Why? halley looked comfortable at FB last week and reardon looked much sharper on wing too. Why swap it round when it worked?

I'd leave things as they are. They both did ok last week, some good and some bad. Without Kearney you have to leave well alone I reckon.

Effectively we're playing without our best back and best forward but at least with Orford back we should have a bit more direction and more variety in the kicking game.

The only change I'd consider would be Menzies at right centre but perhaps not now that Langley is out too. We need Beaver in the back row as I think Whitehead, Worrincy and Donaldson is a bit light.

Why, Platt was quality last week?


Halley
Sheriffe
Platt
Nero
Reardon
Sykes
Orford
Lynch
L'Estrange
Scruton
Whitehead
Worrincy
Menzies

Godwin
Hall
Kopzcak
Donaldson

losing kearney is a blow but its probably not to risk him being out longer if he's not 100% fit. Whilst obviously the alternative FB's arent upto his standard they arent shockingly terrible options either and dont forget kearney hasnt been our Fullback for last couple of games.. Likewise we've managed without langley for a few weeks now and the lads have muscled up well, so much so dare I say it that we havent particularly missed him?.
Having Orford back will go along way to compensate for losing those two imo. He's a better option in halves than kearney and should give us more direction. Its also very welcome news that l'estrange,nero and lynch are all fit to play as all were slight doubts.
We need a good performance from the pack but I think we've got enough in that team to win this one by a couple of scores imo.

Only change I might be tempted to make to that would be to let godwin start instead of l'estrange. He looked a lot more involved in 2nd half last week, when he was forced to get more gametime through kearneys injury, and lead us round pitch very well.
Agree with keeping donno on bench and bringing him on when leeds start to tire as think he's probably a bit faster than whitehead/worrincy and could take advantage of a tiring defense. Think key thing this week will be how we manage our interchanges. We cant afford to have likes of lynch and menzies doing 80 minute stints. Also we need to rotate worrincy as we seem to leave him on pitch a long time each week,maybe hoping he'll do something, but he needs a breather too. Weather looks likely to be a warm one on sunday so we need to play smart.

I wouldnt start Godwin. We need somebody to unlock the defence and IMO HL is better at that thn Godwin, who has a 1 dimensional game. Yeah we gotta keep our props and Menzies fresh, but Worrincy was off after 20 mins last week.

I'd start Heath aswell, but I'd play him 20 minutes a half rather than 30 & 20. It looks set to be a scorching day so Resting Heath and giving Godwin more time works both ways.


Even with Langers out I'm relishing it, a chance for all the Bulls to show us what they're made of.

I'd agree with that, but heath was a bit of a doubt for this match and hence carrying a bit of a knock. Thats why I'd bring him on for 2nd stint once rhinos start to tire and he can be more effective. Can't say I noticed when worrincy was interchanged last week. Was thinking of leigh game when it seemed like everyone but him was interchanged in 2nd half.

Less tinkering. From the usual first 13 Kearney is out and Langley is out so replace those two like for like and leave every one else alone IMO:

Reardon
Sheriffe
Platt
Nero
Halley
Sykes
Mr Ox
Scrutom
Le'Strange
Lynch
Whitehead
Worrincy
Mr Beaver

Hall
Kopczak
Donaldson
Godwin

I did wonder that too.

However I don't think Halley's been all that great in the past couple of games. If Kearney were fit I'd drop Halley from the squad.

Massive blow not having Kearney or Langers but we need to show we can play against the big teams with injuries. Last week when we lost half the team at half time we really knuckled down and worked for each other....ok it was against weaker opposition, but I'm still confident we will give everything. I can't remember the last time we didn't in a derby game. If the players work together I don't see why we can't still win this. COYB!!

no argument if kearney were fit he'd be back at FB.

Dropping halley entirely is a difficult one. Dont think he's done much wrong on the wing per se. His biggest strength has always been his speed, which has offset his smaller size to some extent, however this year he seems to have lost a bit of pace imo. Reardon could well be the better option long term on the wing. However he needs to regain the sort of form we know he's capable of in that position. Whilst last week was encouraging, he still has a way to go imo.
This weeks performance from both will undoubtedly go a long way to deciding who gets the nod next week assuming kearney returns for wire game.

Nonsense, we'll towel 'em

As Sam Burgess said today 'Odsal is a fortress!'