How far away are JJB, Ablett and Crosby? Surely Kal to 1, Sutty to centre, Merrin to SR and Cam Smith to 13. Donaldson, JJB, Ablett or Crosby to come in, more if Cuthbo is out. Newman's defence is no where near good enough right now.

A must won game by definition is one that decides an outcome of a completion. E.g. every knockout cup game is a must win game or a game that decides the outcome of a championship is also a must win game. So until it becomes mathematically impossible to win the championship unless the next match is won then you cannot use this saying accurately.

To suggest any game is a must win game so early on the season is ridiculous.

I hope you are not planning to carry on this nonsense every week as you did last season?

I'm amazed he remembers which name to log in under

Liam Whitton and Iwan Stephens will share full back role this year in 19s this season. Both look decent prospects but neither are anywhere near at the minute.

Do you think we can lose 4 out of our first 5 games and go on to win the league leaders shield?
I don’t, if we lose this fixture we will be out of the running for that trophy.

This must win garbage is really fn boring every week. Give it a rest.

League leaders shield? Christ team is in rebuild.

Completely agree

I’m a bit out of the loop, is Golding injured? Surely a straight swap for Walker if he is?

Also I’d rather play Newman at centre than Sutcliffe. If Newman is the future centre for Leeds then let’s use him as a backup when needed. Though of course not needed anyway if we use Golding.

I’d be very wary of moving Watkins from centre. We’re just developing partnerships all across the back line and I’d rather leave it as unchanged as possible. Plus we may need his ability to find a try from nothing at centre than we might not get at full back.

Think Pete Smith was saying Golding is now fit, as far as he's aware, so hopefully that's the fix. I often think players come back too early from hamstring injuries, they are buggers and very often go again. If an injury is bad enough to leave the field for one week, it's probably bad enough to sit out at least the following week.
This is why I would be very tempted to keep Golding in the squad, he can cover full back and wings, possibly hooker at a pinch, and all to a reasonable standard.
I could handle Sutcliffe to FB because I don't much like him in the pack so far, certainly while we have better options there. Best way to protect the FB is not to leak line breaks in the first place IMO.

I don't like Sutcliffe in any position. Is his deal up at the end of this year?

Even with the end of his contract in sight you'd have to think we'll renew it - if they saw no future for him in a position where we have some depth then surely he wouldn't make the side now?

Furner has seen something he likes- so far this year whenever he has been fit, he's played long minutes.

He does have a broad skill set. Kevin Sinfield made a great career out of being a too-slow stand off or a too-small loose forward. But he was just a better player, could defend, and added captaincy and goal kicking. Without those attributes, purely as a player, he wouldn't have gone nearly as far IMO.

Problem I have with Sutty (and to some extent Cam Smith too) is their defence. It's hard for lads coming in to open age, the physicality is different, but that doesn't excuse grabbing and poor technique/attitude in D. Look at Rob Burrow - smallest guy on the field every week, hardly ever saw him back off from, or miss, a tackle - and would make very important tackles on the edges too.

I'd also add Adrian Morley into the argument. Now I know he is a once-every-10-years kind of player, but even at Academy level he would just get his shoulder in and whack anybody, everybody.

I miss Leeds having a bit of that Graham-Murray-era bite in defence.

Agree, something we’ve been missing since Leuluai.