General thoughts
Good conditioning hit out. It was a good tough game, Probably a pretty heavy field in the middle there. I thought we had some decent brand of what we're trying to create without execution. I think our process stuff was pretty steady today. I thought both halves of the game were hard-fought. It's almost impossible to tell in friendlies when people are coming and going to see the strength of your opposition but I thought Ganno and Sinny (Jack Sinfield) did well second half and I was pretty positive with how we did overall.
I didn't check the numbers but I'd say we didn't have much of the field possession in general. That doesn't bother us too much and we looked most comfortable on the try line which was pleasing. There was an interesting play the ball down there where the vocab on the mic might be interesting but it was a good hard game of footy and that was all we were concerned about.
Thoughts on debutants Sam Lisone and Luis Roberts
"Sam (Lisone) was steady. He hasn't played a game since, I think, the middle of September, early September maybe and he was training on his own for a few months while his visa was taking its team. He's got some work to do to get anywhere near his best and I don't even know if he knows what his best is yet, I'm not sure he's ever seen it. He's played well in the NRL but I have really high expectations and opinions of where he can get to. It was steady today.
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Roberts was good, the intention was for Fusitu'a to play right centre today but he had an illness yesterday and woke up a little bit worse today. That meant Big Red got to play centre today and got a good test against Leutele. It (the try) was very composed, he was strong enough to make a break on the last from 40 out or so. He composed himself at the point of contact and then he composed himself against the fullback that was trying to intercept or get in the way there. It was a nice bit of play there.
Liam Tindall's HIA (which he passed)
He got more of a bang in the eye rather than anything but they took him through HIA protocol and was totally fine, that allowed us to get him back out there and get the minutes under the belt. He's competing for a spot.
Any closer to knowing who plays centre round one
No different today than this morning or this evening to who may play round one but it was positive to see all four that played centre today do well. Derrell grew up playing centre and was one until halfway through his twenties. Ash Handley is a good footballer all around in my opinion so he looked like a centre and a fullback, but we know he's a winger. Roberts was good, that was a really pleasing step for him, he's a big kid with a lot of growing in him but he's a good teammate with a lot of attributes that kid. Levi, he's played against Leigh a bunch of times in the Championship but I thought he did quite well today. They were good signs. Obviously, Harry Newman will be one centre when he's fit. Nene Macdonald is an accomplished centre but also a winger who played most of his best footy on the wing in the NRL, and also Fusitu'a grew up playing centre and fullback as well. We've got versatility and that's what I'm trying to create in our group, when someone is out, someone is ready. Who plays in round one may be different to round two and three.
Would he be confident playing Roberts or Levi Edwards in round one
Luis has played Super League so he's gone down a proven part, but Levi has just turned 18. There's a massive difference that I don't think gets mentioned about being able to play Super League once or twice and that being different to being called upon every week. I think all players need a stage progression to become regular Super League players. At times people jump in and stay but that's more a rarity than the best path. They'll get an opportunity if others are out. The seasoned players will get the first opportunity because they've earned that right.
Corey Johnson's absence
Corey had back surgery in September or October. I don't know the exact term of the surgery but he had a disk repair in his back. He's almost in full training, he's still being monitored a little bit, but he won't play for the next few weeks at least. I think Corey can be a long-time Super League player. He's been through a fair bit with his body the last couple of years. He showed at Magic what he can do with a body that wasn't cooperating. He's still a few weeks away from playing and he'll feature in our reserves when that kicks off then discover his best paths.
Captaincy update
If Kruise did the toss and led the boys out that is as good as gold by me but there was no captain assigned by me. I'm not fixed on the one-leader model, I just don't know if that works best anymore.
Early team news for Bradford clash
Cam Smith will play, Fusitu'a will be playing. That didn't play today, Rhyse Martin will play next week, but Bentley won't be ready.
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