You can interpret the past and interpret stats to suit your agenda.
Just look forward to a young hungry team representing the shirt.
I personally think we will go well next season.
My dark horse to shine is
Morgan Smith.
Anyone that’s sports a dodgy tache must have bags of confidence.

But imo we could of had so much more with an attacking 9

Imagine if we had Roby or daryl clark in 2016/17

Would of been another level

The fact Houghton hasn't ever really got close to a full england/gb call up says it all

... will he even play ?

Fit 17 he doesn't get in

YES likes of lane, fash, cator, Jack brown are hungry lads with passion......but they're not good enough imo just hold us back year on year

Yet people can't see it frustrating

I wish you would mention this more.

Or conversely imagine if we hadn’t had Houghton we may not have achieved what we did in 16 & 17?

Your continuation of stating that Houghton not getting a GB call up whilst that is true it doesn’t prove he wasn’t good enough and you trying to claim this as a fact is tiresome and repetitive.

We all know the politics in picking England/GB teams for one thing & that it’s rarely a level playing field. Yes Roby was ahead of Houghton as his all round game was better but he came through very good St’s teams. We were also well stocked in quality 9’s in the British game at that period too.

Of course had Roby been at 9 for us we could possibly have achieved more as he’d have improved us but he’d have improved any team he went too (including NRL) so it’s a pretty moot point.

I think we have overused Houghton over the years due to him been not only very dependable in his role but also his fitness.

I’ve been one to criticise him at times but he has been an important and integral part of the clubs success which you seem unwilling to see or accept.

Roll on that Bradford friendly

I was at Scott Taylor's testimonial event recently when Sam Burgess was a guest. Someone asked the panel why Houghton never had any international recognition and Burgess said sometimes it's just down the coaches personal preference. Some players get picked regardless of form, the coach just prefers them or they suit the coach's style of play,

Tommy Martyn and Lee Briers as a couple of examples had very modest international recognition despite both having great club careers.

Look at Wane at the last World Cup…he picked Mcllorum,who is on par with Houghton imo,not great rd the ruck but good defense and tbh Houghton had 3 good hookes ahead of him during his career and Ackers has come through who is very very underrated.

Houghton is a good lad

The flogged to bit is just a myth even when he gets spelled he only does the same thing just tackle and the odd 10 meter scoot when opposition on the back foot

When in reality a lot of the time a 9 with pace would be a try

Martyn and Briers were good but likes of Sculthorpe at 6 were better options

Sculthorpe was world class
Martyn and Briers very good but not world class

Whilst I agree with your point that Sculthorpe was a world class player the rest of your post is questionable.

Sculthorpe was one of the best LF to have played the game and whilst he could play stand off to say he was better than the likes of Martyn & Briers in that position is very questionable.

The post is nonsense, both Martym and Briers were better halfbacks, Sculthorpe was a fantastic 13 though.

Been realistic. What league position do you all think we can achieve next season ? I think we could have a big improvement in the forwards. I'm a little worried in the backs. No out and out 7 and I don't think Hoy's hamstrings are going to last long enough.

He couldn't play loose forward as we had a guy called Andy farrell playing aswell

Tommy martyn and briers isn't getting infront of

6. Sculthorpe
7. Long
13. Farrell

They didn't point proven

6th, last year we were awful, recruitment has been ok but not brilliant, other clubs have recruited well and will also improve on last season

Nope, mainly it was one of Farrell or Sculthorpe playing in the backrow.

I've just looked at teams for the world cup and sine tri nation games.

Stand offs where Harris, Deacon and Mcguire.

Led to believe we are closing in on the 8K mark for passes sold, great numbers with over a month to go.

Great to see that fans are willing to stick with the team and that every game being on sky hasnt affected ticket sales

It's bad in a way though, as with everyone renewing I couldn't get a pass nearer to my family than I had last year.

I hear that Lee Crooks is the new Player Welfare Officer, replacing Feka.

Bradford lost to fev today.

Still fancy them to beat us. We'll be sending out a young team and they'll have played Fax and Fev by the time next Sunday rolls round. I'm won't be going but I'm banking in Bradford uploading the full game on YouTube a day or 2 after

Feels good to finally say its game week again.

Not seen anything regarding tickets so I assume pay at gate is available?

Expect 2-3 of the younger lads (not promoted to this years first team squad) to be on the bench this Sunday.

Would like to see Dawson get a go in the centres

I expect a young side to get a hard game from Bradford. Tempted to go along just cos it's been ages since I was last at Odsall. We've got a big 1st team this year so we can pick a decent looking side. Something like this.

Logan Moy
Harvey Barron
Davy Litten
Roman Dawson
Lewis Martin
Mackenzie Harman
Morgan Smith

Will Gardiner
Denive Balmforth
Damel Diakhate
Charlie Severs
Zach Jebson
Nick Staveley

Matty Laidlaw
Jack Ashworth
Jeylan Hodgson
Sully Medforth
Lennon Bursell
Jack Charles
Jude Thompson