Matt H

Brad G gets a 6 match ban for verbal abuse ...calling a Swinton player a Welsh C**t. No contract for next year has been discussed so I suspect that this will be the last we see of Brad in a Thunder shirt. Shame he was one of the lads that gave 100% and was always approachable

Last 3 home games has given us hope that we will put up a fight for Championship status. COYT

Most of the fans are of the opinion that he has had little to work with, the budget is seriously trimmed and what there is is being taken up by those still on 2nd year of FT contracts. Whether another coach could get a better tune of the squad is debatable. There has been an improvement in the play but that's about it. Big changes next year no doubt

I'm more worried about the players we have. Thorman has had to work with a restricted budget, hence the cheap options from Worky. He also has a number of players still on FT money from last year, looks like a few of these are going through the motions. Unless there is extra investment I don't see what good changing the coach will do.

Jake Lighthowler for me, his first match in 18 months? Although he doesn't have the physical size yet, he showed a lot of what is missing in some of the first team forwards. Hopefully not long before we see him challenging for a starting position. Alex D always bosses the reserves and Uni sides, just needs to take that confidence into the first team when he gets his next opportunity, which I believe is not far away.

Best moment of the day was the catch by @thunderpete, still got it!

Matchday experience has improved, a bit of disappointment in the South stand that Thunderbolt didn't come down and wave there were quite a few young kids in the South stand. We are missing in the physicality department, the 2 PNG lads really dominated. And we will not mention that last try...."After you sir"

We were excited when we heard the rumours at Cougar Park and he's lived up to the billing. He's playing really well forming a good partnership with Nikau Williams. Just wish he had a bigger pack to play behind.

Connor Wynne joins from Dual Reg Hull FC. Its a short term loan, the lad has good experience and from the videos looks a good player. Though not tall for a centre, he looks strong, agile and fast. Lets hope he stays for a bit

It was a very heavy and sticky pitch. They did well to clear the snow as there was a lot on the surrounding hills. Stanningley came out with a game plan to disrupt us by being aggressive and we held our heads (Young did get sin binned). First half we looked good, really like the Miller / Williams combo. 4-40 at the half. Lots of missed kicks with Williams taking over the duties not Nikaus day, the pitch and a very muddy ball not helping. Thunder made changes for the 2nd half and Stanningley came out committed to hold us. We dropped a few passes and this let the home side in a few times. But right at the end Thunder let flow finishing 16-58. Lots of fun with the scoreboard, they missed Millers conversion on the Hooter first half(gone for a Bovril?) so had half time score 4-38, the missing2 continued thru the 2nd half. The score went to 4-44 , but they must only have 2 4's so showed 4-4. They at the end they tried to correct the missing 2 points and showed 16-59 ...... not sure where the drop goal came from. Anyways good day out, good fans, fab little ground and really looking forward to the next round...can we have a home draw please?

Didn't make it unfortunately just listened on the radio. We kept the crowd quiet for large parts. We seemed to have a 3 on 1 near the end that we fluffed that would have give us the win. Going to Stanningley next week and have booked the train for the trip to Haven.

|The fans may not be enjoying it, probably more of a disaster for the directors given their financial issues. A trip to London will be an expense not budgeted for, not to mention the trip to Toulouse this weekend. Thankful for Mr Kurdhi keeping Newcastle Rugby afloat

Yes it's another away game! But at least it's not a familiar L1 or Champ side. Had to Google to find out who/where they are., Seem to be quite a strong side at their level, hopefully give us a decent challenge. Lighthowler is an ex-player of theirs, I'm sure he'll be desperate to get fit for it. Hope to get down there and see a Thunder win on the road and maybe, just maybe a home tie in the next round.

Pete, Nikau's goal kicking was excellent against Swinton. We don't have worries in that position if Nikau is on the pitch.

The change of the Featherstone fixture in Feb to an away one means that 1st home game is 18th March and we'll only have 3 home fixtures between Feb & Jun ....bonkers!