Agreed with above, this will be a tough game and one that we need in all honesty as we edge closer to the championship opener against Wakey.

We need to see how we react when we're under pressure, things aren't going our way, a refs decision goes against us etc pre-season is pre-season and the Dewsbury & Crusaders we haven't had to get out of second gear. So the next two games will be good tests for us.

I personally don't expect a situation like last season when it all went horribly wrong at Cougar Park. For a start the home side had much more quality on the field that day than they have now. They also had a lot of old boys wanting to prove a point in front of a big away following.

This time around its a much weaker team and there doesn't seem as much bad blood either. I expect it to be close but confident of the win.

I know the team has got quite a bit of stick off the back of the last two performances, but for me I'd prefer to look at it as a positive.

If we can score 88 points in two games and only concede 6 points when playing so badly and ill disciplined, what are we going to be like when we start to put decent performances together?

I'm willing to give EOC more time to stamp his authority and style on the team. However, for me I think he would make much quicker progress, especially in terms of discipline if he didn't have Hallas and Flanagan in the team.

Im expecting a comfortable victory, cougars will make it a contest for 20 mins but I expect us to pull away after that.
Like has been said they are not the side they were at the beginning of last season and neither are we.
I’ve seen a toughness in our play, EOC is keen to see strong carries and win the collisions, we’ve score a lot of tries from 1st receiver carries,1 pass out from dummy half, a certain new hooker is big difference there with his distribution.
I’ve been quite content with what we’ve served up so far, with much tougher hurdles to come yet.
13 is an area we will need to strengthen moving forward.

We go into the game as favourites but we need to avoid the complacency we showed in the first 20mins vs Crusaders. Keighley may not have the names they had this time last year but they're a tougher proposition than they were when we put 70pts on them at Odsal.

On the no 13 debate I think Baldwinson will take that place when he's fit and swap with Appo. That'll leave Hallas as backup hopefully which is about right. I'm also sure that Souter could do 80mins at this level so do we always need to pick Flanagan in the 17? I'd prefer to see Barraclough get a chance anyway as we need to think about who's going to succeed Flanagan as he can't have much longer surely?

Corey Johnson would be a good interchange with Souter https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/rugb ... t-28630344

Corey Johnson would be a good interchange with Souter https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/rugb ... t-28630344

Agreed. He's too good to be third choice at Leeds and not getting any game-time. He'd provide a bit of cover for halfback too if he was on our bench as impact hooker as well as keeping pressure on Souter to maintain his already high standards.

did i just hear loan? ... we know how that goes lol ... i thought we were slowly and getting our act together without these loans

Championship budgets only stretch so far, you take a loan and hope Leeds don’t have an injury in this position. That’s the gamble you have to take, if we don’t take this gamble we stay with the two hookers we’ve got now and an untried kid

The Fenton Rogers loan worked out well so if we can have something along those lines I'm ok with it.

Interesting refereeing appointment! Cameron Worsley.

Wasn't he the one that apparently saw Taufua bite an opponent?

Yes, he was.

Think we all have our opinions on that incident. Time to move on.

Putting that aside, he's probably the strictest referee in the champ and ends up backing himself into a corner like against Barrow when they ****housed us by throwing themselves to the floor every time a finger brushed against them and earning the penalty.

I expect a similar game. We need to make sure we're squeaky clean. If Hallas starts confrontation needlessly at the ruck we know how this will end.

Good news then if we've got a ref with x-ray vision. He won't miss any cheap shots when the opposition try winding George Flanagan up.

Struggling to name a 21 man squad for this game.