maybe it's not through choice? his confidence might be low he might feel his form could cost him his place, i don't think anyone should accuse him of not being bothered etc, he needs the giants fans to support him not castigate him.

same should be said of any other players, there's too much negativity among fans when things don't go right, too much scapegoating, too many fans on players backs when things don't go well, too much blame on individual players, the TEAM is the one who let's us down.

let's get to leeds in numbers and show every single player our support, back the boys! not slag them

Maybe Lunt has been coached to play the way he is, he's not scooting or taking the line on anymore more a case of just passing from dummy half, that may be a coaches instruction rather than the player choosing not to ....same with Eorl and his lack of offloading these days. I'm sure these players don't just stop doing what they have been very good at in the past, and if they did i'm also as sure the coach would wanna know why they aren't doing it anymore !

19 announced

Wood plays instead of robinson at hooker, good decision as wood has been putting in MOM performances in for oldham and robbo not been great but he has been given the week off to recover from knocks and recharge the batteries as he has had sleepless nights with a new born baby recently.

Lawrence in for bailey, another good decision from anderson here, bailey not taken his chance for me and lawrence never lets anyone down.

connor keeps his place at full back!!


connor
mcgillvary
cudjoe
wardle
murphy
lunt
brough
ellis
kopczak
huby
ferres
lawrence
hughes

taai
crabtree
mullally
wood

line up like that i reckon

Ref: P Bentham.
Video Ref: J Child, M Thomason.

Lawrence isn't in for Bailey- they are both in the squad.

I'm nervous about this game for us yet very excited!
It's very winnable however I think Leeds have a better mental attitude than us.

Brian McDermott and Captain Kev will print into there players minds to play percentages just like the NRL teams did last week in the World club series. They don't have much to prove.

In contrast, I hope I'm wrong but I think it'll be a case of us trying too hard to show the Sky viewers that we are a top 4 team, and a team to be aware of by over playing.
Could work in our favour if it's one of them nights that things go right. We don't get many of them nights though...

I wouldn't change the team apart from maybe putting Johnson in for some younger legs in the prop department. Crabtree or Koppy to miss out for him.

I don't quite get the dislike for Lunt to be honest and I think he's professional enough to put the effort in all season and hopefully in the future. Is he this seasons target for our fans?

When Wood returns it's straight into the halves for me. Our best rugby last season was when he was partnering Brough. His passing is exceptional while on the move. Away at Leeds may not be the best for his return though!

All in all. COYG!! Let's get this season started on Thursday!

do what has got us wins at headingley in the last 3 years and we have a chance.

that is do the basics right, play the percentages, kick deep and chase hard, turn them around and don't give them an inch in defence.

that's what we've done the last 3 years and it's worked for us, try and score off every set and they'll crucify us, keep it simple, keep it tight and we will get the rewards

yeh ok, lawrence in for bailey in the 17 team then

yeh thing is they have hardaker at full back now and not ben jones bishop which has been the case previously, hardaker is a much better full back, their backs get them on the front foot , thats what we need to stop to have any chance

Correct

Hardaker has played at FB for Leeds for a few years now- we beat them with him playing there plenty. It's our centres I worry about.

thought you worried about our forwards?

We'll put in a full 80 minute shift and win yet again at Headingley Will be a tough game and just what we need after the poor start we've made to the season. There's nothing like a West Yorkshire derby to get you going and the players have got a point to prove. You could class this as the first real game of the season after our woeful pre-season preparation and friendly call off.

Going by that performance Woody needs to play every week- and he needs more minutes. We looked so much brighter and quicker around the ruck in that few minutes he was on than with lunt.