Interesting to hear Smith say that winning was the most important thing in the press conference after the game. Last year it was all talk about process and performances, and all the while we were losing too many games. Losing games like Cas absolutely kills momentum, and its good to know that this year the coach acknowledge that the table matters.

On your point Backwoodsman, I think the club see this as a transition season again. We've had to make too many changes too fast to be able to get exactly the squad we want, our pack is just too lightweight and we've got a host of kids who look like they could be stars who just aren't ready yet. Even so the squad is looking closer to decent than it has for too many years. It feels like for the first time in a long time there's actually a plan to get us back to the top.

Whether Smith will be the coach if/when we really challenge regularly, the jury's out. I don't think losing the field position battle every game is a winning strategy at all, nor is playing without much structure. Maybe we'll see things change over the course of the season?

What I would like to see is a better overall performance back at HQ in better conditions next time we play Cas.

Looking forward to Warrington this week. Another big game for us really as we try to steer the oil tanker towards success…

With out being crude nothing less than a slick performance would be acceptable...

I’d take a win without a ‘slick’ performance. We need to keep picking up the Ws whatever the overall performance looks like.

You're right. Our attacking play does need some refinement.