I think that's about right given the fiasco last year with Wrexham Crusaders who couldn't be bothered to fulfil commitments blaming it on their snow phobia or Nobby's TV commitments. Leigh was guaranteed due to a) Their commitment and b) undersoil heating

The Wire game was a Lot tighter than the scoreline suggested , Tony Smith stated as such , and it was no false praise , they had to work very hard and it was only down to some real quality and a full strength squad that the margin was so big , they will beat several SL teams by bigger scores this year , most probably Quins being one of them

...I fear you may be correct.

not too sure what to take away from this result
Looking at the leigh site, they are pretty confident of having a decent season and being up there challenging, and they have to be in with a shout of a franchise place.
Not convinced we have to play SL team before we go in to the season!! as long as the boys get a run out to blow away the cobwebs and get some proper contact rugby in

I predict a win against the Cats
And another win against the cheshire crusaders if we stop sammut

Defence was my concern post the Skolars game- nothing has changed my mind reading the comments from yesterday

AFAIK, we were missing Ward, Bailey, Purdo, Melling, Temata and Caro yesterday so we should not panic. Leigh had already played 2 SL teams and were fit and ready. It may take time to get the loanees up to speed. Clubby seems to have retained his England and acquired goal kicking boots and there was praise for Gale, if those two have a good season we will not do too badly. We do need a prop and a defensive coach it would seem!

This was a friendly ffs. Neither team will be playing at full tilt so let's just all calm down shall we.

Leigh fans are telling us nothing we don't already know by proclaiming we'll struggle this year. As littlerich above states, our biggest asset will be our underdog status and we have the opportunity to start well with two of the weaker sides in the first two rounds.

No chance this time around - we didn't qualify, to apply. As yet nobody knows if Championship clubs can apply in 2015 - I expect the Rfl will announce something in 2014!!

Look on the bright side Dave. YOU can't get relegated!!

I agree its pre season but what I saw with my own eyes verses Skolars with regards to defence worried me. We were opened up by Skolars a good number of times, more than I had seen in previous capital games. The score yesterday would suggest there are grounds to be worried. For the record I don’t think we will be at the top of the league but at the same time defending the goal line is an important facet of the game.

You appear to play down pre season games as being completely insignificant.

That's an interesting interpretation of my post.

My own position is that you cannot judge how a season is going to go based on two pre-season games, particularly one against London Skolars that is used every year primarily as a marketing tool. I understand that people are excited about the season starting and want to get as much information as they can from people who watched the games but drawing concrete conclusions from them is a risky business.

I agree about the question marks over our defence - Lord knows we've gone through it enough on here - But lets give the team, with new faces and a new coach, enough time to get up and running in SL before judging them either way. Fans expectations need to be managed because we've undoubtedly got one of the weaker squads in SL.

If there are question marks about the defence it's up to Powell to sort them out. Clearly he would have noted what happened at the Skolars' match and this will have be re-iterated to him against Leigh. He now has two weeks to address the defensive frailities.