Did anyone else think that the ref changed his "style" in the second half ?
Cas were doing all sorts to slow the play down in the first half but, after the break, we seemed to get some penalties.
Also, has there been a change to the "advantage" rule as the ref allowed play to go on after an offence and then went back and gave pelalties afterwards (instead of blowing up when the offence was committed).

lets get this straight when it was the best squads vs best squads we were 30-4 down after 30 or so mins- massive concerns

Marvellous that internet stuff isn't it.

I thought huby did ok today.
First game and ended up doing big minutes because of injuries to allgood, (who put some good tackles in until he we t off).
First half cas did have a great kicking game(gale 40 20)but we didn't help ourselves with the mistakes (cation brown dropped ball) and penalties (holding down).
Second half ...started to catch cas out with the offload.. And wood and Finn stood out with arona doing plenty of work as always...
A few of our players taking knocks, hope nothing too serious ..

Yes lets hope all is good with Allgood. Didnt Hirst go off too and TJ appeared to pick up a knock.

Arona went well again. I like Arona. Not our biggest forward but got a big heart and hits hard, all with a smile on his face. He was trying to gee up the North Stand as we were on with the comeback.

Allgood went off with a head injury. Stopped a certain try with a big hit.
Hirst went off just before half time with what looked like a turned ankle.

Not at all. Cas were red hot and we were crap, but we came out flat and got what we deserved. I'm glad that happened to us today as it would have been misleading to sail through pre-season.

With Allgood, Huby and Hirst all being spelled and without England and Fifita we were not able to play the style we wanted, which is a good thing in the long run.

Very happy with the way we came back and looked like we wanted to win, despite it being a 'friendly'.

IF we could live with Cas, then we would be in for a stellar season - they are contenders in most people's eyes - so no disgrace to be given a lesson.

Chester reported Allgood got concussed and failed his head test. Not playing him v Featherstone but hoping to against Sheffield.

Good grief, just wait till you meet the mighty Leythers.

Night life must be buzzing on a Sunday night

And?

Short for go away

Only a short post mate but you've made more sense than at least one on here who must have gone through several bib changes in the last 24 hours.
I've now watched both coaches interviews and they have both taken positives but also realise there is more to work on.
It may just be force of habit but Chessy does seem to have his head in his hands quite a lot when answering the questions but Powell is the opposite. All down to experience I suppose.
Good luck.

NO.

If you are here just troll it will be Bye. So ensure that's not the case eh?

I didn't think Cas were red hot (expect our forever resident Cas fans to start name calling me) we were just flat rather than crap.

Rest of what you say is spot on -now is the time for a wake up call not when the season starts.

First half we were very flat both on attack and in defence we got pulled into the middle on our right side and Cas took full advantage of that. We were far better when Wood came on gave us that quick play the ball and has that zip off the mark. Finn coming on gave us the organisation we needed that we didn't have and didn't look like having until then. At least it was a friendly and what they are about getting the side sorted and into its stride before the season starts

Anyone who thinks a friendly is a guide to how the season will unfold for their team is in dreamland. They mean nothing for the coming season.

You're right but, it's always nice to beat Cas, especially after giving them a 24 point start

I guess a pro coach will have a more measured and reasonable way to draw detailed lessons and inference from a pre-season friendly; largely because he designed the team and the tactics and knew what he was trying out and what he wanted to achieve.

That said, any sensible person can reasonably feel positive about a) Batchelor's barnstorming start to first team rugby and b) the team spirit and self-belief that's required to pull back a 30 point deficit in a friendly, when it would be easy to roll over after such a heavy first half defeat.

That's about it I reckon - anything else is just local bragging rights, which is nice, but means absolutely nothing in terms of the actual season.

Yeah exactly, we weren't really at it in 1st half but I noticed we were trying a few different early kicking options and set plays.

Useful to get a look at the new additions and see what they bring to the table, but can't really read too much into it. Please we managed to get the win though - always good to beat Cas no matter the setting.

Did anyone else notice that loud Cas fan who got quieter and quieter as the game went on... then piped down completely

I'd say we learned some good lessons against Cas.
There'll be times when we lose props during a league game. We found out Huby can go longer and Walker is not a bad replacement from what is probably 6th-7th choice prop.
We learned that we need to practise that edge defense more. It's just co-ordination and confidence in each other.
Half back combinations and concentration around the ruck too.

But we also learned we can attack from deep and we can throw the ball around if the forwards get a roll on. Fifita, England, Allgood, Hirst and Walker are all important to that.
Huby in particular showed he has some ball skills we haven't seen for a while. Once fit he'll be great for us.

And as said above, the team spirit to play on and come back from such a deficit is worth its weight in gold.

Based upon what I have seen in the friendlies so far, to me it has confirmed my thoughts on where the squad are from last year.

Just after the season had ended, I mentioned that there were some players who finished the 2016 worn out and busted, such as Sio, Ashurst and Arona, for example, and said that with our up and coming back rowers coming through, it would be good to be able to rest senior ones at various points of the season, without too big an impact on the team.

I think so far Batchelor and Crowther have shown that they are ready. I would have no issues whatsoever, in rotating these with the senior players, such as Sio, Kirmond, Ashurst and Arona.

This too I think can be said with the quad of Miller, Williams, Finn and Wood.

Overall, as a squad, I think we are in a good place

The result is never a guide but personal performance sand structure are so I think you're half right.

I wasn't all that alarmed in the first half tbh as my H/T post indicated.

Everything Cas did came off for the, first try awkward bounce etc etc - not taking away from Cas because they did look sharper. However there were a couple of moves that were really nice by us and on any other day we'd of gone in at H/T closer. Fringe defence was a bit suspect but will tighten up, losing Allgood didn't help.

S/H Wood showed what a good player he is and though not quite as talented as Moore e's going to be way more reliable than Moore.

Finn showed what many of us already knew that he's one of the smartest players in the game. Also I swear he looked quicker, not a yard quicker but certainly an inch or two quicker

Got to look at the positives, good crowd, pitch looked much better than last couple of seasons when it has been poor, Batchelor looks great, Wood looks much better than I expected, Walker has earned a place in the 17, Huby`s second spell was great.
Chester was not a happy chap when interviewed by MC in the dining area in the Benidorm flats, he noted that the first half was a shock he was not expecting such a poor attitude, lack of effort etc, he noted that from the first set when Cas marched us 65 yards with 5 simple drives that we were in trouble due to poor attitude, he was very concerned by the lack of physicality in defense. That said he had the good grace to praise Cas who he said were excellent, that they are a top 4 side and that Gale and McShane were men playing against boys, he refered to us falling in love with ourselves. Better to happen yesterday than when points are at stake. He said that they have a lot of work to do to fix things.

I think Chester will now know who will be his starting and wingers. Grix will play full back until Jowitt is back fit. He will have to sort out his starting hooker as Sio is just not the answer , good news is that Wood is a good option. Finn has to play for me.

From what I saw we still seem to have that typical Wakefield mental weakness of playing great one week and looking not bothered the next, this attitude needs sorting,

Got to say that I was wrong about Cas when I said they will be pushing the top four, they will 100 % finish in the top four, they look the real deal.

Hirst left the ground in a `boot `and is going for a scan today, hope its a quick recover.