WE had a very tough game against the London Broncos last Friday. We have taken some stick from several areas regarding our performances lately but I thought we played really well.

Our defence was magnificent all night and we had to withstand a tremendous onslaught from London.

On attack, I thought we went well. We made a lot of busts but we took some wrong decisions and dropped too much ball.

That put a lot of pressure on us and that is why we had to defend so much in the last quarter.

The pleasing thing is that we are making the breaks and, as we showed at Castleford, when we do put things together we can take any side apart.

Once again the curse of the knee injuries has struck again and this time it is a massive blow losing Danny Peacock for the season.

Danny is obviously gutted at the extend of his injury but I am sure that he will be fit and fighting back next season.

It is amazing that we have had four knee injuries already this season and I was one of them.

But fortunately for me, I was able to get back playing fairly quickly. We seem to get a spate of injuries of the same type. Last year it was broken legs and groins, and this year it is knees.

Let's hope that this is the end of the serious injuries for 1998.

My mate Brian McDermott has been getting on the try-scoring act lately. Two against Castleford and one again last Friday against the Broncos.

Long-Shanks, as I call him, tends to drop off as the season progresses, so he likes to get his tries in early.

Seriously, his try against London came at a very important time in the game for us and put us well in front.

On Sunday we play Warrington and it will be a tough call for us. I was very surprised that they lost to Huddersfield and I will be having a few words with my old mate Neil Harmon to see if he can pass on some tips.

I think that every team will try and play a little differently against the Bulls because we are champions and they will want to put one over on us.

It is always difficult going to Warrington but we are up for it and we will give it our best shot.

Our Academy side had another impressive win against the Broncos. They are really playing well at the moment and it will be interesting to see how many of them are selected when the Academy County sides are selected this week.

I would be most surprised if there are not three or four in the respective teams.

Finally, it is good to see another friend of mine and a fellow member of the Hookers Union, Keiran Cunningham back playing the game.

Keiran is one of the best hookers in the game and it is a tremendous boost for St Helens to have him back in the side.

He had his operation last year before the Tests but unfortunately he couldn't make it in time to face the Aussies.

Once he is fully fit, he will be quickly back to his best and players like Keiran are what the game needs every week to make it even better.

It will also be a boost to the Great Britain selectors knowing that Keiran will be available for the Tests against New Zealand later this season because he really is an international class player.

I hope that plenty of you will be able to come to Warrington on Sunday. It really does make a difference knowing that we have a lot of support behind us.

This is particularly important at places like Warrington, where the home fans really get behind their team. I hope to see you at the game.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.