I THOUGHT we put in a thoroughly professional performance in Wales last week.

It was a great experience to tell you the truth, because we went down the day before and that was a good practice for if we have to make similar trips in the future as the club progresses in an upward manner, which we all hope will happen.

The players embraced the weekend and their preparation was exemplary and obviously the performance reflected that.

I am aware that it was West Wales and we scored over 100 points, but I think it is the best we have played for a long time.

We stuck to the structures we had worked on and because we did that the error count came down drastically and when that happens it’s a lot easier to put sides to bed and that’s exactly what we did.

Matty Storton came into the side for his seasonal debut and I was very impressed with him.

Obviously, I have watched the vast majority of the Under-19s games, and there are some really good player in that age group, but for me he has been the standout.

I think that has been reflected in his performances for the Academy and also reflected in his call up to the first team.

He came into the side and just looked totally at ease and I think that justifies the way we are working as a coaching staff, in that we are trying to get a uniformity right the way through from the Under-16s to the first team and that will help players make the step up from 16s to 19s to reserves and then the first team. They will then know what is expected of them and the role they will be playing.

This week we face a difficult trip to Oldham.

Right at the start of the season we identified Oldham, who were relegated alongside ourselves, as one of the main threats to gaining promotion and they may well feel a little disappointed they are not higher up the league.

But on any given day they are quite capable of beating York, Bradford or Workington and believe me they are a very good rugby league team and we will have to be at our best to come away from the Vestacare Stadium with the points.

Earlier this week we had the BullBuilder Junior Player of the Year Awards at Odsal.

I thought it was a great night and it is another example of the club doing things right.

You need to recognise the players who are coming through and make them feel valued, as you do the parents and the supporters, and I thought that’s what we did and did very well.

It was well attended, and it achieved everything we wanted it to and congratulations to Kieran Brining and Storton, who both picked up their respective age group player of the year awards.