Ratchford, Westerman, Cooper and Currie would 100% and you could make cases for a few more (Russell, Hughes, Gidley, Patton, Philbin)

Flip it round, who would I take from Cas at Wire? Gale, Hardaker, Sene-Lefao, Shenton, McMeeken... Think that's probably it

Realistically the squads are very closely matched but I'd say on paper Wire's is slightly stronger. Obviously your team is clicking and ours isn't, but I'd put that down to coaching. Powell is certainly doing an excellent job over there. Playing like a well-oiled machine.

to be fair Cas are top and we are 9th and a bit rubbish

in 2011 the positions were reversed, we were league leaders by a mile and Cas finished 9th we beat them 62 nil that year, and wouldn't have touched a single player of theirs.
So for 3 of ours to get in the says something ......

not sure what it says but its definitely something....

Straight off the bat...

Westerman
Hill
Clark
Ratch

Ratchford ahead of Hardaker? (Or any other position) In your dreams. Hill for Lynch, yeah, and maybe Clark on the bench but that's it.

Seeing as Ratch plays Centre, Fullback, Stand off, Scrum Half and Loose forward yes, he would most definitely get a starting spot somewhere. Westerman 100% walks into any team.

Clark on the Bench? Good one

Hughes - really?

Who would you swap out for Gidley and Patton?

In January I would have said Hughes 100%, he was awesome for us last year. Admittedly he's struggled for form this year in a team struggling for form, but I think his performances have really been picking up lately I think he'd feature in Cas' first-choice 17 at least.

I think you mean who would I take from Cas over Gids and Patton? If so at present I would swap Gids for Gale in a heartbeat and I really rate Roberts too. Patton definitely isn't quite there yet and really needs to start putting his stamp on games on a more consistent basis. Still goes missing a bit too much for my liking, but he's promising for sure.

seriously you've posted this the week after Wayne Bennett picked Ratchford at fullback for England moving Hardaker to Centre.....

Genius wind up......

No you said the following nine players could get in the Cas side.

"Ratchford, Westerman, Cooper and Currie would 100% and you could make cases for a few more (Russell, Hughes, Gidley, Patton, Philbin)"

I questioned Hughes, Gidley and Patton and asked who would you drop from the Cas side to play them.

Ratchford wasn't even selected in the squad until Widdop had to drop out. Do try to keep up.

It's Castlefords style that makes them, not the players. Let's face it, Eden, Shenton, Webster, Roberts, Cook, Monaghan and even Hardaker to a point, were all made available by other clubs, some on the way to the scrap heap.

Millington, Sene-Lafeo, McMeeken, Minikin and Moors were excellent bits of recruitment, being squad players are Lower clubs.

When the signings were announced, was I upset we missed out on any, no. But on form would I like a few, yes.

The problem for Cas could come as it did with us in 2011, when the tight games come in poor conditions in September, we get picked off by a knock out rugby specialist such as Wigan. Still, they're the team to beat at the minute.

very much my thoughts at the moment.

There were poor conditions in Feb and March.

?

I was commenting that there were adverse conditions in Feb/March when Castleford won 6/6. So it does not necessarily follow that they will struggle in September.

The bit that you chose not to comment on, was the more important part of the bit I highlighted.

OK.

PS what is a "knockout rugby specialist"?

A knockout rugby specialist can be described as:

Wigan, Leeds & Saints.

I'd actually put a big gap after Leeds, then us, then sintellins behind us, based on recent years.

Regardless of how many injuries, woman have or may have, come crunch time, it's hard to back against them.

At the moment, cas can be likened To us in 2011

So to translate what you are saying

"when the tight games come in poor conditions in September, Cas could get picked off by a knock out rugby specialist such as *Warrington".

Here's hoping.

Good lad, that's the spirit.

Interesting point this.

We won three Challenge Cups, winning our first three major finals. At this point surely we were knockout rugby specialists. Leeds went through years when they could not win the Challenge Cup despite probably being the best team overall, so they were not knockout rugby specialists but they beat us in the 2011 playoffs and 2012 Grand Final?

Wigan have been in the last four Grand Finals, won two, lost two. That's a 50-50 record

St Helens have lost five of the last six Grand Finals they have been in, they seem to struggle to win in the big occasion.

I wonder whether what is really happening is that Wigan, Leeds and Saints (and to a lesser extent us) have been the better sides over the past ten years, and so are making a lot of finals and semis, but once there there's an element of randomness in who beats who. So the best teams win more trophies than others, but they also lose a lot of big knock out games, rather than there being teams that are systemic knock out rugby specialists.

Maybe getting to finals is the hard part and once in a final its just like tossing a coin and heads you win.

Tony Smith tossed heads in his first three finals, and we all acclaimed him as a genius, but now he's come up with four tails, is he a useless toss er or are we just observing randomness.

Agar chose tails the last 4 times..

In answer to the thread title. After tonight, expectations are zero. Had we won and Saints lost we break into 7th (?) place and look like starting to threaten top 4. Instead, the old Hull turn up and seemingly the old Saints as well as the same old Warrington. Middle 8 doldrums at best i reckon. I despair.

Must try harder.