Tuesday 6 June 2017 13:51, UK
Brian Carney has picked out Castleford's latest win, and Bradford's latest loss in this week's column.
Good week for Wakefield
Mason Caton-Brown scored a hat-trick in a thriller against Salford, with Wakefield defying the odds again in a week of contrasting fortunes.
With injuries to Tinirau Arona, Jacob Miller and Adam Walker - with Miller the biggest loss in my opinion - Trinity would have been forgiven for losing, despite riding high in recent weeks.
But it was they who pitched up once again, with Caton-Brown lighting up the stage against his former club.
The impressive and important win aside, you'd argue the best news to come out of the club was the retention of Ben Jones-Bishop.
I've touched on it before, but there is so much good about Wakefield's recruitment and player management; their frugal selections puts other free-spending clubs to shame.
Good week for Featherstone
Not far down the road from Wakey, only a few miles, is another club cutting its cloth accordingly.
Featherstone's vital draw against Hull KR in front of their biggest crowd - boosted by KR's fantastic travelling support - was a significant one.
Featherstone have now put three points between themselves and fifth-place Halifax, so it's a big result for the club.
With so much good happening in Wakefield and Castleford, it's important that Featherstone ride along with that - and they appear to be doing exactly that.
Good week for the Vikings
Widnes will in all likelihood find themselves in the bottom four after 23 rounds, but psychologically it would have been a huge boost to be lifted off Super League's cellar with their win over the Dragons.
Their last three results have been a close loss to Castleford, a victory over Leeds, and a win over Catalans. That's quite a run from a team that was at the bottom of the league for so long.
While they are likely destined for bottom four, a run such as their current one - and the return of some major players - should ensure they are not in a scrap for survival come the Qualifiers later in the season.
Bad week for the Dragons
A team that might find themselves in a scrap for survival are Catalans.
They essentially rolled over against the Vikings - when Widnes scored their last try, which was Buchanan's on 73 minutes, the body language of the Dragons players spoke volumes.
They are a club in real danger of having a season that ends in a Million Pound Game fight for survival, and it shouldn't be that way. Where do they go from here? They have already fired their coach.
Michael Monaghan and Jerome Guisset were incredibly hard-working as players, and I believe they are showing the same qualities as coaches, but they are being let down by the playing group.
Intriguingly, a headline in one of the rugby league papers is linking Tony Smith with the Dragons, with Smith having worked with Monaghan at the Wolves.
Where that comes from I'm not sure, but perhaps the Dragons are hoping to get the same reaction from their side as Warrington got from Smith when he came in in 2009; lighting a fire underneath an underachieving organisation.
Bad week for Bradford
Speaking of underachieving organisations, there is probably no greater disappointment than the saga surrounding the Bulls - and a saga is exactly what it is.
Last week's defeat to the Rams has left them bottom of the table and eight points adrift of second-last Dewsbury. It's time for Bradford to start contemplating life in League One.
The supporters of Bradford, and the game as a whole, were promised that this takeover would be different from all the others, but there are still nearly as many questions as there have been in the past.
I will offer one straight away: What are we to believe Geoff Toovey has been doing for the past months in Bradford?
With results on the pitch not going the Bulls' way, and a circus of sorts developing around Toovey and his visa, Bradford fans would be forgiven for thinking 'Here we go again'.
Bad week for 11 of the Super League clubs
In beating St Helens, Castleford have made the most remarkable of statements to the rest of Super League.
Daryl Powell rested four of his key players and gave two players Super League debuts, as well as fielding some fringe squad players, in protestation of the back-to-back fixtures his troops have had to endure.
His side then welcomed a Saints team who were buoyed by back-to-back victories and an extended break, so - like Wakefield - Cas had several factors they could point to if they lost.
The Tigers went into the break 12-4 down, so they were essentially done and dusted.
But they fought back for the win, and if you look at the seconds that followed the referee's final whistle, you will see what that victory meant to them.
Cas have done it pretty in the past, they've shown that, but on Sunday they showed that they back themselves in great adversity with their backs to the wall.
There is little doubt in my mind they are absolutely the real deal, and would be worthy champions come October.
