Pressure is a funny thing. We’ve nothing to play for and Leeds are desperate to get a result and stay in the 6.

Few points there, I think Powell came in and tried to do too much too soon, that may well have its benefits for 2023, but we will have to wait and see, I think some of the decisions made have had a disastrous impact on 2022 - I just wonder if he had his time again, would he do anything differently?

On Philbin, next year we will have Philbin and presumably Bullock getting very little game time, I assume (form & injury permitting) Dudson, Vaughan, Mikaele & Kasiano will be the 4 props with McGuire at 13 and Harrison bench 13 (pressure from Nicholson hopefully) I just wonder where Philbin fits in, and whether having him and Bullock in the stands is a good use of salary cap.

I thought Holmes was good vs Wigan and was good again tonight, his ball and all tackle on Belmas I thinkin the second half was a try saver and at a critical time - they would have gone 10 up and we would have been right where we didn't want to be. Hopefully he can continue in the same form.

On Toulouse, I agree, I wanted them to stay up and have a similar impact as Catalan, Catalan were protected for the first 3 years, should Toulouse have got the same treatment I think it would have been a big shot in the arm for French RL. Leigh I'm sure would have done better with that grace period as well of course, the gap between SL and the championship is just too big. There is massive investment from the British game in to France, at some point that needs to be reciprocated with a French TV deal, IMG coming in i'm sure will shake things up structure wise. I just wonder rather than expanding SL to 14/16, whether 2x10's would be better, I'm not a massive fan of loop fixtures, but if it can be sold as SL1 & SL2 and we could get a bigger Sky deal, possibly increased C4 coverage and a French TV deal from a guaranteed 2 team French involvement (with more to come?) whether that will solve the issue of the promoted team yo yo'ing. Could also give a good base to growth for the likes of Newcastle, York, London & France 3 with also giving the likes of Leigh, Fev, Wakey better security.

Agree on the number of changes - too much too soon. I wonder though, with a number of players apparently not buying into Powell's plan, many of these were perhaps forced.

Prop situation will be very interesting next season, I was tempted to start a separate thread. Bullock impressed me enough that I'd start with him (above Dudson) and Vaughan to get us on the front foot next year. I'd be tempted to bring on Kasiano and Michaele so they overlap at some point against a tiring defence, the only caveat being our defence might be more exposed to nippier runners around the ruck. Where do Philbin and Harrison fit in? If Currie and Holmes are fit, will Matty Nicholson regret making the move from Wigan where he faced the same problem.

Philbin needs strong/sizable accompanying forwards to function well and he looks a very descent player then. We've probably got too many props now, or will have come next year. I'm going to start another thread on the forward situation as I think it warrants some separate discussion.

Really agree on Holmes and the points you've made re. SL/Championship clubs.

I thought ........gulp .......that Holmes had a pretty decent game.

We secured the very important two points, and what [ishould [/ibe our place in 2023's SL, which was all that mattered.

We (Leeds) could have our strongest squad available for quite a while for the game next week, barring any injuries/suspensions from tonight we will have our first choice pack available

Prior, Tetevano, Oledski & Holroyd all available for the first time this year.

Sezer, Austin and Martin will also be back we vould be looking at something like this

Myler
Tindall
Newman
Hardaker
Handley
Austin
Sezer
Oledski
O conner
Prior
Bentley
Martin
Smith

Tetevano
Holroyd
Gannon
Dwyer

Bar leeming thats one of the strongest teams we’ve fielded all season.

It would be great to have a 14 or 15 team league and have away with loop fixtures, but that would mean splitting the sky money between more teams and the existing teams simply won't vote for it. Its a massive failing of superleague and the RFL to not bring in enough cash for a larger league. Maybe toulouse help with that similar to catalans with their own TV deal. I'd have leigh back in a heartbeat (they got shafted last season after they bailed out superleague by filling a Toronto shaped hole, before they were ready to compete and on a lower cap than all the other teams, the leigh club deserved a lot better IMO) and Bradford would be good to have back, if they made it on merit.

Congratulations, we won an important game. Important because of the position the club was in as a result of the poor season we are having, marginally better than Toulouse, who are novices to Superleague who have scrabbled round for players all year.
Dufty had a promising game and the pack performed better than we have most of the season.
If Powell continues next year, and regulars on here will know my thoughts on him, I hope that the team improves its defence and lays a foundation for some of the young exciting backs we have. After that, we need some young exciting forwards to replace the over 30s front row union the club have invested in who will disappear when the coach's contract expires, if it runs its full course.

Fusitu'a ... I guess he's injured again?

Banned for two games for a ‘late’ hit.

Sure I just saw Connor Wrench in town with a Knee/Leg brace on, didn't see him pick anything up at the game, hopefully not too serious.

To be fair Bentley and Tetevano are due another ban aren't they? Must be at least 3 weeks.

He did go off and down the tunnel at one point but came back on with some strapping on.

I've just read that ratchford will miss next week with a head injury, wrench and Nicholson will miss out with injuries as well.

It should be Dean in the halves and Thewlis (or minikin) to come in on the wing. I'd imagine Clark will be in on last night's showing, maybe minikin on the bench or Davis?

it was the nature of the kick I was on about.