Shame for Jordan
Thought Jowitt looked decent today.

Bad news about Lilley. Puts pressure on Jowitt. He looked OK today but let's be honest he wasn't ever going to be first choice and we are now down to the bare bones at halfback.

On today I thought we looked fairly comfortable in the first half but the less said about the 2nd half the better. While we only lost narrowly and gifted Batley two very soft tries we were very much second best in the 2nd half. They played some really good stuff and we played it down the middle even when we weren't getting any jot there. Once they got to grips with Patton we lacked any ideas. On the positive side when we were going forward Patton looked great. Sam Scott went ok too. Walker send Crossley had a good first spell.

Fullback needs sorting and luckily we have a few friendlies to do it. Burton gave 100% but made a bad mistake that led to a try and he was eventually taken off. Kear and DFJ then looked at each other rather than catch a bomb and that allowed another Batley try. Kear looks much more comfortable on the wing IMO.

It’s been mentioned about possibly Shaun coming in on DR, just wonder if he and young McNamara might be the first ones in given our lack of HB’s?

Don’t forget we have hall who didn’t play today who to be honest is an out and out fullback and Batley fans seem to think is ultimately destined for superleague Kear may well end up as a winger I refer to Kears comment about shirt numbers not being the players final position. Wallace sounds like he maybe a find certainly at this level?

Didn't Kear say only a few short weeks ago "what's the point in running an academy, if you don't give the youth a chance"? Surely Jowitt will at least get a chance before we head down the short term loan route.

I think Kear said there is no point spending big bucks on a 3rd half, as they cost the most, if you have an academy that provide cover. I still don’t think this rules out a DR from Hull in this position just adds strength to not signing a perm 3rd HB when other options are available at a fraction of the cost

It’s not necessarily a case of having a 3rd choice specialist 6 or 7 but having some utility within your squad to move players about. I feel it is something we lost with Pickers leaving and my fears are already becoming a reality. We are now praying that Dec Patton doesn’t pull a hamstring or get a knock because after one injury we are looking light. You might think a short term loan on dual reg is the answer for a key position but I’m not convinced.

I’m not saying a short term deal is the best bet but I can see where jk is coming from (if my interpretation is right). I think he says we can’t justify a third stellar HB who sits on side line and if we get an injury we can cover this from Hull or somewhere else rather than bring in said HB and then not have the budget and then potentially not be able to bring in 2 or 3 of the Squad we have managed to pull together and then be accused of not having depth

Classic case of budget that’s available not quite covering every base

Pickers had absolutely no utility value at he was god awful at half a decent fb though

He did a job when needed. Will have to see how our squad copes with this early test now. Hopefully Jowitt will rise to the challenge and take his opportunity.