Monday 27 February 2017 15:37, UK
Before we concentrate on the good and bad from the weekend, we should first highlight the great and Siddal deserve enormous credit for their performance against Toronto.
It was a fantastic occasion at CWC Park with over 1,000 supporters in attendance. Siddal frustrated the Wolfpack's expensively-assembled squad, in particular Fuifui Moimoi, and the crowd sensed an upset when Gareth Blackburn touched down on 50 minutes.
Toronto finished the stronger to win 14-6 on their competitive debut but Siddal were a great advertisement for amateur rugby league. Congrats to all involved.
Leigh: It was great to see the newly-promoted club register their first win, and what a win it was. In a horrendously difficult run of fixtures to start their season, three games in and they have notched their first victory against the powerhouse of St Helens.
There was nothing fortuitous about this win. They built on the second-half performance against Leeds. I said last week they were showing promising signs and to kick on register that first success against Saints is a massive fillip to the club and its playing staff.
All of a sudden Leigh's start to the season doesn't look as daunting. Next up they have local rivals Wigan. If the Warriors weren't already on notice they certainly are now.
Classy Cas: Wow! Castleford delivered everything we hoped they would. There was much excitement when Friday's Sky Live game got switched to the Halliwell Jones Stadium; everyone was licking their lips at the prospect of watching these two teams go against each other.
In reality, there was just one team on the field. The Tigers were scintillating. Defensively they were as strong as they wanted to be, and offensively as brilliant as we know they can be.
Cas were really impressive, brilliant to watch, and it was close to the complete performance. They're looking more like the real deal than they did in previous years.
Try-riffic: Warrington will be disappointed with their defence for Luke Gale's try from the kick-off, but it took speed of thought and execution from Mike McMeekan and Zak Hardaker.
Gale, who had just failed to convert Greg Eden's try, managed to get himself into position to back Hardaker and score a scintillating try on a night where we had another couple of real crackers.
At the John Smith's Stadium, Ben Jones-Bishop ran the length of the field to score and Danny Brough weaved his way through four tacklers and put a crossfield kick into Jermaine McGillvary's arms for the decisive try.
These tries are examples of the athletic ability of Super League players. They lifted people off the seats and the more we see of this, the better.
Warrington: They were brilliant against Brisbane and gave both Super League and the game of the rugby league a great night out, but it came after a defeat to Catalans in round one and an unacceptable performance for a team of their ability.
After beating the Broncos, they come out against Castleford and put in another below-par display. Zero from two doesn't make for pretty reading.
Warrington will finish in the top eight and are odds-on to finish in the top four (probably top-two) but this squad need to perform constantly at the high levels expected. Defeats are sometimes more acceptable than below-par offerings.
The pressure has ratcheted up. Their next game is at Salford, who were unlucky against Leeds and will not make it easy for the Wolves in their quest for that first win.
Life's a pitch: I don't know if anybody came out well from Friday's fixture reversal. The handling of this from most parties involved was unacceptable.
I feel for Widnes and their players. I'm putting myself in their shoes on Thursday night, preparing for a game at Wigan the following day and then having deal with the game being postponed, possibly being rearranged for Sunday, rumours that it might be not be played at all, and then the game being switched to the Select Security Stadium. That's really difficult.
Admittedly it's difficult for the Wigan players too but I certainly feel far more sympathy for Widnes as it wasn't their doing.
Widnes did exceptionally well to get that game on. They were given a standing start but managed to organise stewarding and get the stadium operational, and came close to sealing it with a win. But the champion side that Wigan are came through with an impressive win.
This sorry state of affairs leading up to kick off needs to be investigated in order to be avoided in the future.
"Unnecessary roughness" (trademark american football) v deliberately passing the ball into a player: People were up in arms after two instances in the opening two weeks where the dummy half deliberately passed the ball into an opposition player who is on the ground and in an offside position, won a penalty.
The most high-profile one was at Huddersfield in round one when Josh Jones threw the ball into Danny Brough.
The head of referees Steve Ganson said there was nothing they can do, that they and the NRL have looked into it and cannot find a solution. Yet just a few days later he is undermined by an RFL statement saying this will be solved by the referee, who will determine whether there was intent and will penalise the person passing the ball if it is contrary to the spirit of the game.
I am not trying to sanitise rugby league but these are cowardly attacks on a vulnerable player. And it's a common occurrence.
It was an immediate action by the RFL as a result of the cry of the crowd. So where is the cry of the crowd for Gareth Ellis and Jason Baitieri?
Ellis had to be helped from the field after a hit from Sam Moa, and Baitieri was left on the ground in pain after a late challenge by Scott Taylor.
I am not trying to sanitise rugby league - I objected to the removal of the shoulder charge - but these are cowardly attacks on a vulnerable player. And it's a common occurrence.
An incident I distinctly remember is Catalans' draw with Salford in March 2015. After passing the ball Todd Carney was hit in the back by Lama Tasi and suffered broken ribs.
These players know they're not going to get the ball. All they want to do is hurt the opponent.
People are up in arms when a dummy half deliberately passes the ball into an offside player and an edict immediately emerges from the governing body, yet two players are left in distress on the field because of actions I would argue are far more in contravention of the spirit of the game, and there is almost a deafening silence.
How do we want our game to look?
