Leigh have had a good couple of years and are going well as a club. All credit to them but I think some of the fans are developing delusions of grandeur.

Well if that is a supporting statement its full of Cognitive bias. Depends what media a person chooses to read. Then again i accept Leigh's world is so much more beautiful and enchanting than the rest of RL

May as well puts Huddersfield in that category too!!

I asked at the forum what Jimmy was going to do to reverse the slump in previous weeks....he told us not to panic......and boy I don't know what he did but more of it for the middle 8s please. Without key positions filled, injury early to Purts etc ...the boys done good. My only quibble still remains is how Lauaki gets a bench spot...12 minutes in the first half and 5 minutes in the second unless he sneaked back on when I was watching the game elsewhere... is that really good use as prop cover....or have we been saving him for the last dozen games or so simply for the 8s???

With regards to Lauaki perhaps Jimmy is going use him like Big Joe was in his pomp, but I think he needs to see the tapes/dvd's of Joe rumbling up the middle to get the idea.

I suspect Jimmy has planned to get Lauaki fit for the 8s which I now think he is.
The bench will be difficult to predict. It looks like Lauaki, Crossley and Fergusson plus a back. I expect the centres to be Purtell and Blythe which leaves a handful of lads vying for the bench. I will go with Mendieka if Shaw is at FB.
If Mullaney and Seijka both play we definitely need a back who can cover at FB.

I'd line up like this from now on, once everyone is available (new signings not included, obviously)

Shaw (Can't drop him after yesterday
Caro (likewise)
Henry (as above)
Blythe
Williams
Gaskell
Mullaney
Sidlow
AoB
Clough
Olbison
Pitts
Addy

Crossley
Lauaki
Ferguson
Walshaw

We don't need a back on the bench. Addy is there for cover in the halves/hooker and Walshaw can play centre if need be. Did anyone see Walshaw going for it during the Leigh interception try yesterday? He nearly caught him from the other side of the pitch, the bloke can shift

This is what I'd go with too. I wouldn't move Shaw from full back as he was immense yesterday. Gaskell and Mullaney is a very dangerous half back combination.

Lauaki offers more than Fleming IMO. Lauaki attracts more defenders and is a bigger threat. I don't really mind if he does small minutes as Clough and Sidlow can do big minutes and perform to a high standard. They were both excellent yesterday.

Lauaka looked sharp and fit yesterday, maybe the timing of his runs were still a bit out when he received the ball, which lowered the Maximum Hit potential.

Looks like he is coming good at the right time. Definitely in for me ....

Sorry for the confusion as I wasn't supporting the claim just stating some facts

He was a huge threat not so much because he was fresh, but because he's Higham. He's getting on, and they use him a bit like Leeds use Burrow, but the trick doesn't work just by bringing on any random hooker as long as he's fresh.

We don't know and never will know the full story, but given that we can play like that (and without any halfbacks) the point which remains is that our recent poor showings cost us a genuine chance of top spot. And so Leigh was fun to watch, but was irrelevant to our position. We may have scored a psychological point, but this game could have been for top spot had we won the games we really needed to be winning.

I don't intend to sound churlish, and objectively given where we started Lowes' season has in fact been a tremendous and a bit improbable success (especially when compared with the bonded and battle-hardened Leigh squad) but the way things panned out, IMHO we had the chance to be top, and blew it.

To expand on that a little bit, I think that two very big factors in that happening were (a) Siejka - maybe he was the best available to Jimmy, i don't know, but he hasn't been very good, so far, for whatever reason. (b) Groat the scrote - the thug who put Gaskell out of the rest of the regular season for us. Thanks.

What would the crowd have been home to Leigh in the Super 8s, I wonder?