I think a lot of the negativitity is probably down to the realisation that we are further away this season than we were last season despite bringing a load of players in. Im still very confident that we will get 3rd or 4th but does it matter? Grix's interview had me thinking that it probably would not even be worth turning up last night, surely fans need to hear that going in to a game like last night you expect the players to be up for it and to raise their game playing one of the best in the division. He really did not give off that impression.

With regards the promotion race I had Fev as favs but the last games we have played I might just have Leigh edging it which I actually think would be a shame as Leigh will go up and have a complete rebuild and likely come back down where as I think Fev have the better chance of actually staying up. The thing that will worry Leigh though and was very much the case in the Bradford game as well and I think PH mentions it, Leigh totally dominated the game last night but only managed to win by 12 points, if Mcdonald picked up an injury or their pack has an off day they are really going to struggle to score points as they have very little flair and its all brute force at the moment. It is working though and they will have time to address those issues before they play in the final.

On last nights showing, Leigh looked stronger, quicker and more powerful than Fev. With the gulf in budget its difficult for us to compete on attracting the same quality of player. The downside for Leigh from what I saw is more reliance on the brute force and if anything I thought we moved the ball about a bit more when we had the opportunity. Reynolds offers little for them at HB, and so they rely on Mellor to direct things plus have a real quality full back in Aekins,

Giz, Lammy had already said he picked last nights squad expecting a very hard physical game , we did tough it up the middle , we can play the stylish stuff as well , it’s horses for courses .
Reynolds has taken a bit of stick for a while now from fans , but when he runs at the line he is very effective , and loves to probe down Nenes left wing .
We also have 3 very good and very different hookers , Ipape didn’t play last night but is more of a runner , and Hitchcox is a very fast winger .
We are due to announce a couple of signings soon , I think you will then see a more stylish Leigh , when Fax visit the LSV .
Yeah Fax lost but it’s not that bad for you , I wasn’t far off in my prediction .

A running hooker relies on a big pack to give him space, it doesn't mean you will play more expansive. With Lam as coach I wouldn't bank on being too stylish...will still be structured sets using the extra power in the pack to get the opposition back pedalling. But that's the modern RL game for you!

Yeah agree with this. I don't expect Leigh to play any better rugby through the season and the main reason for that is probably down to the fact that they won't have to and they have not got the half backs to do that.

Ipape is very quick from a standing start , he scored a length of the field try against GB 3 years ago , and has a big pack , who are mobile.
Lammy will get us moving playing the right teams , we have played Fev , York ,and Fax away , only Batley now of the challenging teams , no disrespect to the others of course .
As for our halves, Mellor has had a great start to the season , yeah Reynolds a bit quiet , but Hingano is a half, Ipape can play at 6 , and as I’ve said we have a couple of signings to announce soon ,one being a half.But time will tell .

What we are talking? Some lads from the NRL? I wanted to know actually how 'reliant' the business is on Beaumont - Does it concern you as a fan as to whether with him at the helm you can build a sustainable team and culture? It was good to see Chester coming in as football manager so guess he is thinking more long term

How many overseas players do Leigh have on their books. I thought there was a quota?

There is a quota but apparently only in SL , in the Championship it is open .

At least one is Fro the NRL , I’m not concerned in any way about Derek , yes we are totally reliant on him , without him we would still be around in the Championship but spending a fraction of what Derek spends , so it’s obvious really , no Derek no Leigh Centurions as we know it , he is vital to the Club ,but by bringing in Chester and Lammy he doesn’t have the clout he had with Jukesy and Duffy .Lammy apparently gave Derek a list of players he wanted , before he signed up as Coach ,and Derek signed most of them .

Derek is a good bloke , makes a lot of non publicised donations to many good causes , is devoted to Leigh Centurions , it’s a shame the RFL won’t let us have an Academy side .
And to answer how many imports we have at Leigh , I reckon 10.

The distribution of half backs around the league seems much more even than in previous years which is partly why the likes of Leigh and Fev are beatable if everything goes right on a given day.

Mellor's very good on his day but inconsistent like most half backs, and in my view there are at least ten half backs in the league who are of similar ability level to Reynolds.

We have chopped and changed our half backs at Fev and whilst they have been steady none have really been outstanding so far.

Fax seem better at half back than in previous years and I have been surprised by Aston who seems to be playing better than he has ever done.

York have healthy half backs this year unlike last year and they have all had their moments.

Gilmore at Batley and Patton at Bradford are both very good players at Championship level, I'm not sure they haven't been at least as good as the halves at Leigh or Fev.

Thackeray is still producing the goods at Sheffield, the Cumbrian teams have some talent too with the likes of Doran, Sammut and Bishop. To me, there isn't a lot of difference between the top dozen or so half backs across the division.

Well i thought we never really gave our selves a chance with dropping the ball on the first and second tackle time and again. And not playing the ball correctly we just couldn't due to these mistakes put any sustained pressure on leigh and then we would back that up with further mistakes like kicking out on the full and giving away penalties which a side like leigh will punish you for. I have to say they are a number of leighs pack i would be more then happy to see play for fax those type of players are exactly what we are missing but they cost the type of money we don't have. The biggest worry for me going forward is we do not seem able to put close to a 80 minute performance in so far this season. The closest we came was fev away where we probably did for 60 minutes but still lost. This as led to a other poor start to a season and we do not seem to have progressed much at all from last season despite having a better squad. I suppose it comes down to if the directors of this club are ruthlessly ambitious or are content with the way things are going i for one are not but i am always happy to be proved wrong. I wonder if this continues would simon do a richard agar and admit he can not get the best out of the squad and resign.

The issue with grixs’ philosophy of moving the ball fast to tire out the big forwards is that when you drop the ball , don’t play the ball correctly give penalties away etc your inviting the big forwards to relentlessly smash into you set after set and therefore that philosophy is being undone by his own players .

We don’t have the big players to compete with the likes of Leigh so we have to do something different; we were not going to beat them in a forward battle. But I’m not sure you can blame a coach for the dropped balls or poor PTB’s. I once recall Malcolm Reilly responding to a heckling fan at Thrum Hall to the effect “what you want me to do, run on and catch the *****ng ball for them?!”. A couple of the missed PTB’s were at a crucial time in the 2nd half (Tangata and Walmsley) but I thought they could have gone the either way with defenders interfering to stop us getting a quick play – but defenders get the benefit now. As for not getting the best out of his players, if anyone is suggesting there was a lack of effort, then they were watching the wrong game.

Personally I agree with grixs’ philosophy, just listening to woodburn halls interview postgame and he acknowledges it’s individual errors that are costing the team , tbh I think Grixs coaching style would suit the super league more . I think some players just aren’t good enough to carry out his instructions.