bless didn't you realise you were playing against a bunch of 18 year olds at the end-some of whom played two competitive games in two days (some under 19s doubled up from yesterda)
With the exception of brough ikahihifo leeming and brierley (who weren't all on at the same time throughout anyway) the rest were either fringe players or u19s - even smith and mason arent bound to be getting a spot in our side each week. We have taai, Rapira wakeman and clough as well as ikahihifo to come into our pack- taai ikahihifo and Rapira will be first choice the rest to fight out for the last spot.

Why would be worried, we won quite comfortably in a testimonial game with a team made up of academy players squad players and 4 or 5 1st team regulars ? are you suggesting that was a full strength full effort Huddersfield side ?

Very strange comment to make.

Please don't let us play smith at loose forward. I thought he'd be showing to be a lot more up for it than he seemed. Disappointing.
Mellor didn't impress.
Thought Oli Roberts had a poor first half.

Liam Johnson looked solid, he impressed me more than Dickinson or English but got quite a bit of game time.

really good hit out for the lads today, enjoyed that, got abit feisty at times too!!

from the seniors that played i thought ikahihifo was awesome and deserved man of the match, mason, roberts, leeming, smith, simpson all showed up very well too

not soo good mellor at centre, wont get in the 17 off the back of that.

leeming was the better hooker today in his link up with obrien but will have been difficult for obrien today playing against his old team, same for mellor.

the brough and brierley link up still needs work and the final play from us with kicks needs to be better too

the defence and goal line defence was good today, that needed sorting out from last season.

thought the ref was awful !

look forward to next saturdays game now and seeing a few more of the lads get a run out that we dont often see.

gutted for simpson, hope its not a serious injury again, that would be mighty bad luck

no need to be worried at all, that team today will be nothing like the 17 that will start game 1 of sl.

the senior players who did play showed up well and the younger lads did too against a very spirited and determined bradford side.

we have the awesome cudjoe to return too dont forget

personally thought smith did ok, whether loose forward is for him is another story!

mellor i agree, wont be first choice centre for us on that performance but like ive said elsewhere it will have been difficult for him today.

roberts i thought went well though, played alot of minutes too, yes johnson did fine as did dickinson and englsih with some good hit ups

Was impressed with our forwards, thought Seb and Nathan laid some good foundations, Kruise looked hungry and busy and Dickinson, Johnson and English all looked comfortable when they were on.

Sam Wood and Izaak Farrell also looked busy

A decent run out against an enthusiastic, overly at times, but rarely threatening Bradford side.

Anyone know what the crowd was looked decent, though the Bulls lot will claim they had 80% of the crowd.

Leeming played well today, we looked a lot better when he was on the field, If the Bradford lad can compete a bit we should be OK at Hooker which will free up Hinchcliffe. Can't really tell much from a match with nothing at stake but it was good to watch a game again and see some of the youngsters show what they have.

I must have watched a different game because I thought Smith went well and made a lot of yards with ball in hand and made a couple of good offloads. He also looks in far better physical shape than he did before his injury.

Don't get me wrong he didn't do much wrong. It was just The guy hasn't played for a year- I thought he'd be absolutely champing at the bit and gunning for everything and everyone. Anyone would think it was Sebastine who was coming back the way he ran at the opposition!

I thought he played like a senior player, ran in hard made yards couple of offloads and it was his first game in nearly a year, anyone would think you were having a moan Jools and the blooming season ain't started yet !!

All the senior players from last year on view did alright for me except for poor Ormsby who never got the ball. Did everything else ok though but never got a sniff of an attacking run. Minds't he's a completely different shape from last year shows we've been doing some training !!

It was clear when they weren't trying too hard like Leeming and Mason when we had our Academy side on that they were making lots of yards and looked a class above which they should.

Ikihihifo looked like he will cause any side problems if Shannon Wakeman is what it says on the tin like Seb we might cause some real devastation in the forwards this year.

All in all for a first knock up it was ok and a decent turn out for Luke too

I heard somebody say that the gate was 2200. Seemed about right from where I was sitting.

credit to bradford and there fans glad they are sorted out now. pretty simple for the giants senior players went well youngsters never took a step back when it got feisty which impressed me. man of the match for me was seb knew a good pre season would see him come good, also impressed with oli roberts led from the front and played some long minutes. mellor looked nervous but it was his old club so not judging him off that performance obrien looked solid also. good first hit up for us roll on saturday.

Any attendance figure available?

attendance - 2629 (bradford had 2500, or so they would have you believe)

smith played last week at barrow and echo other poster than i think he went ok at loose forward, different role to ikahihifo who was playing prop.

ikahihifo came over as a second rower but def think prop is his best position.

also noted how much better shape ormsby looked in compared to last season

Agree about Ormsby, looked in much better shape, must have lost a stone and half.

now we have lost ellis who is going to help take abit of pressure off brough in the kicking department???

brierley doesnt seem to put in many kicks

our hookers arent kickers either

maybe we will just be going with brough which will be easy for oppo teams to predict

Actually thought Brierley did well with the kicking when Brough went off as did Isaac. Danny had a poor short kicking game on Sunday by his standards but he always comes up trumps when it matters

Danny's short kicking was awful last season so I hope that's improved

Brierly kicked well, as did Leeming

wont just be brough kicking brierley is more then capable leeming kicked out of dummy half a few times which i like

Wasn't hoping for a rise. Was just saying with a few to come back in im sure you will fair better this year in the league. Wasn't talking per se about the game just trying to wish you well for the new season thats all

Haha I only say that because you have more of a man crush on him than anyone. Maybe wasnt worded right apologies for that was just saying I think you will be back in the top 8 this season

i agree about broughs short kicking game, woeful, certainly an area we need to improve and get some repeat sets pinning the oppo in their goal line area if not scoring

thurston and johnson the masters at this

ha no man crush, just recognise the class player that he is, i think you have come round to seeing that too now after years of saying hes rubbish!

Definitely think he was harshly done to at the 4 nations deserved a spot ahead of sarginson at least year. Genuinely think you have a solid side this year just think (in my opinion of course) you are lacking a cutting edge left centre. Think Clough and Ferguson (on 4 nations form) will be good for you guys too