Out: -
Injured - Fusitua, Olpherts, Gannon, Hudson, Simpson, Warren.
Banned - Bentley, Lisone, Donaldson

Doubt - Oledzki

Miller; Roberts Newman Momirovski Handley; Croft Frawley; Sangare Ackers Goudemand; Martin McDonnell; Smith

O’Connor Holroyd Ruan Nicholson-Watton

Edgell — McCormack Sinfield Lumb

Lumb would drop out if Oledzki is available, but might be better to give Oledzki another week ahead of the St Helens game the week after.

Can’t disagree with this: I might start two recognised props and have Goudemand on the bench but depends on Mik to some extent. I’m watching this one so hopefully my 100% record of 2024 continues!

If we have Holroyd and maybe Ruan/TNW available on the bench, we can afford to start with Sangare and Goudemand maybe and then spell Mik. We probably need to reduce his game time and exposure a bit if we can, but agree the two points away at Leigh count the same as the ones at home to Saints to following week, so it's best possible side here.

If Mik's fit, he plays. Everyone else pretty much picks itself given the absentees.

Has there been any update on Simpson? I know even when he is fit, he will unlikely feature for a while until match fit and until a centre or wing spot opens up again.

I haven’t heard but he was walking around pretty freely with the lads at the last game: I imagine he’ll play in the first reserves fixture TBH

We need to be very careful with Miks shoulder. Same one he had surgery on. Very vulnerable area for RL player. Think he is ruled out with no time scale, until we see how it settles…
Personally don’t think he’ll be risked for good few weeks…..

Think this will be a very similar game to Catalans. Leigh competed really strongly against Saints especially in the middle of the park and were very hard to break down. Probably more important than the Saints game as beating the teams competing for 3rd to 6th will have more impact on the table come end of year.

For me I want to see fewer mistakes and a tighter performance which applies pressure to Leigh. It’s nice to heroically defend but we don’t need to be inviting it.

Forecast looks (at the moment) a little drier so fingers crossed. Holroyd and McDonnell should be better after their first games.

Yep hopefully the pack has a good dig. I'm already nervous about the prospect of an over excited Bentley returning against his old chums from saints so might be good if this week's side showed enough for RS to manage that. Though it's equally possible that Rohan's got one eye on the clock until he can put him straight back in the firing line. Either way, good showings all round would be wonderful following the persistent failure to back up performances last year.

We have more resilience this year. I can see a scenario where Olpherts doesn’t play first grade this year for one. Also Donno will struggle to get back in the 17 once we get troops back. Bentley has a battle with O’Connor and McDonnell.

We have a couple of centres who can cover Mom and Newman rather than moving Martin out…. I just think we have way better strength in depth this year which should lead to more consistency.

Already, and we’re not alone here, it’s obvious we need to keep Croft fit.

I understand what you are saying, but at this point in the season all that matters is the 2 points in the next game.

If we lose against Leigh, win against Saints, or vice versa doesn't matter all that much at this stage. Maybe more important to win the next one to build a bit of belief in the squad that we are moving away from the inconsistency that dogged us last season. But we can't really prioritise effort against who we think will finish 3rd to 6th in another 20 or so rounds, there are too many variables in play and things aren't as predictable as they may seem.

Maximise the points on offer, and take confidence from showing we can match it with the likes of Saints even if we're still a work in progress.

I agree Leigh will be a tough ask.

Leigh are really annoying: I mean fair play to them genuinely they’ve done terrifically well. It just seems wrong that they can be better than Leeds with all our history and resources and academy etc…. Anyway. Hopefully we put in another good performance and start to build real confidence and swagger.