Agree I think both Coaches will be reasonably happy. I think CC will be a little disappointed we were going for that killer pass once too often especially in that first half and let a few soft tries in and seemed to take our foot off the gas a little after the first try that let Hull get into the game far more.

But with 26 players used and all SL tried and tested, I'm really happy with the depth and quality we have this season.

As you say Chester got most of his starting 13 plus Fifita, who came on as the first interchange and like many others didn't come back on. We then moved to Reynolds and Hampshire in the Halves and Hirst, Baldwinson, Huby and King in the front row. We managed to give game time to 8 props while getting good match time as you say into the young lads like Jowitt, Batchelor, and Crowther, plus minutes into squad players like some I've already mentioned plus Arundel & Annakin, so it was a useful game all around.

From CC's interview after the match, he says he's very wary of injuries in these friendlies so didn't give players any longer than they needed and got a good look at certain guys who probably wasn't in his matchday 17/19 but have given him something to think about.

Obviously, with a few weeks to go and a couple more warm-up matches, we'll be looking to sharpen our attack and work on the defense but it's hard to take too much out of a game with so many different bodies on the pitch and so many different combinations tried.

Apparently, according to a couple of the players who were interviewed before the boxing day game, we've been working far more on fitness in the Preseason, much more than any other and as the friendlies & season close in they're spending more time on attack and defensive structures - which I imagine will be similar for all teams.

Like you say it does depend on what each team wants out of the game. In this, both teams probably wanted to just get some minutes into most of their squad. We've got another 2 friendlies, one against Newcastle, which will most likely be a reserve team, unless he feels one or two need more game time. Then we finish off against Hudds, which I imagine will be more like the starting 17 under an 8 man interchange.

It wasn't quite a full swap at HT but, having all of your squad getting a competitive run out can only be a good thing and Trinity's second team looked better than the FC reserves.

As for Boxing day, whatever the reason for Trinity taking 8 subs to Headingley, Chester certainly seemed surprised and disappointed and bearing in mind that it was a Christmas pudding game it seemed a little pedantic not to allow Jowitt and Batchelor some game time, mind you, both were outstanding yesterday so, maybe a blessing in disguise.

Hull KR 30-16 widnes

Only a friendly but feared the worst for us when i saw Kr's starting 13 and squad. We were missing Gelling, Inu, Ashall, Cahill, Gilmore and Craven but used 17 players yesterday who have come through the ranks at Widnes, great effort all round by the lads.

indeed it was, and i think they will go well in the championship next year very organised and robust,

Salford 52-6 Swinton

Comfortable win for Salford and a few new faces given a run-out in our first (of only 2) pre-season friendly.

Starting XIII
Evalds
Chamberlain
Sa'u
Welham
Bibby
Luis
Hastings
Dudson
Lussick
Mossop
Jones
Turgut
Flanagan

Interchange: Griffin, McCarthy, Nakubuwai, Johnson, Olpherts, Davies-Aspey, Wellington

Props and wingers did 40 minutes each and our main men (Lui, Hastings, Sa'u) etc came off after 55-60 minutes. Steady performance with some pretty slick handling at times against an admittedly limited Swinton outfit. Don't think we learnt anything new from what we know already in that our first 17 looks pretty strong but we'll rely heavily on our spine which is up there (IMO) with some of the best in the division. And we obviously won't be able to cope with a big injury list with such a small squad. Whether we have the firepower up front to lay the platform for Lui & Jacko to run amok remains to be seen. Kopczak will be a big loss and some of the younger lads will need to step up. We could also do with a bit more pace in the backline as we're lacking a but in that dept.

Sio, Lawton, Wood, Tomkins and Murray to come into the squad still and Adam Walker in March will beef things up a little. In theory a lighter pack capable of playing big minutes should benefit us with the rule changes but I guess time will tell. Wigan up next and I'd imagine they'll play a strong team prior to their SL opener with Saints the following week.

One big plus was a debut for 16yo hooker Connor Davies-Aspey, a product of our foundation. The kid looks about 12 and took a couple of big hits but made a few cracking breaks and his distribution was excellent. We don't get to see many youth products breaking through at Salford so hopefully the kid has a big future in front of him if managed properly.

Why should we have won by 79 points like in a real game



I’m gutted snd I doubt Chester can sleep at night

Don’t bother he’s fishing.

Why, it’s a friendly who cares about the result it’s a glorified training session or at least that what Leeds fans say about the Boxing Day game.

If you knew owt about the game you’d know that all the coach wants is to give every player some match fitness nothing more.

Next thing you’ll be telling us Leeds beating donny is a sign of intent. You really are silly at times.

Who said anything about the result? Nobody, so you’re whinging about something nobody said.

It was a discussion about match fitness and how many subs to use, given the reduction in interchanges this year then it’s a genuine question whether teams should be looking at playing starters a bit longer than just 1 half of rugby in the warm ups.

Well you did actually. You said Radford would be happier. Seeing as Trinity won by two tries then clearly the only thing that could make Chester less happy than Radford is that we didn’t win by enough. It’s you whose attempted to change tack since then not us.

So If this is not the case please explain what you meant in your opening post - I ask you straight out, why would Radford the coach of the losing team be happier. Remember these are your words not mine.

Never mentioned Radford, said Hull fans, learn to read.

And saying the losing team would be happier only proves that I don’t deem the result important. Completely opposite to what you’re trying to claim and nothing to do with the post I made about playing more friendlies which is the one you went off on one about it.

Basically what’s happened is that you’ve seen me say a team who played Wakefield will be the happier and just seen red and soiled yourself and gone off on one.

I love how you question Trinity's warm up schedule and pontificate about how many players they should use ??
Surely Chester and his staff have worked out what they want from each of their players and the side as a whole in preparation for the forthcoming season ?? and the fact that YOU think they may not be doing the right thing is quite incredible



If you pm me your contact details, I will personally ensure that they are passed on to Mr Chester and I'm sure that he will be grateful

Whilst Printer may be fishing, surely the point of these boards is to talk about the games and in large part to question players or coaches decisions. To be fair to Printer it’s a legitimate question, however I would imagine the coaches will be ramping up the game time for individuals in each friendly. I’d not be bothered about what my team did in any friendlies about from the last one before the season starts. That I would imagine you want as your most intense one without getting to full intensity so you don’t get injuries.

So I take it you and everybody else on the Wakefield board never question his starting 17? Never say Player X should be picked instead of Player Y? Because that’s the exact same thing, debating lineups which is one of key discussion points of the board.

It was a genuine question about how to go about the introduction of fewer interchanges. Looks like some teams are still running with the large number of subs in warm up games as they do every year, interesting that Leeds have gone different and have picked only 6 in their warm up games so far, presumably so player are doing longer minutes.

Of course fans question the coaches selections and we all have our opinions.
However, you do seem to be on your own, in complaining (endlessley) about the number of players used on Sunday.

It may be worth mentioning that, including Boxing Day, Trinity have 4 warm up games, whereas some clubs only have 2 and as I mentioned in the previous post, the coaching and conditioning staff will have a program for each player over the co of these games and not just the Hull game.

I'll leave questioning Chester's selections until it matters

Whose line ups other than Wakeys have you discussed on here, it's a shame you and a couple of other Leeds fans can't find time to discuss your own club, and no it wasn't a genuine question about the fewer interchanges, it was another deliberate attempt at mischief making,which other club apart from Leeds and that was only used in the context of trying undermine us have you mentioned?

Pedantry is the last refuge of the loser.

So let me get this straight you can read the opinions of the 800 Hull fans who were ther (good show from them) and the 1800 or so Wakey fans (again a good showing) even though you were not actually there - pure comedy gold.

So do you think Radford was the happier coach if we must lower it to such detail? and if so why?

Jesus Christ what a bunch of over sensitives. Can’t even debate about the pre season use of subs giving the upcoming interchange changes or saying one team could be the happier without having several guys go off on rants or sulks. Bloody pathetic.

Hang on a minute.

You choose to pass comment on a game that your didn't watch and call into question the tactics of a clubs' coach and then complain about getting a rise ot of some of said clubs' fans, it is indeed pathetic.


If you were in charge, we'd flog our first 17 to death in the WARM UP games and then bemoan our injury list.


Happy New Year

Yeah playing with 6 or 7 subs instead of 13 really would be flogging your team

Still a conditioning expert eh

ATEOTD it's one warm-up game out of 4 & we're playing probably more warm-ups than most teams so that enables to do things like we have, so what's the problem?

I also already explained on the previous page, we play Newcastle next which will probably be a team of reserves and maybe whoever CC thinks needs extra game time before the season, then we have Hudds as the final warm-up where it will most likely be closer to the starting 17 and 8 subs. So by the end of preseason do you think any of our players won't have had enough game time? especially considering some clubs have 2 or 3 warm-ups that they have to get a full squad ready for?

I also mentioned that CC said in his after game interview that he doesn't really like preseason games just because of the fact that during the course you can get so many injuries if you're unlucky. So he just monitors his players during the course of them. It's not as if CC won't know how fit the players are with all the tests & monitoring they do in the preseason, is it?

Thought FCs reserves did pretty well against a full strength Wakefield team.

Think Hull will go a lot better this year than a lot expect, they have a strong squad yet people are basing there opinions on performances last season when they had a freakish injury crisis.