Here we go! Championship rugby starts in 7 days.

Discuss the game/squad/opposition/build up/predictions below.

Can't wait for this. Sounds like Leigh are selling plenty of tickets. Hopefully we'll be there in big numbers backing the team. I'll be there! COYB!

Think you'll bring 2000 and crowd should be 7000 or above, understand well over 4000 sold so far

I'd expect a pretty big Bulls following to be honest.

rlSounds like Lauaki is fighting to break into the starting 17 for this game.rl

Got tickets for this away one, looking forward to getting behind the team for our opening Championship match. Fixture planners probably couldn't have picked a tougher opener but hopefully Jimmy and his team will have us ready to meet the challenge.

It'll be interesting to see what Jimmy does re Lauaki, throwing him into the side without a pre season or a warm up match would seem a pretty risk move. But he is an experienced SL player who could provide a bit of impact from the bench in short spells.

You're right about that. He can't truly be match fit, though he certainly looked in decent shape on Thursday. Thing is though, with all due respect to those teams, we haven't brought him in for games against Whitehaven and Hunslet; his very imposing, physical presence is wanted for the big games - like next Sunday against Leigh.

He's generally a solid defender so I guess Jimmy will pick him, and as you say, he does provide a lot of impact from the bench.

Don't think we'll throw lauaki into mix for this game as part of regular 4 prop rotation. 4 that have played pre-season games have gone well and deserve their places. If we go with obrien as an 80 minute player then we could have lauaki on bench as a pure impact player to bring on for a short spell. Not sure what best way to use bench spot that 2nd hooker would have taken is TBH, but some form of impact player or gamechanger could be way to go.

If Lauaki does make the starting 17 I would expect nothing more than a 10/15 minute impact spell either side of half time.

I wouldn't play Lauaki yet. One week of training is not enough to get him up to scratch. Let's also not forget that he's not exactly a world class player, at this moment in time I'm still undecided on him as a signing.
I still can't get my head around the squad numbers tbh, they seem all over the place. I know Chev has come out and said he asked for 22, being related to his kid somehow. Why is Tahraoui 28? And why are our hookers 25 and 26?
Are we really planning on playing AoB for the full 80? I'm not sure I'm a fan of that strategy tbh.

Either way, we go into this game as underdogs for sure, a team with a ton of new faces not exactly sure of its best 17, up against a formidable side who have the luxury of an unsettled side and home advantage. Their friendly results will have given them plenty of confidence - what will our friendly results have done? Who knows, I am still of the opinion that a game against lower opposition would have been good for the side to post a healthy number of points and raise morale. Instead we go into the season opener on the back of two defeats.

My money will be on Leigh next weekend, I await to be pleasantly surprised by our performance.

As always, very perceptive DDDDDDwhom? Jimmy and Steve have said that Sidlow (and Clough) will do the major minutes, and Lauaki will do short very intense bursts as the wrecking ball. And the stats seem to show that that he can produce a phenomenal number of tackle busts a game if used this way. But as always, it is the coaches judgement prior to the game as to whether he is capable of performing such a role on the day.

I don't think winning a pre season friendly does a huge amount for confidence. In all honesty you probably learn more from losses than just steam rolling a part time team. The two hit outs against Cas and Leeds will hav done us good. Cas, we were dominating until the rolling subs started. Leeds, we had to learn how to cope with the pace of a top 4 super league side which we didn't do too badly considering we have a lot of new players. That helps a team much more than spanking Keighley by 50+ as our big guys run through them.

That wasn't our only friendly...we only beat Oldham 11-10 today, you will thrash us next week....Bradford Bulls are awesome.

Agree with that. Pre-season stuff is never about the result, it's all about how you played, how you use the opportunity to try things out, put player combination to the test and decide what works and what doesn't. You can't take the actual result of any game which has around 25 people per side, continuously shuffling on and off the field too seriously.

I think we fans have a part to play in this too...

I watched Hull V Giants yesterday - a perfect example of fan power - they totally dominated the atmosphere for the afternoon. They got on Danny Broughs back big style - and he had a shocker of a game, after that - well you have seen the score!

The Huddersfield lads must have thought they were playing away, their fans never even clapped a former hero who made the half time draw!

Anyway - the Leigh fans are very similar to Hull - very vocal.. So I hope we take a big and vocal following - cause we are going to need it

Haven't looked forward to watching the Bulls so much since 2005!

I'd go with 4 forwards on the bench. Pitts or Ferguson (assuming he's fit) can lock the scrum if Addy needs to go to dummy half to spell O'Brien.

It's going to be a brutal afternoon of old skool rugby played in February. Whoever, breaks the other behind the ruck area, has the firepower to go on and win the game. Give Beswick time on the front foot, he's a crafty player who'll find his runners.

Bulls by 1.