I thought Brad Walker was outstanding yesterday and would have given him man of the match...he seemed to have so much time on the ball and his kicking kept us on the back foot for considerable parts of the game and that low drop-out from under the sticks that went about 12 metres to their right winger was absolutely sublime...I would have him back tomorrow

For me, that game was a bit of a reality check for us....so far, we have brushed sides off with ease and as a result it appears as though we got a bit complacent and probably expected to do the same against Barrow, but all credit to them for coming down and making a real game of it. For much of that game, they were definitely the better team and stopped our forwards from steam-rollering them back down the pitch. Their half-backs were definitely a match for ours too and with a bit more luck they could have easily run us a lot closer than the final score-line suggests.
Featherstone next week are likely to be a real test for us if we play like we played yesterday, so hopefully that game was a good wake-up call ??
I noticed that Lawford was limping when he went off so let's hope he is fit for next week

Odasl next round, cant say im looking forward to seeing us play on that muddy kids size pitch.

York and Sheffield in the other semi.

Me neither but I’m sure the players will want to run out at Wembley so there should be no need for motivation for that game for sure.

Big packs rule at Odsal.
We need to sort cente out so we can put Griffin back in the pack and Vagana back to prop.

Yes looking through our squad, centre is our weakest area. With Thornley injured we are just down to law,croft and Pratt. In all fairness to all three they are still learning their trade and I think we could do with a bit more experience.

OK there is Griffin, but I think he is now really a second row

The semi v Bradford isn't till the 2nd week in May iirc. Long time before we need to worry about the injuries or pitch condition.

We really miss Jerry and Thornley making metres early on in our sets as Franco and Walmsley simply don't have the power. Griffin is too slow at centre now though is an excellent second rower.

When we have injury in the centres we lose pace ,factor in Gale and Hood do not have a lot of pace to get through a gap and you can see why we were it and miss .Hope pace does not come and hit us again like last year Jowitt can not do every thing, on is own

I have no issue with Croft and Pratt centres. I am happy to see any two of Pratt, Croft or Thornley line up at centre.

After seeing Griffin at centre I’m convinced he should only be an emergency option there and that he is pretty much a second row now and more suited to that. Vagana was okay at second row but he was better at prop.

I’m not a fan of playing players out of positions and would always rather see 1 player come in than swap 2 or 3 to accommodate a player.

Agree about Franco and Walmsley lacking the punch but we need to play to their strengths with ball in hand and create the space. That said they are still charging it in hard and that is 100% the right attitude.

Pace is something we don't lack but as with most teams if a few of your faster players get injured you have to go for the next best-placed alternative. In the centres, as one or two have mentioned I think we should go with Pratt and Croft and in the long run it'll do Croft some good to get some first-team action and both are quick enough imo

When Thornley and Doyle come back, which I believe is meant to be sooner rather than months away, that adds a much-needed dimension to our attack. Obviously, Thornley is a huge presence at centre and brings something the other options don't, which is his size and strength. He can break or bend the line most times, plus he's no slouch. I like Doyle, he's got some pace out of acting half-back and he loves to use it & he's always looking for a break, or to put a runner into space, a different kind of Hooker to Hood, who's got a decent accurate passing game from the Ptb and gets through a load of defensive work in the middle.

If we can set more plays up to put the ball into Walmsley's hands more often, he should score an absolute bucket load this season and Franco will do a decent job for us on the other side given half a chance until Jerry returns.