There seems to be a fair degree of consensus on almost all the players in a starting 17 with the major disagreements regarding Shaw, Mendieka and Siejka as the final piece of the jigsaw.
FWIW I would start Shaw at fullback but, if Blythe starts in the centres, I would have Mendieka on the bench. I also believe that Ferguson must be included on the bench along with 2 props.
This would not necessarily be the same for the Wakey game as I'm also struggling to decide on the 2 wingers and hopefully we'll have Neilson Schmeilson available.

Shaw offer a nothing's from fb. Paul wellens wasn't a huge attacking threat but popped up at the right moments and was safe as houses. Shaw is shaky in defence and his speed is on level with Karl Pryce at times. Yes you can't compare them as Wellens was a fantastic player, but he was the first "non attacking" fb that popped to mind.
Carrying an out and out back on the bench is a waste of a spot.
Someone like Blythe/walshaw who can cover 2ndrow and centre is fine.
Mendeika has been much more consistent than shaw over the season.
Also does anyone else feel crossly is not offering much ? Fleming is younger and bigger but did seem to struggle at fax, but crossly appeared to be shying away from work and letting clough do all the donkey work. On the odd occasion he does a fantastic run but his defence is soft, but I'd say that goes for the whole team.
The whispers of matt groat, I hope they are true.

Have to admit I cannot always see the worth of Mendieka. Maybe he suffers from being a bit of a utility player who gets shunted about all over the back line.

That's the beaut of sport, i think Mendieka offers some value. When at FB he is always backing up breaks and very often finishes ala Mick Withers

Sheffield should just have enough to sneak this one.

Bradford Bulls v Sheffield Eagles preview - https://eaglehoop97.wordpress.com/2015/ ... ulls-away/ The 'key battle' is between the half-backs but wasn't sure who would be picked in that area of the field for Bradford so I second guessed at Gaskell (obvious!) and Addy as they both did a good job last time around!

Bradford Bulls v Sheffield Eagles preview - https://eaglehoop97.wordpress.com/2015/ ... ulls-away/ The 'key battle' is between the half-backs but wasn't sure who would be picked in that area of the field for Bradford so I second guessed at Gaskell (obvious!) and Addy as they both did a good job last time around!

I don't understand the stick that Shaw gets. I've been to 10 games this season and only seen him have 2 poor games. Add to that he is by far our best kicker, something that could make the difference between victory and defeat in some of our upcoming games.

Siejka has been asked to do a job this season (from comments Jimmy has made after matches) and that is to be the organiser, nothing too flashy, and try to pass to Gaskell in a bit of space. And he's basically done that.

I'm not too sure if he does have other skills in his locker, but Addy can do those things as well. Mullaney would seem to offer a bit more at 7 though.

I'm thinking I would want Mullaney at FB though. So that leaves us with Addy or Siejka partnering Gaskell.

I still have a feeling that Siejka could do a decent job for us. If he does see that he may be off at the end of the season then he will want to show other clubs he is worth a deal. Two "flashy" halves don't always work. Deac's was a good partner to the flashy Robbie. Mullaney is a better full back but that hamstring could go again at any minute - but nobody will ever be as safe as Sir Mumby to me.
We need a good convincing win on Sunday. Scraping through will not do my confidence any good. Saying we will perform when it matters has now arrived.

Shaw's had his problems with tackling and catching the ball on occasion, though he's far from the only one, it must be said.

Not sure he's, "by far", our best kicker though, he may be being chosen over Danny Addy but Danny is also a fine kicker and very little behind. I certainly wouldn't have any qualms if Addy were our goalkicker. He's kicked 15 in the three games he's been used and looked very competent, imo.

The kicker has to play the full 80mins though and I'm not sure that Addy is good enough to do that. I see him more as an interchange player.

Disagree on that one mate.

I accept players do, 'play to instructions', so maybe he is sometimes being told to put in 'big minutes' and then being replaced, I dunno, to be fair, but he can, and has played the full eighty on many occasions, particularly when in his 'proper' position, in the pack and at the increased pace of SL level too. With the emphasis on reducing the number of interchanges this is only likely to increase imo, since, no doubt, we'll follow the Aussies on this.

Today's t&a article confirms no Siejka for Sunday's game. What a shame.