IanMac

Didn’t realise until I looked on the twitter feed that we kept them scoreless for the last 28 minutes. That is one hell of an effort even in a friendly. Augurs well for when we have ell, Barnes, O Donnell, Maudling, Wellington, O Brien and hopefully Tickle and ffmm back.

When you think for the majority of that first half we only had 2 genuine forwards and for the majority of the 2nd only Stevie that was a pretty good effort. It certainly shows that we need some big guys up front, but even with what we’ve got, when all fully fit and available, on dry grounds I think we’ll be pretty good to watch. Our luck with injuries never seems to improve, hopefully neither are too bad. Hanley Dawson looks a real find, never taking a backward step and very good in defence. A big shout out to all 16 they never gave in and there was some tremendous last ditch defence when in the scheme of things it didn’t really matter, but they didn’t let there heads drop.

Sounds ok with me

Forget the score line, that’s been a fairly impressive first 40. Yes we’ve had plenty of territory and haven’t come away with anything but we have looked fairly impressive with ball in hand and until a bit of tiredness at the end of the half defended well. Feel sorry for bruie and stevie, huge shift from them and no chance of getting spelled.

Especially since Chris has said Caine won’t be risked. Where’s the Maudlings?

Interesting that on the website the new pictures of the squad have been uploaded with Jonathan Walsh removed but Danny Tickle and ffmm still there, although not in the new shirt. Hopefully both will be here for the season start, otherwise we’ll have a squad of 19 plus any new signings.

Yes very true David plus they have got dual reg with Castleford. All in all very competitive.

Absolutely correct. Barrow will be up there and Newcastle, Doncaster and Hunslet have all invested in striving for promotion, add in Rochdale who have made a number of experienced signings as well as amateur signings and you have the makings of a fairly competitive league where probably on a given day most teams will be able defeat each other. We are slightly different from the last couple of years where we have lost a lot of the experience but have replaced them with good young players out to make a name for themselves. If we can stay relatively injury free I hope that we can be very competitive. We certainly have one of the best young coaches available and I am impressed with everything he has done so far. If he is able to bring in a couple of big forwards to lay the platform for what is undoubtedly the quickest set of backs we’ve had for a while, I’d be quietly confident we’d be in for an exciting season.

I think I’d rather be where we are now with majority of local lads and hopefully ffmm for a final swansong and Danny Tickle, because the work he did all year was tremendous and he would be a great pro for young lads to learn from. For whatever reason we never really got to see the best of Hopkins, good luck to the lad. However the season pans out I think we’ll see a committed team who will play some good stuff, whether we’ll have the power in the pack to be serious contenders we’ll have to wait and see.

If all that is correct I would like to know what we have done to deserve the bad luck we seem to get. Hopefully Elliot’s hamstring pull isn’t too bad or it will have been a really bad day. Really hope that Aussie 2nd row is packing his bags ready to come over!

Out of interest, given that John Gibson was commentating and he obviously doesn’t know many town players did any of the trialists get on? He didn’t mention Elliot Miller after the first 10 minutes but did say he had his thigh heavily strapped after the warm up, did he stay on or go off injured? The one big downside appeared to be the injury to Caine Barnes, let’s hope it’s not too serious, can’t really afford to lose any forwards. As Paul Crarey said haven were just playing one out with there big forwards but we didn’t have the firepower in the pack. It’s the one area where we look as though we could struggle.

Unlucky boys think we threw that one away by the sound of it. Not there but listening to the radio and the comments of peter smith and Paul Crarey they seem to think Chris Thorman will be the happier coach. Both mentioned about the shape we played with so hopefully things will only improve.

It’s what pre season is all about mate. If young boys can show a glimpse of what they have got against a team of seasoned pros then you can look to invest in them. I’d rather see that investment than your fosters, Tanseys and baileys. It’s really a new era for town under Chris Thorman and we can just watch, wait and hope that over this next 3 years it pays off.

The best thing for Cumbrian rugby league overall, amateur game and professional, is that Haven stay up and we join them. I’m sure with the 2 stadium cock ups for the world cups the rfl will not be our biggest fans. We need to show them that rugby league is alive and prospering in West Cumbria and to do that we need to have 2 successful clubs. It won’t be easy for either of us but good luck to Haven and hopefully with a little bit of luck we can be up there at the end with a chance of promotion.

I’m actually quite excited about the 6 new signings and if the 2 Aussies come off I’ll be really excited. The 2nd row looks like he could be the real deal if thommo is right. But of the 6 we have got all will bring something to the team and give a bit of quality to the depth of the squad. For once, assuming the injury jinx doesn’t strike, we look as though we’ll have plenty of pace along the back line. Hopefully we can bring in another big forward even if fui is still here. Whether we have enough to compete with Barrow, Newcastle, Doncaster etc only time will tell.There appears to be more of a long term strategy than there has been over the last few seasons and I’m really pleased about that as I’m sure Chris Thorman is just the guy to nurture and improve those young players.