The half team talk is to do with what we have done with the ball, and the fact over four games against them we have not fixed them destroying our right hand side. The debate about Briscoe and Handley is separate, as both have played like clowns, regardless.

There was no way it was going to be a positive change. Briscoe is a big game player who's on bad form but can still read simple moves, and has the strength to stop a man near the line or get us on the front foot coming away from it. Handley is borderline championship standard with all the negatives of Briscoe and none of the positives. How do you work out that bringing on a cr@p winger is a "positive move"?

Also there's NEVER a situation where having a winger, even a good one, on the bench isn't a waste of time and opportunity.

Briscoe might have been that about 2 seasons ago, not seen it in a while
your opinion though, so fair play, but i disagree.

Why do we keep playing with 3 props, it never works...

I acctually really enjoyed that game and think we can come out with our heads held high. Cas are good, but I've no reason to think we can't beat them. It was one of those games where everything they did came off (as it often does when in form) and we made a few too many mistakes. We also couldn't deal with them when the upped the tempo a bit after half time, which might have been different had Garbutt/Galloway being fit meaning we could spell better.

That right wing was cursed, and I don't know why Handley was on the bench, but I give Mac some credit for having the balls to pull Briscoe off.

Cuthbo was very good, as was Moon and barring one bad error I thought Watkins looked very dangerous. Sutty also looks very comfortable in the centre. Still thinking our back row lacks some dynamism, look what cas get out of McMeeken and Moors.

JJB hobbled off and obviously McGuire got subbed so it'll be interesting to see the news on an injury front.

I thought we were average in the whole match without the punch of Ben Roberts who is the best stand off in the league

thought Ward more than matched McMeekan today, and if Ablett and Keinhorst are available our second row is fine imho
agree about it just not being our day though, and cas are beatable

Not beatable by you guys it seems though

how many is that on the bounce now. sorry couldn't resist.
Fantastic game though (best of the weekend) Leeds were also very good imo and at HT i thought you would sneak the win today, glad i was wrong.

Reckon it's 6 on the bounce but shows NO trophies!

The lack of grunt in the middle really told in that second half, especially in defense. No doubt many will be looking for the nearest window to jump out of, but we did better than I thought we would, but if you make errors in your own half and invite pressure on yourselves, your're always going to struggle. Not sure it's fair to blame Handley or Briscoe, but neither of them could catch a cold this season, and I get the feeling McDermott is losing patience (hence the BJB rumours).
I think we can beat Cas this season, but we'll need to at full strength to do it.

As Wire fans would say 'Its definitely our year' even if its only the Hubcap.

Thought it was a decent effort by a team that isn't quite good enough. We won't be there but will probably be thereabouts.

A full strength cas side against a full strength Leeds team will not beat Cas....end of

Yeah I'd go with that. Really could've done with those front line props in and we might as well have been playing with 12 men with what our 2 right wingers offered us. The latter is the big issue as we need to find some form from Briscoe, even if it's just solid form and not spectacular. Whilst Handley might not be good enough maybe play him in the next few games just to give Briscoe some time out and hopefully get himself in a decent frame of mind because he's looked not into it at all this year.

If both are still struggling later in the year then maybe try a different plan especially vs Cas. When Keinhorst is back play him and Sutcliffe as centres and ask Watkins to play wing?

Every time Cas win you can't help but go and brag for a few days. Just take a chill pill and enjoy it...

Decent first half performance. Turning point was the Handley knock on at the start of the second half which I think they scored from.
That kid looks completely shot of any confidence and Briscoe also the same, not sure what's going on with him.
Also Ash Golding was decent in defence most of the game but the lad is offering next to nothing in attack. I don't think he has even scored a single try all season and it's important for any challenging team to have a decent attacking fullback that can contribute to the scoring from time to time.

Cas thoroughly deserved their win by exploiting all of our mistakes in the second half. If we cut out the stupid errors including such as that awdful kick by McGuire then we may have a chance against them. We seem unable to get anywhere near Gale on the last tackle. Contrast that with Milner flying out of the line to snuff out our kickers.

Plenty of Huddersfield fans said words to that effect down the years.

but BJB has similer issues. johnstone is the guy to get if we can.

I enjoyed the game and thought we had a real dig. for all the handley/Briscoe comments, and i'm one. it was gales supurb kicking that undid us. he was the difference.
macdermott needs to sort out the halves. McGuire was ok in parts but moon, devastating with ball in hand, doesn't have any other half back skills. not a criticism just how it is.
had we had gale I think we might well have won that game.
as a few have said a quality half back is a must. i'd love lilley to have a run of a few games but sadly it looks like his days are numbered.
all in all I think if we got cas in a major game or final i'd be confident we could go very close to winning.
I said early in the season it would be the team who has all there major players fir come finals time that would win it and I stand by it. its still wide open

I think you've summed it up there perfectly with regards to the GF,although I still think that we've got a puncher's chance of winning one off games so the CC looks the best bet as I cant see us finishing in the top 4 TBH

IMO if Cas want to win silverware this year then they will have to beat Wigan to do so

Great performance from Cas today,That is how RL should be played

true but he must have saved us 50 odd points in defence. at his age i'm happy to let him have the time he needs

yep. and 3/4 astute signings will have us back up there next year.if that happens or not I don't know given the new stands

This is the kid we should be doing a deal for

indeed. he is quality.
can I say I thought Sutcliffe was outstanding today and I got it wrong about his goal kicking. hands up he has improved hugely