Few changes made by Kear. Olly Wilson could be in line for his debut. Glad Minchella, Ryan are being rested. Would have put money on us getting a key injury.



Bustin

Chisholm

Crossley

Flanagan

Garside

Gibson

Grant

Green

Halafihi

Hallas

Hitchcox

Lilley

Milton

Oakes

Peltier

Pickersgill

Pownall

Storton

Wilson

Win the game early, bring off the key players and pray that Whitehaven do us a massive favour!

Anyone else notice Chalmers mention Rowan Milnes as playing in this game in his T&A column? Despite not being listed in the squad?



Either there's a late change coming, or there's a mistake in the article.

Well if Whitehaven do us a massive favour, it won't matter because this will be our final game of the season

Judging by the totally underwhelming first half, can i stand any more "excitement" of game day ? Let's hope the improbable happens to stave off terminal boredom

Whitehaven took a 2-0 lead, but since then it's all gone downhill....



On the other hand Workington are getting stuffed by Doncaster, which will be the same fixture as next week, so if we were to beat Oldham, then we might end up not having to play Workington...



Looking for straws to clutch at.

Not much to say. We absolutely have to get out of this division. Dour game. Everyone looked lethargic. Only positive is we had a glimpse into the future with promising performances from Storton and Wilson.



I would also imagine thr RFL may be alerted and look into some betting for a drop goal.

We did what we needed to do at the end of the day. We scored some great tries but also came up with a lot of schoolboy errors. We MUST hit the ground running next week against Oldham.

Should've scored 70 really at least. Some good moments but too many errors. Wilson impressed me on debut. Storten's try when he backed up Pickersgill was the moment of the match for me.

Thought that our forwards were good today, although against some dire Hemel tackling. We really do need to look for an astute playmaker, as the usual Chizzy high kick / corner kick was very much on display for the fifth and last play. I'm still not sure that Joe Keyes is the full answer.

Still, on the positives, some good homegrown youngsters on display today which bodes well for next year. Going to be a nervy couple of weeks now. Plus, well done and congrats to York.

I don’t think this will be a problem. You’d be lucky to find betting on the match result to be available with most bookies never mind whether a drop goal would be scored etc.

Keyes wasn't meant to be the answer, he's a young lad given his chance, who's just been pitched in at the sharp end and has had a very respectable season. I would expect that one year older, wiser, bigger and uglier, he will be a better and more complete proposition. He's shown more than enough to be confident that he will progress into a very decent player.

Been the best of the 3 for me this year. He has contributed a heck of a lot for me and he is a player we should be looking to have around for a long time

Yes, I agree with your summation of Joe Keyes. I'm just not sure that the current combination of the 3 halves are the answer when ( if ) we get back into the Championship.

All 3 players display moments of genius, but I don't have confidence in any one over the others, which leaves me a little...meh....

If we do go up, then I would like to see Keyes and Chiz teamed with an older head as anchor, and rotated depending on the opposition.

Unfortunately, for me, no room for Lilley unless we remain in this division next year (God help us).

I think the signing of Lilley has been disruptive, and there hasn't seemed to be a plan what exactly to do with him once we signed him. I can't see Keyes at this point in his young career wanting to be in and out as a mere halfback option, and I can't see Lilley wanting to be cover for injuries. When Lilley has played this spell and last when on loan, tbh I don't think he's cracked any pots, but anyway you need your starting halfbacks to be the same all year, except the occasional rest and of course injuries. i don't think rotating 2 perm from 3 has ever worked anywhere. Chisholm has taken a bit of stick for being a bit mercurial, but it is obvious he can do stuff Lilley can't and adds a considerable threat that Lilley doesn't, so I'm wondering what the plan is. Maybe i shouldn't assume there is one?

I think Lilley was signed to keep Chisholm on his toes.

Double post.

I don't think it was that.



I reckon Leeds knew he'd be getting limited time there in 2019 so decided to put the feelers out for a year long loan. Frees up cap space if nothing else.



We've agreed to take him on either as a favour to Leeds, or because we value him as a squad player, or because we already knew at the time that one of our current halves would be leaving at the end of the season.



The prospect of seeing Lilley as one of our halves next season is genuinely making me hesitate on getting a season ticket. That's how much I don't rate him.

Heard we have been looking at other halfbacks too but nothing concrete. With Chisholm OOC then I can see why if we can't come to a deal with him. If you play Chisholm we need a halfback paired with him that can follow a gameplan and build pressure by taking the right options, a good short kicking game is a must.

I think Chizzy had a much more structured game on Sunday. Quite a few assists and a good short kicking game. He seemed much more involved and his attitude was great all game. For me the half back pairing has got to be Chizzy and Keyes.

Agreed. But it was against very weak opposition. If he can play like that in the play offs then great. I prefer Keyes to Lilley too.

However he might have played at the weekend Chizzy isn't the man for 'structured play'. Chizzy brings the occasional bit of 'magic' and does a great deal of off the cuff stuff but isn't the bloke to run the side and I don't think he even tries to be. He is what he is and he does what he does well, certainly often enough to be a dangerous player.





I think Joe Keyes does that job excellently, along with taking on the line often enough to keep defenders guessing. Jordan is a decent standby for the 'organiser' role but Chizzy and Keyes are our current first choice, imo. Obviously we have no idea what the line up will be after all the ins and outs over the close season but I guess Kear probably has slightly better knowledge and will take those decisions if and when they crop up.