If Handley is on our wing you can expect an even bigger barrage of cross field kicks and he has shown he is not up to SL level as a defender. I agree Briscoe on paper would be the safest option but he has lost his mojo at present. We have been weak defensively on our right side for quite some time and other sides know it. I would like to see Watkins covering further out

Yes young Walker would be a risk but he is a full back and has shown he has the class and temperament so far. IMO he would be the lesser risk

I agree with you about the shambles inside the right winger it has been a weakness that other sides identified long ago. I think Watkins should defend wider out and the back row should provide the cover inside him.

However against Cas, Handley made 4 errors and 4 missed tackles (he actually made one tackle!) Briscoe made 3 errors and 1 missed tackle and Watkins made 2 errors and 4 missed tackles. Much of this was because Cas attacked us with skill and speed down their left side but there were some poor individual defensive performances too.

Others have suggested that we should swop Hall to the right wing which would improve the high ball defense but perhaps not the tackling and positional problems.

We really are missing Keinhorst IMO who does so much of the un-glamorous work on defense

But not on our right side defence which is where the problem is.
The issue to me is that we don't seem to have anyone coming through at the lower levels with the physical presence to dominate in the air.
FWIW I don't think BJB is the answer. We need a younger version of Joel Monaghan - without all the baggage.

His brother Luke has actually been in tremendous form for us (Fev) this year (well until he was injured the other day), not the talent of Tom of course but has been a revelation this year. In fact Scott Turner has played so well on the other wing that lots of fans feel we ought to stick with that pair, even though Handley has done well for us when he has come in. Of course, you don't get tested defensively at Championship level anything like you do in SL.

I'm sure Brian and his 1st rate assistants know how to coach defence.

Perhaps if Jones-Buchanan and Watkins could contain their enthusiasm a little better rather than shooting out of the line on hero plays the structure would work as intended.

and the ref is




























james child. again for leeds v wire

not even a suprise at this point

certainly stinks

Even taking out the fact it's Child and he's had real crap performances in these games recently, it is strange for a ref to get the same fixture so often, even with the small pool of refs.

Come on Barry open your other eye,JC has to play his part in the Wire revival.

Without Jones-Buchanan and Watkins enthusiasm that right hand edge would be even worse, McGuire on the inside and Handley/Briscoe on the outside are all over the place.

Shooting out of the line regularly is a schoolboy play. Nothing at all beats a straight line in defence. The only reason for shooting out is when the defence is shot already and there may be more hope in clattering a player as they get the ball. If you do it regularly any half decent half back will use the inevitable hole in the line to their advantage.

This edge defence is a bit of a bugbear for me, as it really grates to see dog-legged defences have tries run through them. A straight line that moves forward or scrambles sideways as a unit is the basis of defence in RL. I'm frequently stunned at how such a basic of the game isn't done well in SL.

Same 19 other than Garbutt replacing Alex Sutcliffe.
Big 3 games in 8 days all winnable.

This is a must win game after last week.