Friendly no1 : Sun Jan 12, 2020 11:00 pm  

Sezer looks What we need . Good options, Great Kicking on the run, and more importantly has a voice! A real shame we didn’t see him in the expected pairing as I can see how gaskell will thrive with him alongside him. Either Jordan turner was wearing shoulder pads or he’s bulked up- but in a good way! He looked to have picked up where he left off.
Golding looked very solid when at the back, although Halifax didn’t really test him much.
English picked up where he left off, Bruno found his footwork- great to see, I bet you’d forgotten he had a step in him!
All that worries me is we looked livelier with the youngsters on Later in the game in terms of trying things out. Earlier on everything went through sezer and with a defensive fullback, a defensive loose and a none creative 9 I’m not sure we offer enough threat across the field creatively as it could be a case of close down sezer and we struggle to make anything happen.

Re: Friendly no1 : Mon Jan 13, 2020 7:49 am  

Really happy with the first run out and the most positive thing for me is the players who have still to come in - Edwards, Gavet, Gaskell etc. We have the makings of a team challenging in the top half.

Sezer and Turner looked absolute class and I think Golding is just what we need at FB.

After talking to a few people after the game, the coaching team are really happy with the way a number of players have kicked on in training and are more than happy with the options at hooker.

Re: Friendly no1 : Mon Jan 13, 2020 10:05 am  

A good performance that made Halifax who are a reasonable Championship side look pretty ordinary.

The last twenty minutes was always going to be crazy after 9 changes being made in quick succession.

Positives

Sezar went well - Kicks from hand were good and can certainly kick from the right of the posts.
Turner was my man of the match. He's bulked up in a good way and timed some passes really well - something that has been lacking at centre.
Golding was enthusiastic and seemed to fit in well
Dom Young - Looks like an exciting prospect. Apparently he played in the Sts away game last season. i went to that but don't remember him. Yesterday he had a couple of nice touches.
The Seniors - Showed they are way above championship standard
Scott Murrell seems to have shed some pounds rather than putting them on in the close season and he seemed to be enjoying himself out on the field. Good to see an old timer still doing that.

Negatives

Didn't really get tested too much in defence and didn't really try to much risky stuff in attack.
Not convinced Darnell is a winger but he's definitely not a centre because of his poor passing so I'm not sure where he fits in apart from as a utility.

Re: Friendly no1 : Mon Jan 13, 2020 8:56 pm  

Have to be pleased with that. As the poster above said, we have Gavet, Edwards, Taai & Gaskell to come in, which will take us to another level. Edwards especially will add aggression and strike on that left edge. Taai to come off the bench in the 2nd row is an exiting proposition too.

Its going to be really tough for the likes of Leroy and Uate to force their way back into the team.

What pleases me most is we seem to have strength in depth in every single position, except hooker. In an ideal world, Akuila would hang up the boots to allow us to bring in a hooker!