A good post! I’ll take playing poorly and still getting the win. Finding different ways to win is a sign the team is on an upward trajectory I believe.

Our only defeats in June and July were to the top2, and we didnt discrace ourselves in either of those games.

Never thought Scott would be good enough at this level but I'm glad he's proving me wrong. He's come on leaps and bounds this season.

Thought Scott was excellent today and took both his tries well. With the head bandage and tape he certainly looked a proper old skool rugby player

He has reallt kicked on, still think he's a 2nd row not a centre due to lack of pace though.

I reckon he's faster than Carlos and Sutcliffe, although both aren't exactly flyers.

Some clowns in here at times. First half poor but still went in level. Our defence has been very good for weeks and was today. Got our attack going second half, we are going to massively miss Swift and Satae. Cam Scott getting better by the game, good too see Barron get a start.

Yep no denying losing Swift & Satae is going to be a big miss especially Swift.

Scott is definitely faster than Carlos and Sutcliffe
Last season probably not but he had been working on adding weight and muscle to the detriment of the pace he had when younger.
This season he has been working very hard on his pace and its paying off

Fair points on Scott and tbf to all younger players in SL 2020 was a wasted year for their development given the break in the season and then the stop start nature of the covid absences

Watching Hull City play a totally game
but get a penalty win at the end sure does excite soccer fans because all they care about is the win

Rugby league thankfully is different

The first half was shoite house and a decent Leigh side would be 12 up at half time with us playing like that

The 2 points is not all that counts as playing shooite and winning catches you up pretty quick

we MUST get excellent at the basics !

Really feel for Andy Last, he's inherited an old, slow team, their best player is done for the season and the board seem oblivious/uninterested with their situation, looking over at Wakefield who seem to be throwing the kitchen sink at staying up must be demoralising.

Their cap management looks to be awful giving out multi year contracts/extensions to aging, past it players. Kenny Edwards got a 3 yr extension at 33/34 players like Vete and Widdop seem past it or not bothered. If they manage to stay up there's a hell of a rebuild needed.

I will forever be thankful to Radders for the days I had at Wembley but signing Fonua after his disasterous 2nd Hull spell is criminal.

I can only imagine what would have happened if Hull sacked him after that long run of defeats in 2018 and appointed someone as experienced as Smith.

Righto

We got the win, that's all that matter, but thought we were poor, particularly first half, Cas were awful, think they are in big trouble, some of the trys we scored were awful.

Satae was outstanding I've been critical of hom, but when he's on his game, there isn't a better prop in SL, thought Dywer played well too, Scott excellent.

Litten is going to be some player, will make the odd mistake, but plays what's in front of him, strong runner and so much enthusiasm.

Nine missed tackles from Miller today 56 in total from Cas.

Can’t argue there, think Last is fighting a lost cause. As much as Radford did for us in being the coach that brought us the Wembley wins my own feelings was it was more the players that were the reason. The performances following the 2017 season werent great and became the stuff of legends for all the wrong reasons. As a coach he never built on that and we went backwards.

Looking at Cas the squad he assembled he’s learned nothing as he seemed to follow the same plan there as the one that failed at Hull some of the signings have been poor ones. Without McShane they look rudderless. They seem to be in worse situation than we were after Radford left.
I like Cas but really think they’re going to struggle to avoid finishing bottom as Wakey seem to have more fight in them.

Satae had 14 tackle busts. Not quite sure I've ever seen that many in a game from 1 player before.

Radford was able to spend the full cap here to get some decent players in. He wasn't afforded the same luxury at Cas

I think the field announcer said Cas had brought four hundred with them, “if I heard it right” well done to them considering the form they are in, and the rubbish weather forecast which just about avoided us, the usual drunken idiots which are a pest surfaced at the away fans entrance at the end of the game.

We defended pretty well in a difficult windy afternoon, Cas showed up well with a strong resolve in the first half which was pretty even.

For me after Carlos had got his dolphin flapper try, and the change of the team allowing Scott to return to the centre were he’s looking a threat, and the introduction of Dwyer electrified us in the second half, making more room for Big Chris to have the best prop forward spell in a half I’ve not seen in years he was unstoppable, spectacular, devastating and swashbuckling ( now that’s a word) Barron and Litten made some good runs, but also a few errors, you get this with young players, it’s nice to include them with the knowledge it’s not desperation but education, superb crowd of over 12000 the pubs were full around the area Halfway for me and a few pints of sweet tasting bitter.

The Radford effect yet again. What a poor old team they are - a bit like how he left us. The more you look at it the more you think we won both CCs because of the team and despite Radford rather than because - People also dissing Andy Last need to look past him as its not his fault.

The fact he has signed Jordan Johnstone would really worry me as a Cas fan.

Playing Fonua and Faraimo together is madness.

Whilst Radford has left him with a load of rubbish he has to take some of the blame.

I know the defence on Satae was poor, but I'd be more upset with the defence for Littens try.

Think we were blessed in 2016/2017 with some stellar recruitment.
Wheels started coming off when we were found to have no Plan B, and we started recruiting players such as Langtree and Dawson-Jones.
Should have won the comp in 2017 with that squad.

Last has had to pick up the pieces from Radfords tenure. Radfords legacy is polar opposite to the one Tony Smith leaves at his clubs. Cas look in a heap of trouble, even if they survive this year.

But apart from the 2 cups

Other years we've been pretty dreadful with the same sort of players

Andy Last he was a terrible player and was lucky really to be given a coaching career

As for the game scrappy but we're a team in form and getting results even when average which is a plus

We did what was needed, and in the end, after a scratchy first half, we won fairly comfortably, although that was as much to do with Cas being poor as it was with ourselves. Certainly, Castleford's self-belief seemed to evaporate fairly smartly after those two quick tries early after the restart, although their score to bring it back to within six was arguably the best of the game!

Overall, I quite enjoyed the afternoon's entertainment. Yes, we will need to play better in the remaining games, and we are capable of playing better as we have shown in recent weeks, but amazingly, after looking so directionless in March/April, we are in the mix for a play-off spot with eight games to go, a pretty amazing turnaround from where we were back then.

We undoubtedly have weaknesses to work on, but then so do the other sides in that mid-table group, there's no-one in the cluster just above us that we need to be that fearful of. There is at least one, possibly two, play-off spots up for grabs. If we can replicate in the next eight games what we have achieved in the last eight then we won't be too far off. Qualifying for the top-six would represent a successful season for this squad as we lack enough true quality to be serious challengers at the very top.

What that would say about the standard of SL 2023 I'm unsure, but I'll take being in there come September!