Yeah, we have a few like him over on Casforum to be honest. Seem to be happier and take more pleasure when things are bad than when they are good as they can practice their favourite pastime of moaning about everything! For what it's worth I think today will have been beneficial to both parties, so job done really. But, I'm not a Trinity hater, I would much rather see us battling with you guys at the top end of the table than sat watching the 'big boys' fight it out.

It was only a warm up game and you cant read much into the result.
However, Finn coming on and Gale going off completely changed the game.
He looked sharp around the ruck area and was bringing runners on to the ball, way, way better than Muller or Williams,
who, apart from his try, looked a bit lost for much of the game.
I cant believe the time and space we gave Gale in the first half.

I hope we learnt a lot from the first half to prevent it happening when it really matters!!

Gale was the difference in that 1st half. His kicking game had MCB and Grix laying eggs all across the 10 metre line. That break from BJB set the ball rolling for a very one sided last 30 minutes though. Watching Batchelor run tries in from 40 metres out is really enjoyable. 7 tries to 5 but poor kicking kept it close.

Cas shouldn't worry about losing Solomona with Eden stepping in just nicely. Who was their thug 27? Springer?

Like in the 1st minute of the 2nd half?

Both coaches learned a lot today.
Our right side defence looked weak, and Cas left edge looked sharp. They moved the ball exceptionally well.
Roberts looks back on it, Chase doesn't.

We found it tough in the forwards early on but I wonder if that would be better with Fifita and England.
I liked Allgood on defense. Really hit hard. Made it hard when he went off. We played a long period with no interchange for the props so Walker and Huby stood up well as Hirst went off too.

I was amazed at Bachelor footwork and speed. He will be a star.

Powell learned that some of his kids are pretty good but they aren't perfect yet. Quite liked Mayer I think at 22.

Chester has to decide about half back. We looked much better with Finn on but it's difficult to say as he had a weaker defense to face with no rush blitz. I thought Miller was quiet but not sure if I just wasn't watching him.
Biggest plus point was Wood. He was very good. He needs to be on as long as possible.

Negatives and positives to take from that game....

Negatives :-

Almost our full first team (minus one or two notable exceptions) were woeful in that first half against the majority of Cas' first 13 (again minus one or two notable exceptions).
We didn't break a tackle or make a clean break in the first 40 minutes
Our defence was poor
We didn't look like scoring in that first 40 minutes until we got the penalty 5 metres out from their line in the 39th minute.
Allgood and Hirst both went off injured (Crowther got a knock too ??)
Our goal kicking was poor


Positives :-

Once Cas had taken all their best players off, we actually started to play some quality rugby - you can only play what is in front of you - (reminded me of the 62-0 thrashing of Wigan last year)
We threw the ball around well and scored some quality tries in the second half
Batchelor scored with his first touch of the ball
Arundel scored with his first touch of the ball
We looked a lot more organised when Finn came on and Miller then started to look threatening
We scored 28 unanswered points without our 4 first choice props on the pitch
It's a good job there was no video ref as there was nothing wrong with Cas' disallowed try in the second half
Rangi was crap.


So, for me....1/10 for the first half performance and 9/10 for the second half performance.

Castleford first half kicking game was much superior to Trinitys, it meant we had no field position and Cas were always in an attacking area of the field. They executed their plays very well and everything stuck, summed up by Edens superb one handed pick up.

At 4 - 30 I didn't think the score line was a fair reflection of the match.

Cas threw some fringe players on and Wakefield got their act together which combined to make the second half as one sided as the first but in favour of Trinity.

At the end it was 7 try's to 5 in an entertaining match.
Honours even

Wakefield still have some fixing up to do on edge defence while Castleford need to worry about squad depth and avoiding too many injuries.

Nice to be back watching Rugby League

Positives:

Huby
Ant Walker - again
Kyle Wood
Batch
Finn
The second half spirit
Doing that without our big men - Fifita / England / Hirst / Allgood, of all but...

I appreciate that Cas were under strength, but that's our first win for 2 years against them.

That's a positive?

First half we were still missing a good 4/5 first team players.
Zak Hardaker
Michael Shenton
Grant Millington
Oliver Holmes
Adam Milner

Great signs how we went in first half. Only a friendly though so not gunna read too much into it
Im sure come Feb you will be much better and challenge for top 8.

27 was Egodo. Young kid from London. Looks like a monster and great find.

Somebody asked who 27 was on last page.

Gadwin springer is number 19.

Tuoyo Egodo is number 27.

After that first half, anything was a positive !!!

Thanks. Got away with a couple of head highs and I think his scuffle with Kirmond left the gap for Reece Lynne to score that 1st try. Took a bollocking from Gale.

Dont fully buy the "Beating the kids" tag.

We had Batchelor and Crowther on the pitch, while Johnstone and MCB arent exactly old heads.

At the end of the day you can only beat whats in front of you.

I also thought the turning point was Gale going off. Surprised he didnt come back on toward the end.

Thought Williams did strugggle but felt that he grew in confidence.

Goal kicking could be an issue though but some of the kicks were difficult.

Looked to pick up a few knocks, but hopefully nothing major.

Summed up quite nicely for me. Chezzy and in particular JK, whose domain it has been, will be concerned with that first half defence though, we got broken too easily. The gulf in that first half was worrying and we won't get away with that when the season comes around. A good wake up call there. Interesting dilemma coming now at halfback though as Finn has looked the best so far this pre-season. I also wouldn't be surprised if we saw another squad addition yet.

There's soap in Cas?????

A major concern for me as it has been for a while is that we seem happy to let opposing half backs so much time before kicking the ball on the last.

How many times did we see Miller and Finn on the floor after kicks due to pressure.

Remember this up to leaving Bradford a couple of years ago, Gale was nothing

Well you ought to,because that is what it was in the second half,but if it gives you hope fair enough

I thought Chase made a big difference when he came on............not

He made a huge difference...he nullified the Cas attack and that helped us win the game !!

Just talked to the lad who went to the game and he said the same,I'm hoping Roberts stays fit this year!

Did anyone watch that game and still think that Grix is a better option than Jowitt? I'm happy enough with him as cover, but Max must surely go straight back in. Huby didn't look fit enough for me, and I just don't think Anthony Walker is up to Super League standard. Having Fifita and England to come in will make a big difference.

Positives for me were James Batchelor and Kyle Wood, we looked a much better side with them on the pitch. Ashurst and Tupou got better has the game went on. Liam Finn coming showed that having three halves to pick from will help as the season goes on, and MCB, Johnstone and BJB showed that we've got some pace and depth out wide.

Only a friendly but it's always nice to beat them.

I thought Walker went well and Grix played well, I must have watched a different game