Only Armstrong of the leavers to date has publicly stated he still has a job to do in trying to get us into SL. I fully expect more attempts to unsettle the club by Rowley and his cohorts over the next few weeks. It is admirable that Neil Derek and the club have come through the other side with flying colours.

Worthington has been our best back this season, regardless of where he will be playing next season he should be playing in the 8's

We will run with contracted 2017 players plus Maitua whenever possible imo, with the best leavers as back up
McNally Reynolds Smith Higson Brown Tonga Dawson with Worthington and Armstrong back up in the backs. Tickle Moimoi Weston Maitua Acton Hansen Patterson hock Higham Hopkins Hood with Dixon and Spencer as back up in the pack. Interesting to see what the half back combo will be

DB said Tonga had/has back problems.For me he is lacking confidence, which can only come back with game time.The question has to be, do Leigh have the time to rebuild that confidence at this stage.Possibly yes with the championship games,but I think we have too much at risk to be confidence building,it's the 8's not regular season now.

Same really for Dawson and Brown,game time required but for different reasons,yes nice names to have on the park,but no time to gel is my worry.

Burns must play a part in this 8's somewhere.

We can't go into the 8s with a completely new back line, don't want to go back to some of the chaos earlier in the season waiting for the team to gel. I'd go with:

McNally
Higson
Smith/Tonga (depends how confident they are in Tonga's fitness)
Worthington
Dawson
Drinkwater
Ridyard
Weston
Hood
Hopkins
Maitua
Paterson
Hansen

Higham
Moimoi
Acton
Hock/tickle (depends on hocks availability given his son's illness)

Can see Higham doing long minutes v SL to pack the bench with forwards

What you saying,Hoods out? And no replacement for Higham. He can't do long minutes.Pack a bench full of forwards and Higham would have to do the full 80.

Can we not pick John Duffy ?

I heard he fancies another crack.

& on a serious note, wouldn't select Kay, way off the boil & has the Toronto distraction.
Hansen has to start, he's a clever & SL smart player & has class.
Matuia, Josh, Mickey_Is_A_Leyther, Riddy_Is_A_Leyther, The Dayne Train, FFMM, HIGGY, Smith/McNally, Brown *if he knows the plays maybe*, Gaz Hock, Corey Patterson, Greg Worthington, Hood, have got to be in the 17.

Sure I read/heard that Brown can play Centre/Wing & FB.
Then you have other pack lads, centre's/wings to sort from the rest.

Acton has to be on the bench *but only if he writes a 1000 lines a day " I must not punch anyone .... I must not punch anyone ".

Ben Reynolds is a star in the making & has the skills, could be a surprise to some teams.

The banana skin could be London in the 1st game, get past that with a good win, build confidence & even with a loss v Salford at home, given a very good performance & narrow-ish defeat we could kick on.

Got a real funny feeling this year, KR or Giants ????

What's the latest on Richard Whiting? He was playing well before his injury.

I consider the following to be our best/strongest team;

1/McNally

2/Brown
3/Smith
4/Tonga
5Dawson

6/Ridyard
7/Drinkwater

8/Moi Moi
9/Higham
10/Weston
11/Hansen
12/Hock
13/Patterson

14/Reynolds
15/Maitua
16/Acton
17/Hopkins

The threequarters may be a gamble,
2/ Brown new to our game/team but has a lot of experience in competitive NRL and here for two years plus!
3/Smith is class and experienced at centre on the highest stage!
4/Tonga has the best Pedigree of anyone in our team and looked formidable against Dewsbury, could be a gamble but, we have to take it!
5/Dawson is a big lad with a turn of pace and used to playing in Super league and with us for two years plus!

Its not easy leaving Higson and Worthington out, Adam has performed well overall however, he does struggle at times with kicks to the corner and could very well be costly!
Gregg Worthington has been superb recently but outside of Leigh more people would pick Tonga and Smith at centre! also, talk of joining Mounties too?
Without doubt we are a much stronger squad this year and the like,s of Burns,Tickle,Fash,Armstrong,Worthington,Higson et al ... will provide good support!
Bring it on

Apparently Richard Whiting has taken the Canadian Dollar and has signed for the Wolf pack.

I thought he was signed up at Leigh for next season

There is an article in today's League Weekly that reports Richard has signed for the Wolfpack, though it is by the reporter Nosy Parker.