Ratchford should be nowhere near the 13 let alone at halfback. No creativity, no pace, no kicking game, couldn't even kick goals anymore on yesterdays showing. Leyland must be utter tripe in training. Refreshing to see Lindop play over Tai. Outstanding young talent.

Amazing confidence in a player that has played 11.5 games for the first team. Whilst he has promise we have no idea how he will recover from injury or whether he is good enough at the top level.

In the meantime Leyland should be given his chance. Playing Ratchford in the halves is a retrograde move.

Thought it was just me that felt quite depressed seeing Ratchford named ahead of Leyland. Clearly not based on these comments. I wouldn’t mind so much if Leyland had been average preseason but he was our standout player in both games with a far better kicking game and looking pretty lively with ball in hand. As others have said, playing Ratchford is a retrograde step and quite un-Burgess like given his confidence in Holroyd, Lindop etc. Very disappointing

There was a group sat near me calling him fit to burn, which I attributed to dark fruits commentary. But it cropped up on page 5 of this too.

It’s tough to measure the front row at the moment, as it’s clear that the intention is for the backs to do the heavy lifting with yardage. But Vaughan is still head and shoulders the best prop we have in my opinion.

He is, without doubt.

My thoughts Ratch was most probably picked ahead of Leyland for his goal kicking, we must of anticipated a rusty performance in a low scoring game where two/four points could make the difference, also he has tons of experience and a calm figure in the squad as previously mentioned. I would like to see Leyland given a chance but that is up to him now to snatch that shirt away from Ratch and impress in training.

People having a pop at Musgrove for only doing 15 minutes need to realise it's the coach who decides when he comes on and when he gets taken off.

I'm sure Sam has his reasons, but I think he has made a mistake here. He will probably double down on it next game too. He also has a massive blind spot with Musgrove who is our biggest waste of an overseas spot since, well, Dan Russell. Musgrove has Sitaleki minutes without the Sitaleki fireworks.

But Sam got the Lindop call right. That centre position should be Lindop's to lose now. I'm not sure how much more he can do to earn the place.

The coaches monitor the telemetry and the impact on the field. I don't think players get taken off if their performance is still strong. Musgrove has had ample opportunity to show his worth and for me, he hasn't shown to be very effective at all. But I am just a casual observer so probably missing something.

I think everyone was gobsmacked by the decision to leave Leyland out. I'm also surprised by how little time in the pitch he allows Musgrove to have. I can only guess that Sam is looking at defensive duties. I can't think of any other reason.

I can't quite get my head around the Ratchford decision either, I just assumed at the time that Leyland had a knock. I don't quite buy into the more hyperbolic statements about how bad he was - he certainly made a few very important defensive interventions - but he clearly shouldn't be the first choice halfback and Leyland and Hayes will be the future so get them in the team.

Leyland’s goal-kicking was superb in the pre-season friendlies so it can’t have been that. I’ve no idea what he is like in training but he had two good games pre-season (I didn’t catch the Whitehaven game but by all accounts he did well). Strange decision.