First things first happy christmas and all the best for the new year to everyone on here.
And who is going on sunday, i am looking forward to watching some live rugby again and seeing if there is a noticeable change in how we play under Finn even if it is a bit early say. It should be a good test for us with the conditions and pitch at odsal and to be fair to Bradford they finished in the playoffs last year so should have high expectations for the coming season. For us it looks like we are going with 2 friendlies before the group stage of the 1895 cup so whoever is fit needs to play but it is not worth risking anyone carrying any injuries.

Looking at the squad we have no centres at all and need to make a couple of signings

hooligan27 wrote:Looking at the squad we have no centres at all and need to make a couple of signings Will this do? https://halifaxpanthers.co.uk/panthers- ... omecoming/

hooligan27 wrote:Looking at the squad we have no centres at all and need to make a couple of signings Will this do? https://halifaxpanthers.co.uk/panthers- ... omecoming/

Well i have just dried out after getting home from the game it was the flipping walk back to the car when i and many others got drenched. As for the game both sides should of benefitted from the work out in very tough conditions. The biggest difference between the sides for me was Bradfords last tackle plays was better than ours. Lilly does get some stick from opposition fans but for me his short kicking and decision making was better than both our starting halfs. And Bradford picked up a few scores off them plays while we ran the ball on the last going down the blind side and just got turned over with no reward not very smart in those conditions. We have a month now until our next run out and for me we still lack punch up front and strike from our centres and that still is a long standing problem. The plus side i thought was Eden looked sharp both physically and mentally if he can stay fit and when we play in drier conditions he could be a very good signing. Also a couple of the trialist went well i do not now there names but one came on for Gee and went well and a other for Eden who looked pretty sharp.

The lad who came on for gee was Ben Hersey from Leeds . Olly davies looked good and I thought our pack held it’s own , with Douglas , kav , crooks n widdop to compete for a first team spot I think we look fine , inman was class again. The weather was that bad my contact lens was blown out with a combination of wind and rain on the walk back to the car and then had to drive home with one eye which was fun .

Olly davies did look good and i would of liked to see him dropped off back against the grain like Bradford did with England to good affect. Also i thought Brandon moore was named on the bench but i didn't see him come on. During the second half when Ingham went off we put Connor davies there which i thought limited our attacking play a lot in already testing conditions. And you was not on your own in having problems with your vision driving home my glasses kept steaming up and add in the surface water and strong winds happy days.

I think Moore was poorly last minute, yes the spell when we were encamped on their line with multiple sets unfortunately coincided with inman , obrien and Keyes off the pitch meaning we looked devoid of any real attacking threat, I really have to get used to these games having no real value in terms of winning and losing but it’s in my nature I guess especially when playing Bradford . I know there’s been a bit of 50/50 with the widdop signing but whilst jouffret is a great running stand off his kicking game is average and he becomes more effective on the drier pitches , having someone like widdop if fit in some capacity on the field makes sense to me as he offers something a bit different. I would have liked to have seen more of Sam Campbell who looked like a big lump but with the conditions and multiple interchanges I last track of who was who . A separate note I quite liked the kit in the flesh .

Pissin Missen! Lol!

I know that it gets on some peoples nerves but like you i want us to win every game friendly or not. And i am of a similar thought on Widdop he just might bring a better end to our sets and better game management especially in heavy conditions. Just to clear up what i meant by lack of punch, we had no problems making metres getting up the field Salty and Mccomb plus some of the pack did that part well but once we was on there goal line for what seemed like most of the second half trying time and again to crash over we just didn't have the beef to reward that good build up play with points. And like you say with the weather and number of changes we wasn't going to be throwing the ball about and skimming them on the outside. I liked the 94 season kit so this season's looks alright to me. Just noticed Oldham gave Keighley a good beating the other day i think we could have our hands full when we go there.

Well the full game is available to watch on bulls tv , just might have to watch it on mute as mick gledhill is commenting like they’ve just won the grand final .