Im still agsinst the whole 8's scenario.
The top 8 rewards failure & both add extra games when we desperately need less & a gap for at least 1 international match.
It should revert to the top 6 imo whilst the bottom 2 play away v top 2 in the Championship in straight winners take all games.

I dont disagree in principal but unfortuanately clubs wouldnt be able to survive financially with less fixtures.

10 points doesn't get you away from the MPG (notwithstanding points difference).
Best not to mess around with Hudds game

I think the team owes the fans for our loyalty this season and to prove how professional they are. So would expect them to put out the strongest team possible in all of the remaining matches to finish the middles unbeaten and have momentum for next year. If players are fitness doubts then rest them but I'd be against wholesale changes.

Brian McDermott and the Leeds club have never struck me as lacking honesty.
Hopefully the player show integrity too.
Of course as a Leigh fan I have a vested interest in Leeds doing well but our sport needs P&R to be a realistic and viable possibility.
The closed shop of SL may be more intense but I think there is a lack of resilience of some teams under pressure and we have benefitted from that I believe.

Really looking forward to the Headingley game

give the kids a go, we should win anyway and we will benefit far more from some of the youngsters getting a game than we would putting 60points on someone.

With the 3 guys on loan to Fev and McGuire and Delaney injured then it's not like we have a lot spare players to bring in anyway.

If anybody is carrying a knock then yeah give him an extra week off. You could rest one of the usual starting props and bring Mullally in and maybe give Handley a game but nothing else really needed.

Still a scenario were 10 points might not be enough and it be down to points difference.

Round 5 - Leeds beat Batley, Hudds beat Leigh, HKR beat London

Round 6 - Hudds beat Leeds, Leigh beat Batley, HKR beat Fev

Round 7 - Leigh beat Leeds, HKR beat Hudds

That would leave the table

Leigh - 12 pts
Hudds - 10 pts
HKR - 10 pts
Leeds - 10 pts

So we need to beat Batley and score plenty of points doing it, that's why I said at the start of the 8's we had to be ruthless vs Fev and try and rack up as big a score as possible. Hudds away regardless of situation/format is always usually one of our toughest/closest away trips of the season in recent years and Leigh will come to us potentially still needing to win to secure a SL spot and they're full of confidence right now.

I'd go with:

Golding
Briscoe
Watkins
Moon
Hall
Lilley
Burrow
Galloway
Segyaro
Singleton
Ferres
Ablett
JJB

Hallas
Garbut
JJR
Mullaly

I'd also consider giving Sanderson a game, but as I don't think he'll be a Leeds player next year, it's pointless.

I'd go with:

1. Golding
2. Briscoe
3. Watkins
4. Keinhorst
5. Handley
6. Lilley
7. Burrow
8. Galloway
9. Segeyaro
10. Mullalley
11. Ward
12. Achurch
13. Smith

14. Hallas
15. Garbutt
16. Singleton
17. Jordan-Roberts

Should be more than enough for seeing off Batley. I don't particularly care about racking up a big score. It's a great opportunity to play some of the promising youngsters and get some first teamers a rest for what will be 2 tough games against Huddersfield and Leigh.

Haven't our first teamers had a week off due to Wembley? They shouldn't need a rest and certainly don't deserve one.

In any event I'm with the ruthless approach - the aim must be to not just win this game but by as many as possible. Until we're mathematically certain of survival any other approach is negligent in the extreme. Additionally, IMO the absolute worst way to prepare for a 'big' game is by not playing as hard as possible in the run-up.

As a Leigh fan, I would (reluctantly!) suggest that you rest all your senior players in the final match against us. You will already be safe by then and you could rest all the senior players and jet them off somewhere warm - an ideal preparation for pre-season training!

Totally agree, being so poor this season has given the players plenty of empty weekends. In previous years we have had qualifying semi-finals and Grand Finals to prepare for so discussion around resting players made sense. This year we have a maximum of 3 games left (assuming we don't cock it up and end up in the MPG) players should be fresher than any recent season so go out and continue to demonstrate what could have been. The long suffering fans (if one off season can be called long suffering - ask a Wakey fan!) deserve that from such a disappointing season. There is no big prize on offer, just a damp squib of a finish.

Same 17 as last week for me unless any are injured.