Yes.

5 minutes in the GF did the job.

His offload (all-be-it a scruffy one) was the game breaker to create the space for McGuire to win it last week.

All-be-it a gap with Radford type shape in it.

Alll well and good if Alis is on the pitch for longer than 10 minutes, but a complete waste of a gamble if not.



Hull played with 12 men last week, and lost one of their forwards from that team inside 10 minutes. I would not hold onto anything from last week as a given for this week.

You could say he always comes with a gamble!

He will play.

But we still needed to break them down after a few bombed half chances / full chances.

There's a few bits we cab hold onto from that game. Leeds looked after the ball a lot better and the defence was better because we didn't put as much pressure on ourselves.

How much the man down had to do with that, would be hard to guage.

An area which wasn't improved last week, which will need to be this week, is the general kicking game. We need to lock Wigan down.

Webb
Hall
Smith
Senior
Donald
Sinfield
McGuire
Lleulai
Buderus
Ambler
Pitts
Delaney
Ablett

Burrow
Lauititi
Eastwood
Bailey

: )

that aint gonna happen of course.....but would at least like to see Hall remain on the right with Donald remaining on left as per last week's match.

Webb
Hall
Smith
Senior
Donald
McGuire
Burrow
Leuluai
Buderus
Ambler
JJB if fit (if not I would choose Diskin played as 2nd row not hooker)
Clarkson
Sinfield

Eastwood
Lauititi if fit (if not Diskin then Delaney as back rowers)
Ablett
Bailey

We need to start well with good go forward hence a start for Ambler. Although Senior was good last week in the pack, he is our best centre so he should partner Donald with Hall's height needed to counter the danger of Richards in the air. As Wigan have a good kicking game we should be planning to close down Tomkins & Deakin with Burrows speed and not one of the forwards.

Webb
Hall
Smith
Senior
Donald
McGuire
Burrow
Lleulai
Buderus
Ambler
Pitts
Ablett
Sinfield

Ambler
Eastwood
Bailey
Delaney

Diskin is pointless in the second row/loose forward; Buderus should be playing 60/70+ mins, if he needs a break then burrow/sinfield/webb/smith/etc can cover for 10/20 minutes.

Delaney showed last week (and most of the season) that he isn't a centre. His decision making is very poor, and in close games you need all the chances you get. His defence is good, his attitude/work ethic is good, he's pretty good in the collision, etc but in half a gap you wish that it was in seniors hands and not his.

kirke - his mobility is very poor, anyone with good feet makes his look silly. hasn't added anything in attack in the last few weeks

ali - how he's got another year is beyond me. even in his prime he was very much a passenger that would only come into the game for 10/20 minutes, but when was the last time he actually did something special or was a major factor in turning a game/winning the game

Id go with Eastwood, Lauitiiti and Leuluai all coming off the bench. We need some impact, something we lacked in the Final.

Good luck Leeds!

1. Webb
2. Donald
28. Smith
4. Senior
5. Hall
6. McGuire
7. Burrow
8. Leulaui
9. Buderus
16. Bailey
3. Delaney
18. Ablett
13. Sinfield

14. Diskin
12. Lauitiiti
15. Eastwood
24. Ambler

To win this game Sinfield, McGuire, Burrow and Buderus all need big games, we win this with our kicking game, keep Wigan down their end of the field, keep them turning around and don't kick to Richards. Wigan will control the ruck and the collision better than us there's no doubt about that in my mind, but if we keep our error count down and complete our sets then there will be opportunities for us to score, Leeds 18-10 Wigan.

I see yer points mate but we need big games from 1-17 across the park imo.
P.s Great comeback yesterday in "fergie time"

With no JJB & Clarkson I would go along with your selections but would start with Ambler rather than Bailey to give us some go forward. I also would play Buderus for most of the game at 9 and utilise Diskin as a 2nd rower. He tackles well and has more gor forward and guts than Kirke. Also I would swop wingers to have Hall against Richards for the high kicks which will come.