Despite the trophy wins of the last four seasons, the inconsistent league form of those years means that however well we've been going at the moment, it only takes one sub-standard display like Friday's to make me fear the worst again. I'm dreading Thursday a little bit.

I agree...especially the bit about "dumb" !! (The ghost of McDermott past rearing its ugly head again).

If Mulhern is given another chance then let's hope he is actually utilised this time.

Losing Watkins as well as Brisoce and Hall puts a whole new perspective on Leeds having the best 1-5 in SL

Don't 'dread' it ...expect it !!. I think Leeds will lose this one (and can probably afford to). I just hope and expect they will then carry on with their winning streak when a few key players start returning.

I had us down for beating Wire but losing this one at Hudds as you knew the run would end somtime soon.Weirdly,I am far more confident of victory this weekend though now given the manner of performance on Friday,you have to believe training this week will have been intensified and the focus on bouncing back will be high amongst the players.

I think a lot depends on which Huddersfield turns up, they've been quite Jekyll and Hyde this season so far. The good version of them then it could well be too much for us given who is/probably will be missing from the side.

Reckon Ward and Keinhorst will miss out. Sinfield will start with McGuire, Sutcliffe to centre, and Ablett back in second row to replace Ward. JJB will start with Singleton on bench.

This. People massively underestimate the collisions the players take and how it affects their recovery after each game.
It's generally understood by conditioners that 5 days is the bare minimum needed for recovery between games.

You can't have read my 2nd post on this topic, I referenced part time players in the first sentence. I also alluded to the fact that they will ache for days due to the high impact nature of the game. If Singleton is carrying an injury or injuries that affect his performance to a great degree, it is negligent of the club to play him. Warrington have played more games than Leeds this year including a draining World Club Challenge, if Singleton is fatigued compared to the Wire forwards we should sack the entire conditioning team. Players will ache, it's,the nature of the game, players will sometimes play with injuries, ditto, but don't tell me a player that is spelled over 80 minutes one week is tired a full 7 days later.

Once the season starts, at any one time you'd expect a few players to be carrying minor injuries despite being fit enough to play.

General team lethargy is a different matter - hard to quantify but clear as day to see. The Bullodgs on the weekend looked the same - flat as a tack. Hasler even sent them back out on the pitch at half time to do warm-up exercises. Could BM's logic in not rotating forwards in that particular game be some kind of punishment aimed at letting them know he wasn't satisfied with their efforts?

I thought they'd done away with the old prescribed time limits in favour of more rigorous assessment? I thought it was more like 48 hours without symptoms?

Quote: El Diablo "I thought they'd done away with the old prescribed time limits in favour of more rigorous assessment? I thought it was more like 48 hours without symptoms?'" There's now a "Graduated Return To Play" (GRTP) protocol that has to be observed. A player cannot return to play within 144 hours of being diagnosed with concussion. So if the diagnosis wasn't made until 9:20 last Friday night, Watkins won't be available for tonight. The only way he can play tonight is if the medical staff assessed him as not suffering a concussion at the time. All concussions have to be registered with the RFL within 24 hours of diagnosis, so they can monitor whether the GRTP protocol is being observed. The protocol is set out at www.sportsconcussion.com/what-is ... y-protocol and while it enables the player to train they cannot return to play until Stage 5 has been completed and each stage takes 24 hours to complete.

Quote: El Diablo "I thought they'd done away with the old prescribed time limits in favour of more rigorous assessment? I thought it was more like 48 hours without symptoms?'" There's now a "Graduated Return To Play" (GRTP) protocol that has to be observed. A player cannot return to play within 144 hours of being diagnosed with concussion. So if the diagnosis wasn't made until 9:20 last Friday night, Watkins won't be available for tonight. The only way he can play tonight is if the medical staff assessed him as not suffering a concussion at the time. All concussions have to be registered with the RFL within 24 hours of diagnosis, so they can monitor whether the GRTP protocol is being observed. The protocol is set out at www.sportsconcussion.com/what-is ... y-protocol and while it enables the player to train they cannot return to play until Stage 5 has been completed and each stage takes 24 hours to complete.

Cheers Andy. Very enlightening.

Back to tonight's game

I think we might struggle tonight, Injuries mounting up and confidence took a knock last week, coupled with Hudd's improvement lately I think they will fancy their chances.

I agree it will be extremely difficult to get a win tonight. The disruption to our back line is a big problem and I fear Brough could expose our back 3. JJB's return is a big boost but we cannot expect him to be fully match fit. We will have to play Sinfield so let's hope his kicking game is on form. The key will be if our pack puts can put us on the front foot often enough.