We think Jacob’s a cracker, says boss
brother of former Giant and current Castleford star Joe, who caught the eye on the night, with Thorman full of praise for the youngster before he hands the coaching reins on to new Aussie boss Simon Woolford on Thursday.
“He’s going to be some player,” predicted Thorman.
“He scored a couple of good tries, he showed some really nice touches and was a little unfortunate to get sin-binned at the end.
“But I wasn’t in the least bit surprised with the way he went. He really does have the ability to do whatever he wants.
“We’ve all seen what his brother Joe can do, but he’d be the first to admit that Jake is the better brother rugby-wise.
“We shouldn’t also forget, of course, that we had another 19-yearold on Super League debut in Oliver Russell, who I thought was as composed and as astute as an Academy half-back could be on stepping up to Super League level.
“I thought Ollie and Jake showed the way ahead, and they were then backed up by some significant contributions from some of the senior boys.
“So, overall, I thought we deserved the win, particularly as our goalline defence was as good as it’s been.
“As a result, it was pretty emotional in the changing rooms at the end, and it’s certainly good to be handing over to Simon on the back of a win.”
Thorman’s emotions were in stark contrast to Widnes boss Denis Betts, whose side remained in the hunt throughout after tries from Danny Craven, Ryan Ince and Tom Gilmore, who also landed three conversions.
An honest Betts admitted his side deserved nothing from the game.
“There’s no excuse for the level of ineptitude we saw from our players out there,” said a frustrated Betts.
“We were just dumb and there was no guile out there at all. Anxiety got the better of us, and Huddersfield thoroughly deserved the win.
“I generally stick up for my players, but that was just woeful, awful. And it has nothing to do with injuries or anything like that, because Huddersfield are in the same boat.
“At the end of the day, they were rubbish, we were rubbish, that’s how bad the game was.” DARYL POWELL described Gareth Hewer’s handling of Castleford’s 36-12 defeat at Hull as “shocking”.
Powell wants to sit down with referees and ask them why they make certain decisions so he can better understand what is allowed and what is not when it comes to the obstruction rule.
The Tigers coach was bemused by a number of calls by Hewer and called for video referees to be at all games, not just games shown live on television.
“The first half was interesting,” Powell said.
“(We’re) going back to needing a video ref at every game.
“It’s an absolute shambles, players running outside the shoulder line, nothing gets picked up.
“So we have to go back to blokes diving on the floor to show referees who don’t know what they are looking for what to look for.
“I can’t believe some of the lines that were run today that weren’t picked up.
“It was a poor and shocking performance from the referee in the first half, basic things that should be picked up weren’t picked up.
“We lost the ascendancy through some terrible decisions.
“I said a few years ago that I wanted to sit down with the referees in question and say, ‘this is my opinion and what I’m seeing, what are you seeing?’
“When you’re not on Sky, the game is a shambles.”
“There was nothing in the game. I thought the final score was harsh on us.
“I’m so proud of what we did today and there’s a massive amount for us to build on.” ............................................................. St Helens ................................... Wigan ........................................... Warrington ............................... Hull ................................................ Castleford .................................. Leeds ............................................ Wakefield ................................... Salford ......................................... Huddersfield ............................ Widnes ........................................ Hull KR ......................................... Catalans Dragons ................