Playing our "strongest" team may not give us the best chance of winning anyway and may compound the current issues further down the line. Our strongest on paper may not be our strongest on current form. It certainly wasn't yesterday when I think fresher players would have made a better fist of it.

I know what you're saying Zig but I think there's a trust issue here. We said the same last year but on the occasions he did longer minutes he was fine. I think his defensive frailties are over stressed anyway. He's hardly the weakest link and Nsemba, for example, is (understandably) far more often caught out in defense but plays regular long minutes. Mago's defence was good on Saturday even in an overall poor team performance.

He needs to be given the opportunity to show he can do it, otherwise what's the point? 10 - 15 minutes spells are of no real benefit to us. He's the most destructive prop we have and regularly ties up 3 and 4 defenders whilst still making good post contact metres. No one else in our rotation does what he does.

I'd be tempted to go with Mago at 13 and rest Ellis, Mago did ok at 13 in some games earlier in the season. Dupree, Byrne starting props with Havarad and Hill on the bench - giving Thompson a rest (BTW where is Cooper - seems to have been missing for quite a while).

Maybe go with Forber at 9 and Farrimond/Leeming at halves - leave Field at 1 and have Eckersley on the bench as cover and to come on of we need to switch Field to halves.

Walters to start giving Nsemba a rest as he looked well off the pace against Leeds, maybe have him on the bench - Walter can move to prop if needed. There are other who on recent performances are lucky not to get dropped but would mean too many changes.

It was his defensive error that led to Leigh scoring, after 10 minutes on the field his legs look like they have been filled with lead. I wish we could get longer out of him but his lack of fitness tends to prevail. Maybe you’re right and we need to play him longer to increase his stamina. Another option could be to bring him on at the 30 minute mark and get two bursts out of him either side of half time. Peet doesn’t trust him the close out a game.

Again, I understand what you're saying but you could equally point to misses by other players that lead to tries. I've already mentioned Nsemba who is, quite rightly, a fixture in the team playing good minutes regardless of the number of tries against his defence but there's any number of other examples. Obviously Nsemba is a a young lad learning his trade but other players are responsible for leaking tries too. Look at the right side defence lately. It hasn't stopped us playing Keighran and Miski (or Nsemba or Farrell for that matter). Mago's defence last time out was good and I can't think of him being responsible for any tries conceded despite the team suffering a shellacking.

I get your ( or the coaches) wanting him to be better. That's fine. All I'm saying is he's not the weakest link defensively in this team yet seems to be singled out as though he were. Plus what he brings offensively is individual to him. We don't get it from anyone else.

I'm not saying he displaces Ellis, or anyone else for that matter but he hasn't missed a game this season so they clearly think he's an asset. Use him as such instead of these bizarre cameos.

I never want to lose against Saints, Itchy, but I feel we're in a "bigger picture" situation at the moment and losing Doris the tea lady (see other thread ) has tipped the balance in Saints' favour again.

Being serious for a moment, I think that, were it not for our form, this would be a bit of a banker. I know we have players out but Saints' losses are probably bigger than ours now. It's just that, looking how gassed we were on Saturday and knowing how the week after Easter used to go, I don't feel the players we have left will be at anywhere near their best. I hope I'm wrong, of course and maybe the fact that it's a derby will raise them.

Regarding Mago, I don't agree he can only do 15 mins mate, and that's my point. His defensive deficiencies are overstated in my opinion and he did long minutes several times last season with no drop off in quality. It's worth checking out what was said on here during that period as most agreed that he tended to look more gassed than he actually was and his performances bore that out. I haven't seen anything that suggests he couldn't do 20 minutes either side of half time at the very least.

2 games for Knowles

Smith referred to tribunal- Grade E

Not going to complain too much as it was stupid from Smith but was it really any worse than Hiku on Field?

A break won't do Smith any harm, if French is back in the next week or two then him and Farrimond together for a couple of matches will be something to look forward to

True but I'm not sure he needed a month or more break which is presumably what he'll get.

Has anyone seen if he actually makes contact? Unless I've missed it, no one seems to be posting anything which suggests he didn't.

I dare say the club will be checking the camera angles, if they don't appeal then we can safely say Smith connected

It was deemed Hiku didn't make contact
From Fields lack of reaction and what I watched 10+ times I would just about agree

Only seen Smiths back once, looked like he made contact to me albeit I don't think there was much force

Don't think there's much of a defence unfortunately. I'd guess 4 games but hopefully we get lucky and he gets 3 and can make the Hull KR game.

5 wins out of 6 would likely get us in the top 2 as long as one of those wins is against Hull KR. Makes this weekend's game so crucial - looks like it will ultimately come down to a battle between an experienced playmaker in Mbye and a young talent in Farrimond.

No lineup out of what we have let is deal but on balance would probably go with Keighran and Farrimond in the halves.