It doesn't matter what surface you're playing on if your forwards aren't making ground and dominating. If you're not managing that then your play the ball is slow which means the halfbacks are getting the ball with a defence already in their faces and it's then much harder to put plays on for the threequarters. That's exactly what happened. Our forwards lost the game up front so too often we weren't able to put in an attacking kick. As a result Sheffield got the ball in better positions and forced us to play off our own line - not the place for throwing the ball about either.

I do agree our attacking play is poor at times but Friday night it was made more difficult because we were out-muscled and out enthused up front. I heard that Aston used Chalmers column as extra motivation. That could be bollox but it wouldn't surprise me.

Keyes back problem wasn't diagnosed until recently. He's hopefully going to be back soon as he knows how to take the line on and we've missed his combination with Minchella.

Just on that point. If we give him the benefit of the doubt and the things that he did that people accused him of being lazy (not moving from marker etc.) were actually just him not being fit, then one wonders why Mikey Wood was playing for the reserves on Saturday and the unfit one needing match practice was starting for the first team.

They should all be match fit if they've had a full pre season.

Magrin can cart the ball up and make ground. I've seen him do it. He seemed to be playing as an extra prop but it didn't work. We seemed to lack speed and agility around the ruck and got caught out there a few times. You can't be leaving defenders on the ground when they're playing the ball. Wood's gone well so far this season for me so dropping him seemed a bit of a head scratcher.

Fitness wise I think we're as good as anyone in the division. We just lacked the power and technique to win the middle on Friday. Crossley is working his way back from injury and was never going to be as effective as he was versus L1 opposition. Kirk for me is a work in progress, he's getting better but when all are fit he's not in my starting line up. Green let the side down. Magrin was poor.

The sooner we get the likes of Peltier and Bustin back the better. Peltier was immense for us last year and really gets us rolling forward. We've nobody who takes the gas out of the opposition like that at the moment with him and Bustin out injured.