Have to say I expected better from York. I know it’s two games in but I had them initially down for 4/5th.

Early signs not looking good. Against 12 men most of game and still couldn’t muster the win.

I think their backs are decent but it seems they lack much in the forward pack. This may be their undoing this season. Still early days though.

York only finally scored when Toulouse were down to 11 men

I'm expecting more from York when they have Myler and Dagger fit.

Looks like Bradford will lose Dan Okoro to Warrington although he may go back on loan.

Looks a very good prospect
20 years old
6’5” 105kg
Strong runner
Huge workrate
Doesn’t mind a collision defending or attacking
Powerful leg drive
Offload game is intelligent
Fast and athletic

He played against us a couple of weeks ago and was one of Bradfords better players while on the field
Maybe someone we could have looked at as a project for the future as he’s not overseas (British/Jamaican)
It’ll be a blow to Bradford if Warrington don’t let him go back on loan

Ran it in hard on attack and looked athletic with a good leg drive. His defence needs a lot of work from memory. Would be nice to pick up a young British prospect at prop to complement the quality looking quota players we have who all look to have potential.

Not sure if there’s anyone coming through our youth set up?

Eseh would have been that player had we been able to keep him.

We haven’t seen anything of Shaw and I always thought if he could just manage to put a few kilos on in muscle he would be a handy prop with his direct style.

Swinton beat Toulouse in France.

At the moment, I'm not confident which of the top teams will come out on top in each game.
Which is great for the league

I don’t really know enough about most teams either to know if that’s a shock or not but losing at home early in season you can’t imagine Toulouse being happy with that.

Great result for Swinton, Especially since the bookies gave them a 24-point head start. I thought they were kind of weak before, but they really proved me wrong. If I had to split up the league, I'd say there are three groups based on how good they are. There's us at the top, then Fev and Toulouse kinda together, and everyone else is sort of on the same level. And the early results seem to back that up.

Yusuf Aydin playing for Fev against Bradford

Bulls win at Fev

York lose 15-14 against Barrow, Dagger & Keinhorst come off injured Tai on report use of the elbow

Nice scalp for barrow

Dagger got a nasty wound to his armpit

This is ultimately where the full time and bigger budget squad comes in.
I think a lot of teams can compete in Championship but a key injury can end it fir them.
Hopefully we have a squad that can handle that better.

So who exactly is going to challenge us - this weekend has basically left me wondering if Sheffield will be the team that pushes us.

imo it's about been able to challenge ourselves and get up for the games and improve . I thought it was flat both on and on the field yesterday, so for me the big test is our own motivation

There won't be anyone - as I've said a couple of times on this forum, the Championship this season is the weakest for many, many years.

Agreed. I could see us slipping up against one or two of Toulouse (away), Sheffield, Bradford (hope it's the league not the 1895 cup), or even a Cumbrian team away. But it'll be a combination of injuries, complacency, cup final hangover, and the opposition having a blinder.

The difference this year is going to be the route to Super League.
In previous years, when it was close at the tail end of the season, teams started bringing in bigger names for short term stints just to get them to the GF.
This year with the exception of us and Toulouse, it isn't going to happen whether they win it or not, so when injuries kick in, teams will simply do their best with what they have, which will make it easier for teams like us with a bigger squad or teams that are lucky with injuries.

Time will tell how it works out.

Sheffield look the most impressive opposition so far. Fev gave us a game but the lack of depth is really showing at the minute.

Must admit, Widnes starting 3/3 has surprised me but that's more because I thought they'd struggle this season rather than beating the opposition they have.

York look troubled at the moment and I'm not entirely sure why with the players they have available to them

Sheffield's team isn't that different to the one they have had over the last couple of years, I'm not convinced that they have improved that much but might be a top 3 team by default because so many others have regressed.

Depth is indeed an issue at Fev but we were without Springer, Tanner, Bussey, Day and Massey yesterday. If you took (say) Atoni, Bowden, Pitts, Vagana and Uele out of Wakefield's line-up it would certainly have some impact.

York seem to have had a lot of ex-SL signings that haven't worked out for some reason (as have other clubs to be fair), with Lineham now looking a "typical" York signing of a player whose best days are some way behind him.

Sheffield are good, and I did find it weird they weren't being taken as seriously as Bradford or Fev at the beginning of the season. They have a real good balance with experienced-but-not-over-the-hill players like Welham and Dawson-Jones, with a really well drilled pack - Titus Gwaze being their standout player IMO. But they also have loads of depth - they have 4 halves to choose from in Aston, Thackeray, Hansen and Farrell - so they'll be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. However, player for player they're nowhere near as strong as us. Really looking forward to going to their spot in a few weeks' time. If we play well, they'll stick with us for 50 mins then fall away.

Having been to a couple of games at the Olympic legacy park, I'm not sure how they could accommodate 1500 wakey fans

Good point. I’m not sure if they can use the bank opposite the stand. If not it’s just the main stand which only holds about 1,000, and the spaces behind the posts, which I reckon you could get 300 in if they have the staff. Should be their first sell out there