10 games in i’m going to give my appraisal of our squad and their efforts so far. I’ll ignore the loan signings. 1 Blake Taafe - sadly not had chance to tell if he’s any good or not. Him getting injured in the first game sums up our season to be honest. 2 Semi Valamei - another we’ve hardly seen. Needs to get himself on the park asap, we don’t need another Feki. 3 Zak Cini - rumoured to be leaving all season. He’s nothing more than average and we need better from a quota player. 4 Darnell McIntosh - swapped him for Innes Senior, mainly because of his versatility. So now we have a player who is poor in several positions instead. 5 Mikaele Ravalawa - overweight, overrated and over here. Never fit and doesn’t look arsed about it either. 6 Dejarn Asi - probably the worst halfback in the league. Plays like he’s half asleep, leaving us to suffer the nightmares. I’d send him home tomorrow. 7 Tom Weaver - tries hard enough and has some talent but he’s just too small. Gets targeted in defence which is costing us and takes any juice out of his attack. Not helped by the fact his halfback partner is an inanimate object. 8 Renouf Atoni - has the same engine as a 1980’s skoda. I maintain we don’t use him right, he should be a short spell impact player off the bench, but we don’t really have that luxury this year and his lack of minutes and impact is a problem. 9 Liam Hood - we’ve looked better when he’s played, but that hasn’t been often enough and neither will it be for a while given his latest nasty injury. We’ll miss him but given his age we need to look for a younger option. 10 George Lawler - one of our best this year. Blotted his copybook last week with the sin bin but for the most part has lead our line well and popped up with a few tries as well. He’d be my long term loose forward moving forward. 11 Jordan Lane - He’s done ok. He’s a workhorse but lacks any kind of impact with the ball. Not sure he is worth the big money long term deal Wilson gave him. 12 Alex Mellor - been solid but hasn’t quite looked at the top of his game since his broken arm. Hopefully his hamstring isn’t too bad and he can get back to his best. 13 Joe Stimson - bar one good game against Hudds just a whole lot of nothingness really. Looks like what he is, a player who is past his best. Needs moving on. 14 Brock Greacen - can’t knock his effort but just isn’t big enough for this level. Gets dominated every tackle, with and without the ball. 15 Jack Ashworth - another that hasn’t been on the pitch enough. Be it bans, injury, head knocks or jist left out he’s not had enough minutes. For me we need him playing, we lack punch in the pack and he can provide it. The Ashworth mystery needs solving. 16 Joe Westerman - out long term with a head knock but even before that was showing his age. The occasional flash is still there but it’s time to call it a day. 17 Chris Atkin - Gone. However with defective halves and having to bring in an ageing Brad Dwyer for a game i’m not sure that was the right move. 18 Fletcher Rooney - one poor game then long term injured. Another microcosm of our season right there. 19 Brad Singleton - not seen since the opening game of the season and unlikely to don the jersey again i would think. Hope all is well with him. 20 Aidan Doolan - sent out on a season loan, recalled from said loan, thrown into super league and sadly way out of his depth. Seemed a strange signing at the time and still does. 21 Louis Senior - injured pre-season and yet to make it back. Not far off by all accounts and i reckon he’ll get a shot at it, he can’t do much worse than anyone else on the right edge. 22 Jason Qareqare - a rare bright spot. Stayed fit this year and has finally showed what he can do over a period of time. Bulked up to make himself more robust but still a try threat and gives us some decent backfield meters. I’ll be pretty mad if he leaves after we have shown so much patience with him. 23 Krystian Mapapalangi - head and shoulders our best player and one of the best centres in super league. Class with the ball, solid in defence and a shining light in the current darkness. Looks our only real threat and his parnership with JQQ has looked good. 24 Jenson Windley - play him at scrum half or don’t play him. A fullback he ain’t. One for the future hopefully. 25 Sam Hall - another who puts the effort in, he just isn’t very good. He’s still young for a prop and there is a bit of improvement in him but he’s never going to be more than squad player level. If he’s happy with that and a cheap contract then fair enough he can stay. If not, thanks and goodbye. 26 Alfie Lindsay - Not played yet but his chance might not be far off things don’t improve soon. 27 Cain Robb - First appearance against Hull KR and went ok. Deserves a chance to stake his claim. 28 Sam Hill - out on loan at Keighley and doesn’t look like there’s a way back. 29 Ramon Silva - released pre-season and seems to have disappeared off the planet. 30 Jimmy Beckett - probably deserved more of a go than he has had. Was recalled from loan this week to be 18th man. Surely a better bet using our own player than playing the lad from Leeds? 31 Ashton Golding - bright start and then did a calf. Supposedly back for the York game, hopefully he can stay fit and give us some enthusiasm. 32 George Hirst - gone well since signing from Wigan. Likely to move back to second row with Mellors injury where he looked most effective. Adds some size out wide. 35 Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e - Bit of a disaster of a debut. Directly at fault for two tries and failed to put his body on the line for the last one. Must do better but the only way is up from there. 36 Tyler Dupree - Quiet debut. Looked short of a gallop after a spell out so will hopefully improve. Doesn’t really make good reading does it. Could almost do with ripping it all up and starting again.

Good write up and pretty accurate. The telling factor is that we don’t see enough of players before they get injured. The halves can’t work with poor field position and forwards always on the back foot. Blake taafe was a very important cog in our game and he’s not there. It’s always apparent that the teams that have the least injuries do best. We’re always near the top of the industry table.

I’d agree,that’s a pretty fair assessment,and we do have it within us to turn this around,we are nowhere near being a top six side but we have the ability to be competitive at the wrong end of the table and at least give the top teams a more competitive game. Last night we had a debutant at fullback,another at hooker,a prop at 13 with Asi at 6,not much of a spine to take on the Champions. The rest was just random pegs in random holes. To be honest until The Firm wrote it all down I’d forgotten we had some of those players.

A good and fair assesment. Apart from the injured and so far unproven in Taaffe and Valemie, only QQ, Mappa, Lawler & Mellor are SL standard.

7pm Keep an eye on the website.

3 more years for Mapapalangi is great news!

Now we just need another 18 or so players with his ability and commitment and we’ll win the league.

To be honest I thought he might be tempted away,hopefully we’re working on getting Jason resigned.

Hepworth I read somewhere that York had offered Jason more money than we had and he had said he wasnt signing at Cas again, Hope its wrong because he could become one of the games best playing outside Mapps

pirate Yup had heard the same rumour,I’d rather spend the extra on someone like Jason who is already proven at this level and clearly developing an understanding with Mapps than go into the market for someone who might not have the same rapport.

QQ loves being at Cas and is enjoying playing outside a competent centre. I think he’ll stay, hope he’ll stay. Great news on maps.

The Squad

Matt

Good signing, tons of experience and still has more than enough in him to be one of the best in SL.

CurtisTigers

Why do we keep talking about promotion and relegation and suggesting that Cas will go down? P&R hasn’t been a thing since Wakefield were relegated. It’s on IMG points. Even if we finish bottom of the league table we’ll still be in the top 14 ranked teams. I don’t understand why people keep saying we’ll be in the Championship - if they want London in they’ll have to expand the league.

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