Sainthamish

We played well up the hill in the first half but, shot ourselves in the foot in the second half with the number of errors we made. When we could complete a set, we were making huge yards down the hill that showed with the 2 comeback tries.

Just announced that Danny Yates has signed for Batley and I noticed that Deon Cross has signed for Barrow. With the rumours of there being a few off to Crusaders, will we have anyone left from this team next year anyway?

The thing that killed us yesterday was our lack of possession. We either gave away penalties, knocked on, or was just desperately unlucky. All that effort in defence just burnt us out. We're also lacking some forwards. I guess George King wasn't available, Dave Allen is injured, Gaz Mid is injured, Gavin Bennion got called back to Salford, Matty Hadden going back to Ireland and Toby Adamson was injured. I'm sure that all these lads would have made a difference if they were either fit or still with the club. I'm sure just having one extra forward on the bench coming on with fresh legs would have helped (we only had 2 to rotate). Having said that, our effort in defence was outstanding. No one can say that the lads who played yesterday weren't trying.

What a great performance by the lads. I think the real difference between ourselves and the likes of Leigh isn't so much the gulf in talent but, certainly the gulf in money. Especially, the fact that the money is there for Leigh to keep a full time team. If our lads were able to train full time I recon we would be a hell of lot closer to the top of the championship with the same team.

It was a great win and personally I thought we well deserved that win. We were the better team overall I thought, certainly in defense. Even at the start, our defense was superb keeping them in their 40m only for them to get them 40/20s.....twice!! I bet Killer was pulling his hair out at that point 😉

We went through long spells yesterday where we just couldn't complete a set of six, or we were tackled in goal and had to drop out and all that extra effort in defence killed us. Credit to the lads though for the effort in defence they put in but, I think we need our half backs to control the game better. Our kicking game was poor and we just seem to move the ball from side to side when we get on their line. It must be easy to read for the Barrow defence. It's like we get frustrated that we haven't scored and start to push it when we just need to keep in the arm wrestle. Our completion rate drops and so does our energy.

I guess the backs often do the exciting stuff in a game and win the plaudits for doing so. But, I thought some of our forwards today really dug in and did a tremendous job in the heat. I think Mitch and Toby Adamson did 80 mins, Hatton and Moran did long minutes in the front row too. I think if we had better composure in that second half we could have put a score on Swinton.

I thought we did really well, especially given the heat and the fact we only had 3 props. We started well going up that hill with good movement and interplay in the middle between Allan and Hatton and I think we kept on the front foot in attack from then on. Plus, I recon that's the best game I've seen Mitch play for us. He was breaking or half breaking through their line with almost every carry he took. Batley's number 7 (I think it was the 7) caused us problems in defence. Without him, I don't think they would have beaten us. In addition to the forward passes, I think it was their first try came from a blatant obstruction that wasn't given. I wish we would put a grubber kick in goal more often rather than the cross field kick to Rob though. It would have killed Batley if we'd have repeatedly forced drop outs rather than give the possession away.

I was there sat in the stand and it was pretty clear to see that one touch judge gave it and the other didn’t. So it’s refs call. The touch judge who didn’t give it had the clearest view as he was stood under the upright that the ball was closest to. I guess that’s why the ref went with his opinion.

Personally, I think having just one recognised half back on the pitch killed our attack. It makes it easy for the opposition to defend against because you always know where the ball is going from dummy half. I can't remember the ball ever going to the young lad covering for Palf. Also, I think we really missed Rob Massam, especially for his kick returns. But, I also think our edge defense is looking suspect. Featherstone and Leigh both hammered us down the edges and it's where Whitehaven kept making breaks yesterday. It's an area we need to sort out sharpish.

I thought we played really well. Okay, Warrington had several of their big named players out but, everyone of that Warrington team playing on Saturday were full-time (unlike last year when they had a number of PT reserves and u19's playing in the same fixture). Plus, we backed up after playing on Wednesday night on a heavy pitch. For me, man for man, Warrington wern't better than us but, their plays were tighter due to their full time training. It makes you wonder how good could we be if the money was there to have our lads training full time.

I spoke to one of the lads after the game who told me it was like playing beach rugby on the pitch. It was pretty heavy on the legs. It looked like there was more sand on it than Southport beach.

I've just PM'd you with contact details for Clock Face Miners. I recon they could be a good option for you since the bulk of the total (NCL and NWML) squad are under 21.

There's a lot of potential with Lewis Hatton. He was, I think, the youngest lad in the side last season so did well to match it physically in the forwards. Hopefully, he'll build more confidence next season.

I've been told by a mate who's a Crusaders fan that Hurst is a bit of a penalty machine and they even bet amongst themselves as to how many he'll give away in each game. 🙄