Don’t remember bailey being onside once yesterday was just strutting about doing nothing he was not the only one either

That back line with Owens at full back would be very vulnerable imo. Hall is the best full back out of players available, and Owens has done well on the wing. Would go Hall, Bailey, Crooks, Evans, Owens as the back line.

If Mortimer and Higham are both fit to play, then would put Mortimer at 7.

It felt too much like we had gone back to our old bad ways yesterday, especially at 6 and 7. I have been saying for a while now how predictable Leigh are to play against because out half backs always want to pass and not take on the defensive line enough, and this goes back to the days of Riddy. A few weeks ago Reynolds and Hutchison started to go at the line more and it was working. Defenses were getting unlocked and tries came. Yesterday that hardly ever happened, so even when Fax went a man down for ten minutes they still read all our plays and gobbled us up when we tried to attack. It is possibly a confidence thing but our halves need to become unpredictable to the opposition by taking the line on more.
Now Fax are a good side and worked hard, but they didn't half show some of the frailties in our game. We got hammered around the ruck time after time by Johnston and Moore. They were a at least a yard quicker than us at times.
Also they respected possession better than us. We put down too much ball and make life hard for ourselves. Jamie is a repeat offender and needs to hold that ball for dear life.
I too would also like to see more leadership, a clear and obvious organiser. Yesterday, the wheels fell off a few times and we almost imploded. Credit to the boys for hanging in there but any more rugby of that standard over the next two weeks may prove fatal to our top 4 chances.

Been told that if we make it into Top 4 there will be some new signings to come in

Shame. I think with one or two new signings we would make the 4. But will struggle without. Would've hoped for at least a loan signing till the end of the season.

Make no bones, this is the worst Leigh team we have seen for at least 3 or 4 seasons. Reminds me a bit of the team Fax put together after our relegation full of players who had done decent at SL but in no way could handle how tough it actually is at this level. Theres a massive soft underbelly in your pack and until that is sorted you will always struggle against a decent team.

I don’t understand all this negativity after yesterday’s game. Especially towards Ben and drew, they have improve so dramatically as a half back pairing since the tripe the whole team was showing at the start of the season. I can recall a few key kicks from Ben yesterday that were crucial and great under pressure and how many times in recent weeks have we seen drew take on the line and play a key pass into a forward to break through and score, not to mention they never fail in defence. I also can’t understand the hype around summat (controversial on here I know....) I’ve seen him play twice now and he’s been no more than average on either occasion, I wouldn’t swap drew or Ben for anyone (within reason). As for us supposedly having a poor attack.... we scored 36 points yesterday with some great tries. And great play from drew for at least two of those tries that I can recall. We can all agree we where well below par yesterday but we got the job done and scored a more than healthy number of points in the process. When our attack clicks and we complete high we seem to be able to score at will and have done for more than a number of weeks!
The defence has taken a slight wobble but I’m confident that will be resolved.

This team for me has the potential to be better than last years for me, just needs a few tweaks and maybe a bit more grunt in the forwards for me acton seems to have lost a little go forward and bailey I don’t think is up to standard, out standout performers are mason and J Thompson, very consistent, and based on yesterday’s performance gregson deserves another shot. But our back line for me when fully available is quality and there’s no denying that.

Massive game next week against tolouse with little rest. Win that and I believe we’ll get the top 4..... loose and we need to beat tonroto in the garden shed!! Keep the faith, we know the lads can match SL sides if we make the 8s!!!

Like Salford you mean, we legitimately bullied them off the park.

We certainly haven't been at our best against you guys, and possibly you need respect for that. But if we complete our sets and cut out the niggly penalties I reckon we have the individuals and structures to match the lower level SL teams

Of course we have to get there first, and we only have ourselves to blame if we don't - should be pushing top spot and we aren't.

I don't think anybody would disagree with your opinion on Reynolds and Hutchison's improvement. But for every pro you saw, there was more cons.

They lack a leader at 6 and 7. That one player who can dictate a game. The one that marshall's them all over the park. Its not just a case of taking the line on, it's knowing the reason for taking the line on, they fail at.

That is a massive rose tinted specs post, I would take issue with’ never fail in defence’ , the defence didn’t have a slight wobble, it is a mess. I agree with your assessments of Acton and Bailey, neither are currently up to what is required of them. I would have Sammut in a flash.

Agreed, we were awful when we beat London Broncos 40-0 in April. Haven't been to a game since.
I agree with your comment about our forwards though, overall, too lightweight in my opinion.

To be fair,Acton's not used to playing so many games.

Apologies, to clarify I mean Ben and drew never let us down in defence. Not that I think so anyway. They always both seem solid to me. You feel as though summat is more of a leader than either? Is that that this big hype around him?

I agree there is still cons but I don’t we could replace either with better ATM, and do you not think in time they can be what we need? Despite for me doing a good job now?

I’m with big time on this, Sammut is very maverick, yeah he does some very good things in attack but there all for he’s self, he is a good player at this level but gets found out against the SL teams, stick with these too for now. Daley cherry Evans is looking for a way out of Manley.. he said he wants back too the Gold Coast I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a few months on the golden sands of Pennington flash