Thought after the 1st ten minutes our standards dropped and Crusaders woke up. Too many penalties and dropped balls. I know this was a friendly and Cookey was trying different players but we need to wake up next week.

I certainly hope Paul Cooke will play more because that was an utter embarrassment (even worse than the crowd). We had a potential new fan with us today and after that shambles I'll be surprised if he returns - I know I wouldn't. Often the players seemed clueless or worse, disinterested. Yes I know a lot of Merrick's officiating was suspiciously one sided for holding down and forward passes but that is still no excuse for that performance.

We will get woken up alright!

Work to do!

Cooke himself was the only stand out player for the Dons, and guess what he took himself off at a critical time.
His replacement was useless!
So a double mistake by Paul.

I thought the team that started were more than good enough we only started struggling when injuries hit and we made substitutions with other players.

it was one of the worst displays for a long time.
the dons sure know how to knock the optimism out of your system.
a massive improvement needed for next week.
I am very disheartened by that today.

Let's keep things in perspective guys.

Winning wasn't the be all and end all today. It was an opportunity for Paul to find things out about his players.

Yes, I'm disappointed with the result and for the most part I was disappointed with the way we lacked penetration when Mark Castle and Brett Waller weren't on the field. That tells me these two guys are key for us. I hope Brett is okay after limping off. We really need him in the team for next week.

We missed Mike Kelly when he went off too. I think he's become an important part of our side.

Until Nev Morrison got side-stepped twice in as many minutes our defence had looked okay. We seemed able to contain them at that stage.

In the second half, they did seem fitter, faster, bigger, and better than us. The key was that when we tackled them, we weren't putting them on their backs to slow the play the ball. They got some momentum going and we struggled to deal with it.

Lots to work on and lots to learn from but surely that's what today was all about. We'd have all been happier if we'd won by 40 but we didn't have our best 13 on the field for most of the game, and if we had, I think it would have been different.

Didn't really see brett do anything in the short time he was on the pitch. Will be a loss though

No winning today wasn't the be all and end all but we didn't even get a decent performance.

not one of our players stood out today that's whats disappointing.

P.Cooke saying on website that Wallers injury looks serious.
Hope its not and he's not out too long.

I was looking at their left winger in the second half, well there wasn't much else to interest me.
He was shaped like a wasp, seriously ripped.
And then I looked at what was facing him in terms of physicality and then I thought, are we serious?

It was poor , but I am sure Paul will sort it out.

Looks like Brett will be out next Sunday & we will miss him. Hope Spaven & Kesik are fit , remember we didn't bring Kelly, Spiers, Emmett & Castle back on.

Keep the faith , Stand Offish back on a downer again !

I just tell it as I see it.
I was seriously disappointed today.
I did manage to walk out before the finish, alright there was only a minute and a half to go, but Cunningham lost the ball in a simple tackle and I thought that that just about summed the quality of what was on offer.
I don't even know if we lost, I presume we did, I didn't bother checking, I don't really care.
We were outplayed and outsung..
A bunch of Taffies had a right laugh at our expense.

And I couldn't help thinking that if that had been at their place they would have put 50 past us.

Did anyone spot some potential in our new players?
I struggled, but we will see.

After today's poor showing in the centre Lee must be considered to return with Morrison playing on the wing. Cunningham made a few mistakes and mistimed runs but after a year out of the game it was a sign of his potential and he was looking like a younger version of Chris Spurr and he will improve. Hope Waller isn't missing long as there wasn't a replacement on show today IMO.

That was a poor performance and with exception of Kes, Waller, Castle and Kelly the remaining 13 would be hard to decide from.

TBH whilst having players who can play in several positions is nice - I would much rather see players who dominate in their role - many of which in this squad can do if done right.

The team should all but pick itself - our best performing teams have had players that starred in their respective positions.

We never looked at the likes of Hall, Hayes, Villa and said yeah they are centres but what about trying them at 2nd row or full back...

I rate Cooke and trust him, BUT I have never been keen on player coaches.

Personally I would look at Cooke as Loose Forward with Kes as Hooker and Spav with Nicklas at SO /SH.
I can't say that many of the other new guys showed much today to push into team.

I think Tuffours defence was clearly missed and Emmett seemed to be playing as a Prop??

Finally how many times are we going to keep saying Penalties....2 lead to two tries...No need for Robbo to do what he did and hitting FB after kick was just daft..

A few new potential fans went today - and today needed to be more than just about trying things, it should have been about showing in theory a lesser side how to dominate...

Crusaders were good for the win and fair play to their fans..

I hope much has been learned - as top 8 has to be the result.

Not sure about Tuffours defence he was poor under the high ball.

Don't think high ball was the issue today. Smashing wingers and centres into touch in a way that they thought twice was......
Finishing at pace was missed also.

Dennis scared the young Hull lads to pieces a few weeks ago.

Massively underrated player by many just because of the high ball - that could be easily fixed.

I didn't see much in the new players.
But i said that after Dave Scotts first couple of games.
Thought Scotty & Nicklas was only players who was half decent.

I think the team that started were the decent ones they took control of the game and things only started going wrong when they started coming off. None of the new players really impressed me but there's a long season ahead for that opinion to change. Any news on the injuries?

Butts looked solid as usual.

Think we as fans have got to the boys a chance, a lot of knee jerk reaction on here .

It was poor , Worky will be confident , but you never know.

Very mixed opinions on butts. It was poor but the team
Will know that and our strongest squad only played 20 minutes. Second half barely had any of the strongest starting team.

I still think we would have been better had the Dewsbury game been on, i know some thought it better that the game was off.

That break that Niklas made and wasn't finished off was pivotal, I think Crusaders would have folded had we gone 18-0 up.
Crusaders themselves had no problem finishing off their breaks.
I didn't see many chasing back.
We were like a sieve down that side.

Some tweaking needed.