Houghton was speaking to my old man on Saturday and he said he "bloody hopes so" about being back, and then said "yeah i should be ok"

So if he doesnt play, it may be due to saving him for Leigh?

It couldn't be sorted, he just had to be there for his family. At times like that Rugby doesn't become important and the club did the right thing in letting him go. But all credit to Albert to play against Warrington and support the club and his teammates despite what had happened back hime

Houghton not playing friday but should be back next week hopefully Monday

If two days make a difference I'd rather we let him recover properly, not play him at all, you don't win anything in Easter.

yes you do
You play in front of a big crowd because its a holiday weekend and if we entertain and win the possibility is we may be able to increase the core attendance for the next home games which seems to be stuck around 11000.

Remind me what trophy we're playing for in our two Easter games? Attendances are stuck around the 11k mark because that's how many people want to attend, the pricing and poor state of the stadium (its filthy and showing its age) is a contributing factor. Also many stay away as they don't want to find the Allams.

The attendance in itself is meaningless with respect to the performance on field.
Do you win anything at Easter, yes you do, 2/4 points which as part of the system we have in RL means it can potentially be the difference between league leaders and 5th or because you lose in a demoralising way again, even worse which could easily have happened had we lost that Easter Friday game last year.

Do we want to play any player who isn't fit, no, they are either fit or they're not, there's no in between for me. Playing someone who might think they're fit but isn't 100% should not take to the field.
I'd rather we lose a game playing an 18 year old prop who will be sore as buggery and a bit out their depth for a game than bring back one of our mainstays who is very much integral to how we go but could well get a career changing injury that and then also puts pressure on the teamn/coach for the rest of the season.
it's a balncing act for sure, against warrington last year it paid off but to say we don't win anything in Easter is wrong and the wrong mentality to have.
A bit like when people say we have a 'free hit' because we have loads of injuries (a la Warrington again and saints after the CC final), no it isn't, expecting to get beat is totally the wrong attitude by players or fans, think that way and more often than not you will get beat.

If we don't win any games over easter we could go into the wire game only 2 points ahead of them which would be a big turnaround from when we were 10 points in front

Weve seen recently that most of the back ups arnt ready (or will ever be). Get the strongest 17 out there as Leeds are back to being pretty good even if it means Houghton isnt 100%

And he does 10 minutes, worsens the injury and is then out 4 games instead of two? We'll have to agree to disagree. As with the Kelly thing, I trust the coaches and player to make the decision.

No offence mate, but you didn't go last week if you had you would have seen Fash have a good game.

Not sure I agree they will never be ready, still think the likes of Litten, Turgut and Masi will come on and benefit from these type of games long term, people said Green and Bowden wouldn't make it, but they look good SL players, but it took a few years.

It takes time, which is why the reserves games are so important.

Is Carlos back? If so I'd go, hearing no Houghton or Ellis
Shaul
Fonau
Connor
Tuimavave
Talanoa
Kelly
Sneyd
Taylor
Washbrook
Bowden
Minichello
Manu
Thompson
Subs
Watts
Turgut
Ellis
Litten