ago that Huddersfield under Jon Sharp went the first 7 games unbeaten, I think we finished about 7th that season.

Cas are running well, but its a hell of a long way yet. A playoff place is theres for sure, but which one is open.

30 points would see us top 6 i reckon and we have 2 games v quins, 2 v wakey, 1 v salford and 1 v crusaders, we should get we should get at least 8 points from those games imho, leaving 4 wins out of a game against both hull sides, 1 v cats, 2 v leeds, 2 v wire, 2 v wigan and 2 v saints which is very doable.

Spot on. Cheers Saints for Emmitt. Awesome player.
The good thing about Clark is he compliments Hudson or Milner. They put the hard work in defence early on and then Clark comes on and rips em to bits.

I'll go for a 5th place finish, hopefully with Leeds below us.

We have got second best defence with a game in hand. That will get worse when we play wigan away. I went to hull away where they battered us. If we played the top sides they would of scored on most of the chances.

All us cas fans know we are playing good rugby but we have 20 minute spells in each game where we go to sleep. Im saying for us to suceed we need to cut that out. We have played, shall we say, not great teams. After we play saints, Leeds and Wire in the next few week we will not know how good we really are.