Last updated 16:39, Thursday, 24 April 2008

A rugby revolution may be taking shape at Whitehaven as Ged Stokes speeds up the side, but it’s hard to keep pace with all The Recre comings and goings.

Richard Fletcher following John Duffy to Widnes means Haven have parted company with two of their star players in a matter of weeks for one reason or another.

I’m sorry to see him go but I commend the club for being straightforward in the reason: Mainly financial. In other words, Haven can’t afford him any more as a top earner, they must cut their coat according to the cloth.

More than once last season, I rated Fletch as Whitehaven’s best forward signing for years but again for, one reason or another, he’s been unable to reproduce the same form.

It’s disappointing for the fans – one wag wondered whether Haven had become the Widnes feeder club – but, in Fletcher’s case, there’s been a few Chinese whispers and his loss comes as no real surprise to some Haven insiders.

It’s good that the club still intends to recruit (at the right price) to help achieve the best possible results and a place has even been reserved in the side for tonight’s eagerly-awaited TV clash at Salford for Halifax back-rower Andy Gorski.

The Super League quest is over and maybe too much money has been spent on players who weren’t good enough to get there.

One thing we don’t want to see now, especially with the gates already well down, is another vicious circle but, bear in mind, the club has just been pulled from the financial mire and still has big budget constraints.

Fletcher’s absence from the team gave Howard Hill a rare chance to start games and isn’t this perennial impact player making a statement!

It’s certainly refreshing. Haven have been expressing themselves in the last few games and are no longer wingless wonders.

So take an early bow Ged Stokes – he’s set his charges free to play the expansive, more fluid football Paul Crarey talked about.

Haven are decidedly watchable and hopefully the hundreds of floating fans will soon be tempted back.

That’s why Wigan at home in the Cup would have been so much more exciting rather than going to the JJB Stadium – but an exciting money spinner against Trent Barrett & Co can’t be sniffed at.

Nice to see some good old fashioned backing up, smart off-loading, moving the ball wide and getting the ball out to the wings.

Ged Stokes may as well have been wearing a crown of thorns when he moved into the job – that’s how popular his appointment was among a fair number of the Haven faithful – but if this goes on, the much maligned ex-Town man could be wearing a halo before too long.

Especially if Haven go well before the Sky cameras in Coronation Street territory tonight – an acid test against Salford.

Whitehaven might have been given some encouragement by Salford’s cup thrashing by Sam Obst and the Wakefield Wildcats but not too much because it was yet another illustration of the gap between Super League and the rest – by the evidence of this, the chasm is ever widening.

Haven must go to the Willows without any fear and play with the shackles off and they might just have a chance of beating or putting the wind up another of the Super League hopefuls, making a big point in the process.

Sometimes you have to risk losing to win and, if they can take on Salford with an element of some surprise, so much the better.

Salford’s Shaun McCrae rightly summed up the difference between the rugby league classes as pace and tempo – Haven have definitely upped their tempo under Stokes and with a bit of added recovery time it will be disappointing if they can’t match the Robbie Paul-led side for pace.

They can certainly do so on the wings and one of the most pleasing features is the sight of Craig Calvert and Ade Adebesi in full cry.

There’s nothing more spectators like to see than speedy wingers in full cry and wingers like nothing more than scoring spectacular tries as Calvert and Adebisi did against Lezignan. It’s hard to say who was the more delighted, though you have to say happy-go lucky Ade wears a perpetual smile and, like Hill, could be described as a revelation.

And, if the new head coach is slowly but surely confounding his critics, then so too is Saia Makisi. At first, he looked to me more of the basketball player he once was but now he’s cutting the mustard as a powerful centre who can also shift a subtle ball to his winger, Calvert.