Strong squad.
I’m sure a couple of our nailed on starters may be rested but that 21 makes a strong 17 regardless.
I’ll be up for breakfast rugby and wishing I was still there.

Was wondering if Gildart would be ineligible for this one (parent club etc), but Cokey clears it up as usual.

Looked up the distance between Vancouver and Yellowknife today VL, guess yours truly still hasn't got a full handle on how vast your adopted country is - same state but 1,400+ miles away. Wow!

La Jeunesse has an online pal, Alex (female, Bongser is told) who's a firefighter over there. Thoughts with her - sounds unusually messy.

Glad you got home safe, mate.

Why on earth would anybody be rested

Asiata limping with all his regalia on during the cup parade, Josh didn't even come back out for it, looked like his ribs perhaps.

On the game, it was one I didn't expect to win and while it made the cup parade a little more flat I wasn't too downhearted. Catalan are the top side for a reason, they play right on the cusp with the niggle and the slowing of the ruck but they are solid across the park, in defence and attack.

In the first half they were their own worst enemies with the binnings but I feel they just played within themselves as they knew we'd be tired. And we were. They made Lam do a hell of a lot of defending and given that I think 3 tries were from simple kicks behind our line and a little pat down showed how much the last few weeks have taken out of us. Though full credit to Amone who just kept going all match and I think he ran Mulhern close for MoM.

That game is now the past, I expect we'll be 4 points ahead of 5th come this round of fixtures being concluded, not a bad place to be. This team has far exceeded expectations.

I am convinced Jon Wilkin hates Leigh. It’s Asiata’s fault he was hit late three times and that he played for that to happen and also Mulhern was at fault for the tip tackle on him. I have seen players duck down when there legs are lifted every week in Super League and NRL. So stop saying it’s just Leigh players at fault Wilkin, you are becoming boring, as your negative comments every week regarding the Leopards are rediculous

yes several snide biased comments from Wilkin unacceptable someone should have a word next week

Bit unlucky with ball stealing pen I thought.Cats too powerful for us on the day with classy interventions from half backs not much happened last 20

Interesting to see how they end up with team breaking up end of year

How many additions do we need to our squad do we have "A" team to field next year all adds to costs

6 points ahead of 5th, think we may be heading for a bit of a drop in form before picking up for the play offs. Some very winnable home games (no disrespect Hudds/Wakey), win those and I reckon that’ll pretty much guarantee 4th

Having won the Challenge Cup in dramatic style, is an amazing achievement for a first season in the top flight. However I would like to point out that July 7, 2023 was the last time Leigh managed to score over 30 points in a game. This was a tricky away game at Castleford. Needless to say we have won two narrow victories in the Challenge Cup, and 2 close wins against Salford and Leeds.

Catalans and Wigan seem to have our cards marked and St Helens appear to have form in the league as we move into the business end of the season.

Oliver Guildart is an adequate replacement for Ricky Leutele, but the left edge now seems somewhat blunted since the Salford win. The opposition have discovered how to nullify what was a Leigh's razor sharp left edge. The right edge has not improved to compensate and if anything Ben Reynolds is on a poor run of form (forget his goal kicking) kicking from hand, missed tackles, poor distribution. Catalans showed what a pair of half backs can do working in tandem, both able to kick with variation and the ability to run across the coal face.

The League Leaders Shield was lost on Saturday, but playoff places are still up for grabs. With 5 fixtures remaining Leigh are slightly adrift of the top 3 but 6 points ahead of Warrington and Salford. I predict a possible 3 wins from 5 games, finishing 4th in League would still be a major achievement. The play-offs are then into knockout territory and anything could happen.

The Leigh management team seem to be happy with recruitment and retention. Retention should be relatively straight forward, with a Challenge Cup in the cupboard.

Recruitment for 2024, seems to centre on British forwards. All the overseas quota are tied in, with the exception of Ben Nakubuwai and Ava Seumanufagai. Big Ben seems like Lammy's favoured player, with Ava featuring seldom and never more than 20 minutes in a whole game. Releasing Ava and Ben Reynolds would free a space for an overseas half-back. Forwards arrived or heavily linked include Frankie Halton (2nd Row), Dan Norman (Prop) Kyle Trout (Prop) Louis Brogan (2nd Row).

The British players out of contract Tom Nisbet and Nathan Wilde have both seen some game time. Joe Wardle has rarely played this season, but was first choice 2nd rower in the Championship last season. Jacob Jones and Aaron Smith (the missing man) are potential casualties, in a refresh of the squad.

Rumours in the fans forum have suggested that Ben Reynolds and Joe Wardle will be departing.

Based on the above information Leigh will actually have a smaller squad than this year, so one can assume that Chezzy and Lammy have some signing up their sleeves. I would suggest that a backup Winger or Centre, would allow Hardaker to cover Full back without having to use Chamberlain. A backup hooker, which frees Mellor to cover the halves, and an overseas half-back to cover the departing Reynolds.

Lammy says the squad will be stronger, but I am not seeing any starting 13's in the rumoured signings. I guess we will all have to wait for the big reveal.

So about 16 signings required plus a few an others to populate the 2 sides?

It would be nice to end the season not losing a match in Yorkshire and then not losing a match to a team from there.

That is eminently possible

It is interesting to note the lack of points scored but that seems to have come as the sacrifice to winning the close games, games that we'd have previously lost.

The final 5 games feature only one team that has beaten us so far this season (which is a bit mad thinking back to the start of the season and also who those 5 games are against). I suppose we can compare results when all round are complete to see if we've "fallen" any great distance.

Just think how nice it is to be able to look to a new season in SL from a recruitment perspective, with the sodding Challenge Cup, rather than bothering about who we might have to ship in order to make ends meet should we be relegated.

We don’t have a squad this year to have a good play off run, Halton returning will provide options - personally centre - it’s been a brilliant year and anything else is a bonus as we build a bigger and better squad for 2024

It was good enough to win the Challenge Cup.