I'm optimistic about this season but I think we are getting carried away here - that said I'd love to be proved wrong.

If our pack turns up and shows the same grit as it did against Saints and especially Hull we could pinch it - if they don't Leeds are still capable of walloping us and I suspect would love to do so after their Cas fiasco.

It's very clear to me that Chester has gone for a big dominant pack (which it could be as the season goes on) and that is where the bulk of our money has gone. So far they have competed in two games, lost the plot in the Hudds game but for me most frighteningly failed to dominate a Salford team that was down to twelve men for twenty minutes, though our forwards got slightly bossed by a smaller pack (I await being even more unpopular for this ).

Fifita, Allgood, Huby even Hirst and Batchelor have not come cheap.

It was great to see the comeback and credit to the team but in parts of that game we were a bit soft and with a pack as big and mobile as ours tat wasn't on - we certainly won't get away with it at Headingley no matter how poor Leeds supposedly are.

I hope we do it and we have a chance but the effort level required will IMHO need to surpass anything we've managed so far this season.

I see a Leeds victory by 12-16 points but hope for the opposite.

I do agree that Leeds are dangerous and we should certainly not take them lightly.
When we were guessing league positions at the beginning of the season I said Leeds would be well in the 8. They are not as good as they were and their pack is their weak link but their backs are o far ahead, they simply have to break even in the pack.
We on the other hand have a strong pack but haven't really fired in the backs. We have one of the best wingers in the league and his only involvement in a pretty open game against Salford was to cart the ball up like a prop, with one piece of broken field play which resulted in a try.

The key for us being, that when our pack does get on top, which I think it has for stretches in every game, we need to use the ball and get the strike players striking. When we get it right like two of the tries against Salford we look great, but we go down the middle too far. The pack does really well to get us to the line, then we keep smashing it in instead of spreading it and working the players we have just tired out.

It will come, but Leeds will be looking at that and working on just containing our pack and then countering on the break.....which they do very effectively.

I look forward to seeing us develop more.

I think with Singleton out our pack is better. Our halves are better but their backline is better (we out do them
In speed though)

The point with Leeds is that, they are miles away from the all conquering team of 2 seasons ago and they have weakness in their halves and at FB plus, our pack is significantly stronger than theirs (especially with Singleton out).
The old adage that its the forwards who decide the game and the backs by how many should hold firm and I'm hoping and expecting another tight victory and nobody should leave early, as we have a habit of leaving it late these days

I think we have enough dog in us to stop teams running rampant. I know we had that 10 minutes against Salford where we let in 4 tries, but other than that we've managed to stop other teams getting any kind of a roll together by getting a decent level of control in the tackle.

As long as we can keep close to Leeds on Friday, we have the speed and guile to create something out of nothing and hit a winner. More important I feel will be discipline and the big guys getting decent ruck speed.

Leeds squad if you are interested:
Golding
Briscoe
Watkins
Moon
Hall
Mcguire
Burrow
Parcell
Cuthbertson
Ablett
Sutcliffe
Delaney
Garbutt
Keinhorst
Ferres
Mullally
Walters
Baldwinson
Oledzki

I agree with most of what you say, and it's an interesting point about Johnstone, and the other wingers. I just don't think we have wingers' centres! I think they have good attributes, in differing ways, but it's not in their natural instinct, like say a Matthew Gidley etc, to put their winger away at every opportunity. Reece Lyne, Tupou scored similar tries using strength near the line, and particularly Lyne has been excellent so far, but neither are naturally inclined to find their winger, although to be fair Lyne has a decent out the back door pass. A lot of Johnstone's tries last season were opportunistic, a few interceptions etc, because he's so naturally athletic and is reading the game well now as he develops. I actually thought last season Arundel got him in space more than any other centre, so will be interesting to see if he's his partner in the next few games with presumably Lyne out for a while.

Gibson is the closest to a traditional centre we have. The debate rages on whether you need a creative centre or a powerhouse who drives the ball out instead depending on the halfbacks to find the cut out ball as was Tim Smith speciality.

Personally I think both work if done correctly. There was nothing special about Australia's centre play in the recent internationals but their power alone blew us away. I agree the old way looked prettier but there must be a reason why centres are rarely used that way anymore.

Maybe it is so-called modern day 'coaching' methods, maybe most centres' nowadays are glorified second rowers?! At the end of the day I suppose it doesn't matter whether a centre scores more tries than his winger, but I bet just like last season with Solomona, the leading tryscorer will be a winger just like it is more often than not??

Yeah agreed but a lot of that passing to the winger is done by the halves and fullbacks etc nowadays. Not as often you'd think to see a centre put his winger away.

I think a more defensive kind of centre is key for us anyway, we look very vulnerable out wide near our line.

Yep, very true, after all it was Grix who provided the flick on pass for MCB at Saints wasn't it. Just look at Cas, it pains me to say it, but they are a joy to watch at the minute, every player, in motion with and without the ball, all working like clockwork, but I doubt it can continue that good for them for much longer, they need a dent in their confidence somehow. Greg Eden must be thinking it's Christmas day every day right now, I think he's a talented enough player, but no way would I call him a 'great' winger in the true sense of the position, but God knows how many tries he'll end up scoring.

Wakefield 19 man squad. Kirmond and BJB return along with Arundel in place of England, Batchelor and Lyne

Mitch Allgood
Tinirau Arona
Joe Arundel
Matty Ashurst
Mason Caton-Brown
David Fifita
Liam Finn
Scott Grix
Dean Hadley
Craig Huby
Ben Jones-Bishop
Tom Johnstone
Danny Kirmond
Jacob Miller
Mikey Sio
Bill Tupou
Anthony Walker
Sam Williams
Kyle Wood

I'd put Kirmond back in for Batchelor and Arundel in for Lyne with BJB to miss out as I don't think MCB has done anything wrong to justify dropping him.

Scott Grix
Tom Johnstone
Joe Arundel
Bill Tupou
Mason Caton-Brown
Jacob Miller
Sam Williams
Mitch Allgood
Kyle Wood
Craig Huby
Matty Ashurst
Danny Kirmond
Mikey Sio

Liam Finn
David Fifita
Dean Hadley
Tinirau Arona

Not surprised England was dropped, not a criticism but I did think he looked off the pace a bit after a long injury.

Batchelor nice little run out but you can't leave out Kirmond after the Saints game.

Very sad for Lyne, isn't that typical a player starts to find the best form of his career then bang he's out.

Is Gibson still injured from last season?

No