Going on the 21 man squad my team would be
Max
Jerry
Thornley
Pratt
Walmsley
Gale
Lino
Bowden
Hood
Renouf
Ashurst
Griffin
Pitts

Rodwell
Caleb
Kaye
Doyle

Supprised to see that it's not been brought up of the last time we won a cup final and who the opposition was on that day at ellend road

Be very surprised if Bain doesn’t play, for me it’s olpherts v walmsley , kaye v Doyle , all good choices to have and wouldn’t be disappointed if team was as you suggest.

Think the Yorkshire cup final mentioned on other thread , 1992 I think at elland road ,
Spencer, jones, mason , benson, Wilson , wright bagnal, Webster bell glancy price fritz slater,

I’ll stick with what I said a week ago

I'd go Doyle over Kay.

For me, Kay covers a number of positions and has the added benefit of being pretty effective from dummy half and with Mcgilvery, Griffin & Thornley back inn recovering from lay offs (and Gale) It makes more sense having him in the side rather than Doyle.

Not for me. Doyle v Kay shouldn’t be a factor. Kay hasn’t played at 9 all season. He’s been at 13 all season. You’d be throwing Kay at 9 to squeeze Kay in out of sentiment but Doyle has earned that 9 interchange shirt hands down.

That would be Kay v Bain. The only reason we are talking about Bain is because his last game was a stormer but having only played 3 you couldn’t complain if he doesn’t make the 17. He only will if Griffin doesn’t make it and Pitts moves to SR.

It’s also not Walmsley vs Olpherts imo. Walmsley should be the first winger on the team sheet. He’s played more than both others combined and scored a shed ton more. Plus he’s the only left winger as Olpherts and McGillvray have played almost all year on right.

I like Jerry but with only 5 games he should probably be the one to miss out. I’m fine with either playing on the right but that’s the obvious choice for me.

People are talking about sticking Griff at centre instead of Pratt just to squeeze other forwards in which is ludicrous thinking imo and
Would be unfair on a player who’s played centre all year. It’s mainly people trying to squeeze favourites in but they’re not thinking about the players that
Would be put out like Doyle/pratt etc that have earned it.

For my team

Jowitt
Olpherts
Thornley
Pratt
Walmsley
Lino
Gale
Bowden
Hood
Atoni
Ashurst
Griffin
Pitts

Doyle
Rodwell
Uele
Kay

Bain (unless Griff isn’t fit)
Croft
Booth
McGillvray (happy with him on right but he’s played a few less than Olpherts). I could see why he’d be in though if he gets the nod.

Just a little footnote, message to Tom Grant. The only times we have lost at Wembley in 68 & 79, the referee has not survived to see the following years final.

1-13 starting with Rodwell, Uele, Doyle and Kay on the bench

Sheffield are no mugs, they will have noted Swintons long kicking game forcing big players/forwards to run long meters thus tire us out, they will not take on our forwards on a physical forwards battle they know they will loose in /over 80 mins.
They will niggle to cause us to over react !!
We, need to be discerplinned & clinical in order to control the game & win. !!!

Looking at body language of the players getting in the coach today I would say for some unknown reason ollpharts is in before walmsley.....

On the same principle you could extrapolate the McGillvary didn’t appear to be carrying a bag therefore it could be him who misses out.

More to the point, is it Rodwell who's wearing a 1990's Leeds Utd shirt? Random if so.

Safe travels everyone and have a great day!

Interesting… there are a couple of debates about the team… possibly 3!

First … what combination of wingers … I would choose Olpherts and Jerry… but any 2 from 3 would be fine.?

Second the Kay, Doyle and Bain debate… personally I wouldn’t carry Kay AND Doyle on the bench… and Doyle has been very good off the bench in conjunction with Uele and Rodwell.. so for me Kay would be 18th man…

…Although the potential 3rd decision is possibly playing Kay at half with either Gale or Lino stepping down…

Agreed any combo of wingers would be fine, but I think Powell will go for McGillvary and Walmsley, unless Jerry pulls up in the warmup. Got the sense from Walmsley’s interview yesterday that he’s in - if not then TC has done him dirty!

Still think Doyle and Kay will play. Doyle to replace Hood as standard. Including Kay just means that if anyone goes down injured it won’t change the game - if Gale goes he slots in at 6, if Griffin goes then Kay goes to 13, if McGillvary goes Kay goes on the wing, if Jowitt goes then Walmsley goes to fullback and Kay goes on the wing. And if all goes to plan he just goes on at 13. I’ve never rated Kay that highly but he’s become one of my favourite players because his value is undeniable and he’s going to be really hard to replace. Bain is a right player but I don’t think we gain much from including him today.

As for the halves, i think that’s tied up for the season. An ex-international with all the experience in the world who will carry out Powell’s game plan to the T, alongside the most skilful player on the pitch who will probably set up five tries today. Kay is a great fill-in at half, but for me there’s no way he should get picked there if we have Gale and Lino fit.

Oli Pratt had his best game in a Trin shirt yesterday

Atoni and Uele were my standouts but everyone did their bit.
Lino went a bit squiffy in patches and another 10 yards would have seen Walmsley caught by BJB but on the whole, wakey just steamrolled a Sheffield side who's toolbox was empty.
Those yardage penalties in the 1st half made it look close but without them Sheffield would have been nowhere.

Yeah everyone played really well and all did their part, but I'd also add Doyle to that list. I did think he upped that pace at the PTB and just got us going forward better when he came on like he does just about every game. Pratt also had a top game for us, probably his best yet.

I also thought the same at the time about Walmsley, not looking as quick as I thought he was. When watching the video back though, after Walmsley made the interception and his initial acceleration, I think he realised he wasn't gonna get caught and eased up on the gas, but BJB didn't and he probably got closer than Walmsley thought he would in the end.

Always harder to run quick when your looking behind to see where your chaser is, BJB, who is no slouch despite getting on, just had to focus on his target so gobbled up the yards.

True.

Bish looked jiggered when he finally got to Warmsley, he was laid on his back really sucking in some big ones. In fact every time he did anything he looked to be struggling. Yesterday was really good team performance agreed Atoni set the tone and Uele carried it on.

Atoni was my MOM, had to do extra minutes when Rodwell went off, his efforts never dropped.

Good player Walmsley, knows his job and does it well but he doesn't set the place on fire like TJ and to maybe a lesser extent Bish.
Dunno the Bish leaving story but I think he went a bit early.
He might be knocking on a bit but he still has his pace, he still looks very capable, probably the part time fitness regime isn't helping him much, but mebbe he likes it that way these days, I dunno.

Thinking about it, didn't he have some lung trouble, maybe that's the reason he's where he is..

Full game here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51H5Hge4D8U

Full game here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51H5Hge4D8U