Won’t matter if we get relegated!

That's awful news to hear really feel for the guy, wonder if the club will put a special dispensation salary cap claim in for a replacement?

Our pack has gone from our greatest strength to our biggest weakness.
Recruitment / retention is going to come back and haunt us. Just thought that when they had to, Cas were able to up the tempo when needed. We don’t have that ability, just panic rugby.
Just competing is not enough I’m afraid.
We need a win, and a change of how we play.

Particularly when we play at Wembley.

You can't always tell from the stands, but am I right in thinking the ref was a bit of a Charlie uniform november tango, or was he right in most cases from the TV viewing? I don't like to blame the ref for defeats, but I can't help thinking we win that game if it wasn't televised.

I've said many times - name a stand after him !

Did we win the CC because of him or despite him ?

Ellis Watts and Fonua were massive players for us.

Anyway you cut it he will resign or be fired by mid March

I wish

The best team won but there was little in it. Unfortunately one aspect was that Cas were better at playing the referee. Kendall was awful. Cas only had to throw themselves on the floor after the tackle or drop the ball and he gave a penalty. Not sure which of our players got over the line near the end - it was never a try - but three Cas players tugged at the ball and he never gave a thing. McShane definitely smarter and a better communicator than anyone on our team.

Agree. Taylor is the carrying the props again. Paea didn't seem to be on the field for long and when he was he was ineffective.

We need a big aggressive prop who does big minutes and has a great off load. Their number 8 fits the bill.

And the most of the noise coming from the stands screaming for off side, not square Ect Ect Ect....That was the loudest Ive heard you lot in a while. Nowt to do with the ref......You just aint That good End of.

Cas fan here and agree with most that has been said so far. I think we just about deserved the win and if the defeat wasn't the 13 on the trot I don't think as much would have been made of it as you were what after all is a decent team.
I know this may hurt as Houghton is a bit of a folk hero but despite his work rate he was very poor at dummy half tonight. Macca V Danny was the crucial contest and Macca won.

Those 3 players have been replaced with Farimo,, Paea and Westerman, I'm not saying they're good enough replacements, but the 3 players you mentioned, were very good for us and they were always going to be difficult to replace. But they have been replaced with capable players.

Sports a funny thing, it just takes a bit of luck and a win, and confidence can return.

I think if us fans start to relax and be a bit more positive and smile a bit more, then that will help. Desperation will get us nowhere.

Not good enough today certainly, But there's always another day.

Says a lot when Houghton actually looks better at 13 than he does at 9. Less pressure on his pass accuracy which can be hit and miss at 9, plus his speed off the mark is way less than Litten

To be the first coach to win a CC in a generation despite being hopeless was incredibly lucky. For him to win it again was a miracle.

No can do as he’s already played a game this season.

I agree, Mcshane was very good. That offload he did in the first half was class, and that little kick into the in-goal from dummy half, which is when you had 3 sets in our half, in the second half, was a player playing with confidence.

But there isn't many more consistant, competitive players than Houghton in the league.

Thought Connor and Westerman did well tonight though as expected Westy tired but showed up well in first game back. Taylor again our only real forward, Masi was ok but Paea really is done as another disappointing performance.
Thought Houghtons distribution was poor in general and is symptomatic of the slow play in general as we still look laboured.
Thought Miloudi was shocking tonight and showed why he hasn’t been getting selected cost us defensively.
Jez Litten again came in and injected much need pace in around the ruck and was unlucky with the kick to Shaul, who again played well.
We are far to light in the forwards and re signing Paea for a second time looks like it isn’t paying off.
Still too predictable at times especially the play where Shaul joins the line the puts the breaks in before either a drop off the Griffin or going back along the line.
Defensely I thought we were also too static and seem to just wait for the opposition so giving up easy metres and losing the collision and being in the back foot. Other teams tend to get off the mark quickly and close down the opposition.
Overall I just don’t think we looked up for it tonight and disappointing.

It's gonna be interesting to see what we go with when Kelly returns.

I want Conner involved heavily, so he has to be in the halves. But he'd also be our best centre.

As it goes now, I predict Conner will go to centre and Griffin to the wing.

For an old codger like me the miracle in a CC final will always be the tackle by Houghton on Currie.

I would say currently we have the weakest pack in Super league.
Radford has to take responsibility for that.
he took criticism for extending the contracts of Manu,Minichello,Paea,and Washbrook when most fans saw this as a year too long and its coming home to roost.
Washbrook didnt play tonight but the other three once again just like at HKR were anonymous.
We now have only four first team players out injured Kelly,Bowden, Green and Hadley so we cant keep using the injury excuse.
The next excuse i can see coming from Pearson as he continues to support an under fire coach who is 0/13 and will problably be 0/14 in two weeks, is this is a transition year so dont expect too much.
Kelly back and moving Connor into the centre may help but the major problem is our forwards are being dominated and the bench is so weak.

The try CAS scored just before half time was appalling
Tells you just about all you need to know about the teams mental state right now
Watch it again from tackle 1 to the try
It’s a shocker

Here we go

“We’ll get better when we have a full side on the field. Some boys are still getting back to full fitness.”

Dreaming of a full strength side is a non starter. Look who was in the stands for Cas and they still scored 5 tries.

We need a ' Next man up attitude '

The stats from our front rowers:

Taylor: 13 carries, 127 metres
Matongo: 5 carries, 32 metres
Paea: 4 carries, 38 metres
Thompson 5 carries, 19 metres
_______________________________

Watts: 14 carries, 140 metres

Great effort from Taylor. Beyond pathetic from the other 3. Surely its worth giving Nzoungou or even Brown a go if that's the sort of performances you are getting. At least Paea made decent yards per carry, but 4 carries from one of your senior props? Is that Radford getting his interchanges wrong or is he incapable of the minutes or not pulling his weight? Not really sure. Matongo even worse given how long he was on field. As for Thompson, the less said the better really. I would genuinely back myself to make 20 metres from 5 carries even against a really aggressive defence. That is outrageously bad.

First of all, I thought it was a good game, was impressed with Cas and the speed they played the game, I thought they were two quick for us and we were kept in the game by individuals mainly Shaul and Connor.

As I said last week we are we are at, I still think we will finish 6th-8th. We aren't far off and with a bit of luck and more brains we would have 4 points, the try before half-time killed us, silly penalty (again) and too easy metres( like they did most of the game.)

Big positives for me was the Connor, Westy and Shaul. Thought Litten did well again.

Two negatives for me are the forwards, just not good enough except Taylor, Cas forwards main so much more ground and offloaded at will.

Last tackle plays, Sneyd needs to step up here, he has given a lesson on how to force a repeat set my make shift halfs and a hooker.

Two top class forwards needed to make us compete again.

Connor needs to play in a pivotal position.