Walker
Golding
A. Sutcliffe
Newman
Handley
Dwyer
Myler
Ava
Parcell
Oledzki
Donaldson
Hurrell
Merrin

C. Johnson
Watkins
Singleton
Cuthbertson

Walker
Newman - prefer him at centre but he'd give his all to any role and Briscoe just fills me with dread
Watkins - he's miles off but he won't be dropped and I hope he returns to something like soon
Hurrell
Handley
Lolohea- at least he's got some form of a kick and passing game. He does though leave grave concerns defending his edge. Straight swap for Sutcliffe if this persists and I've not seen enough from him but even Mclelland, exuberance of youth and he does like a tackle.
Myler
Peteru
Parcell
Oledszki
Merrin - 13 suits him best but we've literally nothing out wide so would like to see what he could bring. That said, I don't know if he could be that type of player.
Smith
Cuthbertson

Dwyer
Sutcliffe - utility value/back row
Ava - bring him on 20 mins in so he's a bit more to run at
Singleton- best of a bad bunch summed up here

I feel dirty writing that team down but it's the best of a bad bunch scenario.

This game I think is more to do with performance and effort . For once it would be nice to see Leeds playing with a bit of pride

Walker
Briscoe
Watkins
Hurrell
Handley
Maloney
Myler
Singleton
Dwyer
Ava
Ferres
Sutcliffe
Merrin

Smith
Lunt
Oledski
Albert

If Leeds can’t beat this Wakefield team next week, after our week off and there bashing from Saints, we really are in trouble.

Wakey will be saying good job it's only Leeds next week.

un fantasy rugby

Walker
Briscoe
Watkins
Hurrell
Handley
Myler
McLelland
Ava
Dwyer
Oledski
Ferres
Smith
Merrin

Sutcliffe
Mustapha
Cuthbertson
Newman

Depending on how injuries play out this week.

Ferres could actually be the only answer there is at the moment to that back row, depressing as that is. Wouldn't see any benefit to Newman on the bench though, especially when Sutcliffe is there and can provide utility.

Lolohea missing indefinitely as it appears Scott Murrell has eaten him?

Really enjoyed that game, but of a throw back to an earlier era, but much more enjoyable than most of what SL has served up for the last few years.

Enjoyed the contest, quality was pretty average but yeah there's a fine line between developing the full time athletes and the defensive structure/wrestle that's stifled the game.

Watching the NRL nowadays I think you can make a genuine case for moving to 12 a side. Defensive control of the ruck is so extreme its really hard to make space properly because defences are generally well set almost the whole time. The sad thing is that there are some incredible wingers around but you rarely get to see them in full flight because the covering players are so quick now that even when they get half a gap its normally gone in a few strides.

Yep. I’ve thought this for a few years as the defences/wrestle have got so good. It doesn’t matter how good a half you are or what line you run as a back rower there are the gaps there that there used to be and they’ve now learnt how to survive set after set on their own line.

I also think there’s a couple of smaller changes we can make as a game to open things up more. We could stop defences moving up until the acting half back picks the ball up rather than on the foot of the tackles player. Might seem like a small move but it would give attack’s an extra second before the line moves up.

We could also change the rule for going in touch from a scrum to the opposition to a play the ball for the attacking team 5m in from touch. This would turn encourage teams to attack down the wings more and effectively open up space on the pitch that is a bit dead at the moment because wingers don’t want to get pushed in touch and lose possession.

The last one you could only have that way if within the opposition's 20 - you'd want to reward good defence elsewhere?

Whilst RL has shown a willingness to tinker with rules to make things flow better, from an entertainment perspective we might be nearing the point where more fundamental changes are needed. The only other tinkering changes that might have a real impact would be further reductions in interchanges.

There are always unintended consequences, but there are some other radical changes I'd like smarter people than me to look at - how about disabling the wrestle by not letting more than 2 players get involved in a tackle for example?

To me the entertainment angle of RL is simply less than it was (that's no the same as 'better' in terms of which teams from which era would win). There should be no universe where defending teams are happy to give away penalties in their own 20m because they are confident of defending it. The balance between attack and defence is completely wrong if that's the case (excluding Leeds of course!)