A bit of fun and Without wanting to anger the rugby gods too much and tempt fate, I’m going with the following predictions for the bash.
Fev 14 - 34 Leyth

The rest I’m predicting the winner only.
London to beat Sheff
Batley to beat Dews
Fax to beat Bradford
Widnes to beat Barrow
Whitehaven to beat Worky
York to beat Newcastle

I’m away for the weekend so I’m hoping to find wifi and a radio commentary on ‘t’internet.
Safe journey to all who are traveling and I hope I at least get the Leyth result right, and we come away without major injuries.
Up The Comics

No quibble with your winners, Vanners - though after last weekend anything could happen! Bongser will reserve his Leigh score pred until the 17 is out. 21 man squads (ours posted below) don't mean a dashed thing (Green missing again).

The thing to note for this party is that Lam jnr has been allocated the No 30 shirt. Could be wrong but thought James Bell (a fave of yours Vanners so you may confirm) had already played wearing that number this season.

The matchday squad is as follows:

1. Caleb Aekins – sponsored by CatonLloyd Audio Visual Solutions Ltd.

3. Keanan Brand – sponsored by Homes Together Ltd.

4. Nene Macdonald – sponsored by PPS Design + Build Ltd.

6. Ben Reynolds – sponsored by AB Sundecks.

7. Joe Mellor – sponsored by RM Couriers.

8. Adam Sidlow – sponsored by A.D.S. Marquees.

9. Aaron Smith – sponsored by Ask Platt Office Supplies Ltd.

10. Mark Ioane – sponsored by HyrdaMed (Farmigea)

11. Joe Wardle – sponsored by Elvis Eckardt Recruitment & Sales Ltd.

12. Sam Stone – sponsored by ADW Electrical and EV Ltd.

16. Ed Chamberlain – sponsored by Cloud 4 Computers Ltd.

17. Jacob Jones – sponsored by CDA Business Services Ltd.

18. John Asiata – sponsored by The Centurion Pub.

21. Edwin Ipape – sponsored by Leigh Fans.

22. James McDonnell – sponsored by Alpha Skip Hire, Leigh.

23. Krisnan Inu – sponsored by Impact Insurance.

24. Kai O’Donnell – sponsored by Paul Lester Transport Ltd.

25. Ben Nakubuwai – sponsored by Alpha Skip Hire, Leigh.

26. Blake Ferguson – sponsored by Homes Together Ltd.

27. Josh Charnley – sponsored by Elvis Eckardt Recruitment & Sales Ltd.

30. Lachlan Lam – sponsored by Elvis Eckardt Recruitment & Sales Ltd.

Wild guess - Brand, Chamberlain, Jones and random forward to miss out

Judging by the squad, I expect Leigh to go big in the backs (size of units) and big in the pack as usual.
With Featherstone struggling with injuries, I would expect Leigh to try and steamroller Fev.

Expect a big score as Leigh attempt to further demoralise the Flat Cappers in the run up to the Grand Final. If you want to see the state of Fev fans, I suggest looking up the recent Mark Campbell interview.

Fev 10-46 Leigh

That's gone then!

Not far off!

Job Done Sticker for Leigh. Five clear at the top - lovin' it.

Counts for neauwt concrete due to the stupidity of the MPG but Fev tried everything this evening and they are coming up increasingly short :

Feb: Fev 28-6
May: Leigh 30-16
June: Leigh 32-12
July: Leigh 46-16

Good win yet again. Points scored for are increasing each time we play them and hold them to similar score against. Keep them scoring under 20 then we beat them every time . My concern if we meet in grand final is that they start pushing the niggle and drawing us in and away from our normal game.

That for me is their only card now. A smart coach knows it, and we have a smart coach. I just don’t see Fev beating us (though I know it could happen, but a smart person doesn’t put money on it)
I was able to “find” a stream of the game today and was mostly able to watch it. The lads were very, very good BUT the scary thing is, we didn’t play that well at times. We tried to push it too much a couple of times either side of the half when we were creating clear points gaps and made mistakes that gave them points. I don’t say this to be negative however, just to point out that we can still be better !!!!!
A job very well done today lads

Couldn't agree more with you VL. We beat them up physically and mentally in the last league game and that showed at the summer bash. They again had a go but we were always in control. The only tactic left is to needle us and take us away from our game. Unfortunately MacDonald fell for it yesterday (he looked frustrated at himself before this following 2 glaring errors, 1 dropped ball and then falling off Leilua for his try). Had his hand stood on then further goading from Hepi and he 'bit'. You can see in Sidlow's reaction to MacDonald how disappointed he was with the reaction which shows the levels of professionalism they expect from each other and that bodes really well.
Further agree that we were not at our best. The game was a bit scratchy for long periods interspersed with moments of true quality. I think we missed Amone in the middles which affected a. our control in that area and b. our go forward in the grind. Defence as always was top notch generally with a couple of individual errors. We can be so much better.
The thing that pleases me the most is how together the squad appear to be. Despite the superstars, no ego, everybody willing to get involved in the tough stuff, everybody supporting each other. It is truly wonderful to see.
Lastly some praise for Wardle and Stone who were both outstanding yesterday and Lachlan Lam looks very exciting. Never really out of 2nd gear, feeling his way in, 1 assist and 1 try. Looks seriously quick and smart and will be a massive upgrade for us in the halves.
Roll on the rest of the season.

Leigh's season has been about dominating games through the forwards. Fev to their credit mostly negated Leigh's grind, using good old fashion niggle, plopping and coptering in the tackle. For once, I think Lammy got the squad selection slightly wrong playing only 2 props. Nakubuwai only lasted part of the first half, which left Sidlow doing a mountain of work. O'Donnell, Wardle and Asiata had to do the work of a prop, which is perhaps why Wardle was singled out for the man of the match award. Amone (injured) and Ioane would have helped to control the middle under normal circumstances. In SL, 4 match day props are compulsory.

Fev have in every game managed to score tries easily when applying pressure, and have now introduced some big and younger players to try to combat Leigh. Eseh in particular had a good game. In the main Fev attempted to neutralise Ipape and like some other clubs have identified a weakness in his carry.
On the flip side Johnathon Ford, well known for not relishing the tackle, also does not like to be tackled and will release the ball rather than go into the tackle.

Lachy Lam appears to have a swagger about him. Unfamiliar with the systems chose to the simple things, but it is noticeable how many times he is available for an offload. If nothing else we all love a good poacher.

Feb: Fev 28-6 -22 May: Leigh 30-16 +14 June: Leigh 32-12 +20 July: Leigh 46-16 +30 The trend appears to be a growing points difference in our favour, but Brian McD still thinks they can win https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/we ... -thumping/

Feb: Fev 28-6 -22 May: Leigh 30-16 +14 June: Leigh 32-12 +20 July: Leigh 46-16 +30 The trend appears to be a growing points difference in our favour, but Brian McD still thinks they can win https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/we ... -thumping/