With Ryan Hall a certainty for one wing spot who else could challenge Johnstone for the other? I can only think of Eden and BJB in similar try scoring form

Finn gave away 4 penalties on bounce in the second when Catalans got a roll on , watch it it's easy

Kirmond wasn't a weakness he had a decent game.

This and the previous stream of posts seems odd!

My comment at the time was 'silly' Finny... however in retrospect that run of errors came after he had been playing first receiver for the first half and then hooker for another half hour... he was clearly fatigued.

The sum of the errors probably resulted in one try... and were swamped by the good work, shape and positive attitude he gave the team...

Ps fwiw I think our best half partnership currently is Finn and Miller ... Williams has not settled well and is a shadow of his best. Either that or he is being directed to play a game plan which wastes his talent.

One thing the extended discussion about TJ has done is taken the gloss away from BJB.
His tries were all excellent and all needed scoring.
He is a strange runner as to me he doesn't look to be running fast but no one catches him and he really knows how to score them.
I wonder who works on those skills in our back room team. I know some teams specifically train for the one handed scores in the corner and TJ and BJB are so good at it that we have to be focusing on it......but none of the coaching look like it's their area of expertise. Good for them whoever it is.
Ironically Agar got a lot of plaudits from other coaches on this kind of skills training and is why Warrington wanted him.

Thing about TJ is if he'd have caught the ones he dropped it would arguably have been the best performance from a winger for many a year! He's got pace to burn and is a great finisher, we all know that...what he doesn't get credit for though is the brilliant work he does on first and second tackles bringing us from our own line...i'd have him up there as one of the best in the league at it....it always takes 2-3 men to take him down, he always makes good metres...he continually gets very good quick play the balls and because of all that wins countless numbers of penalties....id love to seeva stat on how many he's won us at crucial times to get us out of trouble! All those attributes rolled together make him potentially the best winger in the comp for me...keep it up Tom!

Also, on the Finn penalties...I can excuse those because we are a far better team with him in it as has already been proved....a couple of them were what I'd call smart penalties aswell, if there is such a thing...we were well in control of the game at that point anyway so not as if they were stupid pens which could have had a bearing on the result....I think he deserves the benefit of doubt as he's much smarter than that!

All in all a fabulous two points and performance...roll on Friday...hope the fans turn out in numbers!

Johnstone said at the awards dinner last season that Stu Dickens had been helping him with the dives to the corner! Terry Crook made a comment about getting help in try scoring from a prop!

Just got back and what a trip !

Great game (best performance of the season) and although the 2 wingers will take the plaudits, our pack were magnificent.
On top for the full 80 mins and out played and out muscled their French counterparts.

Yes, we gave some stupid penalties away, when there was no need to do so but, Trinity are growing as a team and 4 wins from the last 5 games is an excellent return.

Respect to the Trinity massive that made the Trip and roll on Friday

I have to say my favourite thing about Fifita is that he's extremely good at bending the rules. He wins us quite a few soft penalties which is something the best teams like Wigan and Leeds have always been good at.

I get a bit sick of Liam Finn getting slagged off. He's a cultured footballer with great distribution skills. It's horses for courses but I'm glad we have him and I think he has made a big positive difference to us since he joined us. I can't believe there is really any criticism of anyone after that performance. Do we expect 80 faultless minutes? Look, I have had a go at one or 2 over the years who have, in my view, let us down, but 18-38 at Catalans...I think its time to say bloody good effort one and all

EXACTLY

I came on expecting great joy at one of the best performances in ages to find such debates going on. And I get accused of being negative!!

Johnstone...I think 1 of those chances could be said to be his fault..if you call dropping 1 pass a fault. I call it human and just the way it goes. Jesus, he's electric. Nobody on the pitch could have scored the 2 tries he did. His sheer pace left them all standing. For goodness sakes I think a reality check is needed on criticism here

Yes he's got one of those really smooth running styles we're he looks like he's gliding across the grass, in contrast to Tom who's all power from the legs up.

Anyway great performance from the boys. As close to an 80 minute performance we've had this season. The Forwards did an excellent job both in meters they made and in defence down the middle and the backs did their thing. BJB had a an excellent game and Tom's interception , ecpeciallly the juggling effeort was World Class. Hopefully with 2nd half last week and this game we're just starting to click as a side and gain some real confidence for the Easter period. Fingers crossed it goes like last year.

I don't know why it's even a debate.

It was a great win. With some great tries and great performances.

I'll add something else. It was a very open game with some big numbers for tackles and a lot of missed tackles too.

Matty Ashurst made 41 tackles. Next best was Kirmond with 33.
Everybody missed at least 1 tackle except Allgood with 26 and no misses and Arundel with 23 and no misses.
When you consider Arundel scored 1 and put the key pass in for another and then put that work rate in in defense he had a great game well worthy of man of the match.

You could tell by his body language that he was unhappy with some aspects of his play.. he got bounced off a couple of tackles (notably by Inu) and dropped a number of passes which, by his own normally high standard would have pouched... so what? he scored two scorching long distance tries and when was the last time Trinity scored 3 x 80 metre tries in one game... in 40 years as a fan, I think its a first!!!

Those saying Kirmo had a decent game.....Is decent good enough ? For me it isn't, I've been watching him very closely (maybe why I missed Hadley at acting half-back, I'm sure it was Wood and Finn) anyway... Kirmond is on ok tackler but offers nothing in attack anymore, Ashurst is 3 times the player of Kirmond these days.
Maybe the injuries have got the better of him and he simply can't get %100 anymore. I don't know but he shouldn't be the 1st name on the team sheet anymore.

I really can't understand the big drama - TJ dropped a couple, at least one of which was due to a horrible pass; but unlike a lot of young players who've fallen in love with themselves, he kept his composure and responded in exactly the right way. The first interception was, for me, particularly telling - his reactions were lighting fast, the ball ended up behind his back, but he juggled it, adjusted on the move, and put the hammer down - and there are few players in SL who'll catch him when he opens up. I love watching him go through the gears like that - his leg speed is unreal and he's a genuine athlete. It probably does him good to have a game that reminds him he's not infallible, but in which he still makes an impact.

BJB scored three tries of entirely different types, showing his own versatility and quality - the first one was all strength, the second one pure athleticism and the last one evasion and speed - he's a real talent when he gets service.

Overall, a really pleasing performance - we looked composed, in control and we actually managed a game; and it was nice to see Miller deliver the short pass to Ashurst that usually results in him getting smashed, actually pay off.

I see nothing to argue about or be critical of - unless the new expectation is that everything we try comes off every time?

Easily our best performance of the season, pretty much in control of the game throughout. Some great performances all over the pitch. Tom was beating himself up on twitter so its obvious the std he's setting himself. Looking forward to Friday now, hope we can keep up the momentum to take into the tough easter fixtures.

Have been told by a Dewsbury source that Finn has turned down an approach offering the position of player coach !

Calender referred to Tom as 'Sam Johnstone' tonight during the match report for the Catalans game.
He's only the current SL Young Player of the Year!

I'd happily take a poor game every week if it means nearly 300 running metres and 2 tries.

I don't think the 2 drops would have been dead cert scores anyway. Nothing to see here.

Best overall team performance I have seen in a while

Let's enjoy the win, especially those of us that were lucky enough to be there


Probably the best part of his game was that we won easily and there is still plenty to improve upon.
It's a coaches dream, bag the 2 points and still have plenty of pointers to give to the team.
The boys did a superb job and the score, even with a few errors, is beyond the most optimistic Trinity fans.
Happy days (apart from being back at work) but now, we have to beat Widnes at home.

3 drops and two dead cert tries the third was an outside change but he such a good finisher he may well had got that too...

in the context of the game they are irrelevant ..

in the context of a young player developing his game to 'world class' ... an interesting learning exercise.

Re the drops, it's probably the only time I shall ever compare Tom to myself in my playing days. Quite comforting really.