I too worry about how we are going to score, and last Sunday didn't do anything to allay those fears. Apart from Brown scooting around a bit, there didn't seem to be much in the way of constructive play throughout the whole 80 minutes.

I know it was a pre-season testimonial and it was raining for a fair portion of the afternoon, but watching them with ball in hand felt like a worrying foretaste of what may be to come.
Let's just hope something clicks somewhere over the coming few days.

Can't rely argue with most of that but I'm hoping we have a cunning Baldrick plan up our sleeves .

Nobody wants to lose a derby and everyone wants to start with a bang, but with a number of signings in both and pretty disjointed pre seasons really i don’t see a classic.

Defeat will be insufferable for a few days but nothing won or lost game 1. Hell we turned Wigan over last year in a dominant display and they went and won it with mad form at the end of the year (we both obviously aren’t Wigan, but the point stands)

Hoping for some decent weather and the pitch holds up as I think a forward battle suits you better. If we can release our backs then I think we could have too much

Enjoy the game and the day, good to have some rugby back. If we can top 20k rugby league in the city firmly alive and well!

Don't know about enjoying the game unless we're 20 points clear with 2 mins to go.

We've won nine out of our last ten opening round games and in four of those seasons we won the second round too. It generally hasn't meant much in terms if how the season panned out, in fact in 2019 we lost the first two league games but finished sixth.

Does that mean that the away game at Craven Park in 2019 is the anomaly then?

Yes, the last play try from Keinhorst. I think we had the ball in their 25 with a minute left but blew it.

I love how people say stuff like second half when rovers fitness is better we’ll fall away.

Have you been to both clubs and done their VO2 max. Against Wigan we competed the first half and then fell away when lane, Jack Charles & Davy litten came in. Pretty much every try realistically came from an individual error from them.

With a full strength side we won’t see any of them and smith will be playing to win a rather than for fitness. He said he played Ashworth, ese’ese & Pele for 60 minutes each with minimal rest to force them to play under fatigue. He’s not going to be doing that in the derby l.

Stop reading into friendlies so much and be positive. It must be draining searching for negatives all the time

Good points, generally agree with what you say here, but I still think we need the win more than you.

Not only are we the home side, but we badly need a shot of optimism into our fanbase. The general mood with us is fairly downbeat right now, no-one is expecting much from this team in the coming year. A cursory glance around this forum gives an idea of the mood before the season has even started!

Overall I suspect the mood in your camp is a touch more upbeat? Defeat on Thursday, whilst galling as all derby defeats are, probably won't have too much of an impact on your prospects. But defeat for us will intensify the gloom surrounding the place, adding to the run of six defeats which closed our season last year with such a whimper!

Agree with your analysis about whether the game becomes a forward battle or whether the backs are given space to move. Think a scrappy, bitty game will most likely give us a higher chance of coming out on top. If it turns into a wide expansive affair, we may find ourselves in a bit of bother!

Let's hope it's a decent game to kick off 2024, and hopefully everyone (and I mean everyone) behaves themselves and a few idiots (from whichever side) don't drag down the name of the fair City.

Hoy
Mac
Carlos
Sutty
Litten
Smith
Brown
Herman
Mint
Pele
Oki
Ligi
Fash

Ashworth
Cator
Brown
Scott