It's Widnes Vikings at home tomorrow night. Does the mood still remain positive after those opening three defeats?

Yes it does.

We’ve obviously stated time and again how no-one’s happy over the start we’ve made.

But during our review of last Thursday’s game at Leeds, we asked the question of whether we looked like a team that was zero wins from three or one that’s starting to get into its groove. The answer was obviously the latter.

In that game at Leeds, we showed our quality, but we showed our naivety as well.

There were some individual errors and some one-on-one misses defensively which gifted Leeds points.

But we showed that when we do play patient, error-free football we can cause any team problems. It was playing that way that helped us turn an 18-0 deficit after 25 minutes into a 24-22 lead going into the final stages.

There aren’t many teams capable of going to Headingley, gift Leeds such a big lead and then come so close to winning that game, but that’s exactly what we did.

So the message this week is to make sure we stick to our processes, stick to knocking out our sets and stay patient. Doing that will reap its reward.

Even though we’re still searching for our first win, the belief in each other remains very good.

They key is to keep on believing when we get out on the field.

Leeds eventually won last week’s game on the back of what seemed a pretty harsh refereeing call in the build-up to it. Would it be fair to say that in the opening three games you’ve not really had the rub of the green when it’s come to the 50-50 calls?

You could say that.

But, at the same time, are we helping ourselves in that one?

And if we are on the back of any tough calls, are we letting it affect us too much? May be we are.

That clearly shouldn’t be the case. We should be focusing all our attention on what we can control ourselves with the way we play.

What the man in the middle does or what the opposition crowd does is ultimately beyond our control.

But we know if we keep sticking to our processes, the tide will turn and our luck will change.

Looking at Friday’s game, and you know you’re in for another tough test after Widnes thrashed Wakefield 58-16 at home on Sunday, don’t you?

The return of Kevin Brown was key for them.

He missed the game at Leeds the week before and they struggled, but he came back against Wakefield and played well – which was always going to be the case – and Widnes played well on the back of it.

Lloyd White is also getting some big raps and is another player who we’ll need to watch.

Clearly, their League position shows they’re in a better position than we are (they’re on three points, with a win, draw at home to Wigan and loss), but if we do learn the lessons from Leeds and keep on improving, we know Friday night can be our night.

All being well, the fans will be there in good numbers at the John Smith’s Stadium to help bring us home.

And do you have a full-fit squad at your disposal?

Almost.

The three on dual-registration duty at Oldham (Oliver Roberts, Josh Johnson and Nathan Mason played in the 42-6 home triumph over Coventry Bears) have reported back okay.

But Bobby Fairbank took a head knock play for on-loan for Halifax at Batley (Fax won 6-2).

Obviously, Bobby is keen to play as much as possible, but he’ll now have to go through the thorough process required when it comes to injuries of this nature.