He as to go, didn’t get Morley’s deckchair the 40 points tonight

Fair play to the Powell In crew, kept your head while everyone else lost theirs.

I’m happy to concede that this season is a marvellous shock. Not sure there was evidence of this happening until round 1 of this season, but kudos to the board.

Edit: Gaz, in particular. Tip if the hat

To be honest, as much as I didn't join in the knee jerk reactions last year, which led to calls for Powell's dismissal, neither am I getting carried away by the good start this season, as I think we need to be aware that our form could turn for the worse very quickly if injuries or a simple dip in standards was to happen, as often happens in all sport.

Let's just enjoy the ride and see where we are come season's end and let's not get carried away, whatever unfolds... well, unless it's a league and Cup double - we can probably allow ourselves a little reaction if that was to happen

There were some classic posts and plenty of toys thrown out the pram, but it's in the past now.

Powell, so far, has been justified in taking the biggest risk in terms of clearing the decks. It nearly ended in disaster but so far it's been proven a risk worth taking. Most of our fans were calling for a clear out and when players like Cooper were kicking up a fuss because they weren't able to call the shots, they had to go, no two ways about it - you can't have the tail wagging the wolf. We needed a strong manager to go in and tear things up after 4 years of mediocrity under Price where players had become apathetic. Any manager going in to do this would have had my full backing, despite the risks.

We're playing good rugby too; Powell's sides have always entertained. So if we're winning (so far so good), and playing good footie, we've got the right man. And there's a chance we could finally remove that monkey. Saints, as good as they'll be come the end of the season, can't win it forever. No side in any sport has done that. Thing is too, we've only played 6 games meaning there's plenty more gelling time; it's no coincidence that succesful sporting sides have been built over years, not just over a season or two.

Can't wait for that testing run of 3 v Cats, Pies and Stains. That'll really tell us where we are. COYW.

I agree with this. But would say that the logic seems now to be there. My issue last season, and this to a point, is the communication with the fans. We were never told or informed what a shambles the club was allowed to become, and nobody was held to account for that, even now. The recruitment of the new coach was billed as finding the right coach to improve the players we had and to promote and develop youth.

Under difficult circumstances last year, granted not the coaches fault, we bought our way out of trouble. Short term Amor’s and Wardle’s don’t fall into either of those metrics. And even this year, which is an amazing start, as good as we’ve seen since 2019/2016 from memory, can we genuinely say that any player is better now than last season, or even under the previous coach (qualified statement, as there are so few left). And is there a succession plan given that Ratchford, Matautia, Vaughan, Kasiano, McGuire, Bullock, Dudson and maybe even Clark will be leaving over the next 1 - 3 seasons. What happens then, do we buy our way out again, rolling the dice with 50/50 odds of getting a Magoulias, Holmes etc.

As I’ve said since the end of last season, I’m trying to be positive, so I’ll enjoy this momeng. The plan, which appears to have come into place mid way through last season, is to buy big bodies and plug the gaps around them with whatever’s left. And it’s working. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that there has been a change in the position from the start of last year where there was a stubborn insistence that the pack was sufficient, despite it appearing obvious to everyone that we were desperately light.

I'm enjoying the start of the season like everyone else. All the right signs are there. Like others have said, the main test will be the next 3 games. If we lose all three i will be very disappointed. Win 1 maybe underwhelming but not so bad. We need to be winning at least 2 of the next 3 games IMO. Catalans will be the biggest test. However Wigan & Saints will no doubt raise their game against us. Saint's have been well off the boil but still grind out wins like Wigan. They won't have the defensive frailties like Cas did last night. I watched Wigan v Salford and i thought Wigan were awful. Only a few moments of brilliance from French that saved them.

Agree with much of this. I'm hoping we can establish some success and in doing so, raise the expectations of our younger players to add to and displace those who are nearing retirement. Powell has a good record of improving players also, so hopefully we get more joy on that front.

I don't really fear anyone apart from a full strength saints side. Not been overly impressed with anyone including Huddersfield who are now in their 3rd season with Watson - I was expecting more offensively from them though they are missing pivots.

Who is this rubber duckie?


A voice of hindsight and reason within a melting pot of

Yes, there would be some disappointment if that happened, but, for me, in those games it will be now more be about how we look against those 3 sides, rather than the results, because the good thing about winning these first 6 matches is that we have given ourselves a good cushion, where 3 losses wouldn't be a huge catastrophe with regards to league position - if we were to compete well in all 3 games, but lose them all by 2-6 pts, similar to how Huddersfield have done against us, Wigan and Saints, then I'd be ok with that - a couple of good confidence-damaging hidings and I'd be more concerned.

.... there's a couple of my posts in this thread that show a similar hindsight and reasoning.

Maybe a small lesson in how to analyse without jerking the knees too much?...

I think the performance is the most important thing in the Catalans, St H and Wigan games. And if we play badly in one of them, how that affects the following month in terms of confidence. Of course, all that really matters is a couple of games in the autumn, but performance, approach and resilience are what I'm looking for over the next month.

Spot on this. We've still only played 6 games and there's plenty of time for our team to develop much further. I have a funny feeling we'll do 2 out of 3.