Didn't Ablett get named at 9 in a game last year? Can't remember him jumping in there much though.Would imagine Sinfield will do it majority of time until Burrow comes on.I agree, its a bit left field but in a likely tight forward battle due to the conditions it looks a smart decision not to start Burrow.

Also think this is a team-sheet game, which will confuse Eddie and Stevo and nobody else. Imagine a Sinfield and maybe Ward doing most of the dummy-half work, with maybe a little bit of Cuthbertson.

Going to be tough for Wigan though to make metres. With the weather it makes it more a forwards-down-the-middle battle and Wigan don't have the biggest set of forwards and we're starting with 4 props effectively.

Ha! Good old McDermott.....he did it before with Clarkson (as I said earlier) and he's gone one better this time. As others have already stated though Cuthbo won't actually be going into dummy half. That'll be Sinfield mainly I guess.......

Hats off to the coach. If Leeds win this one he will indeed have my respect for his blind sider !!!

I'd imagine both starting second rows will operate in their usual channels. Sinfield in at dummy half, McGuire and Cuthbertson to play as pivots.

Expect a fair bit of kicking for position out of dummy half, or wide shifts on the last tackle. McGuire is going to be a sitting target for McIlorum and the rest of the Wigan pack otherwise as the only kicker.

Hmmm, looked a push to me.

tbh there were things in all 4 first half tries that they could have been disallowed for.

Our defence has been just excellent so far, Briscoe's error apart. Attack hasn't fired at all but still scored 20...

Been a scruffy and poor game so far, weather has really killed it.

Hope Achurch is ok but at the same time, but by god the guy lasted a minute on his latest comeback. Stevie Ward need to change his boots at HT. Silverwood has been really poor but we've benefitted this time and how many times does Bentham need to replay a try before deciding.

Think probably McGuire's try is the only one at should've stood. Hardaker's try saver on Sutton was top drawer and we went upfield to score to stretch the lead just before HT. What could've been a 14-10 HT score is instead a 20-4 score thanks to that moment from Zak.

Has anyone worked out who's playing stand-off yet? It seems to be....nobody.

We've been poor in this second half, very flat in attack, and gifted Wigan too much field position. We defended really well, but I never felt we got out of 2nd gear.
I thought Garbutt, Cuthbertson, McGuire and Sinfield were very good. We've got to play Sinfield at 9 for 80 minutes.

We've got a lot of improvement in us, but we had to grind that out and it was good to see we could win another way.

Nope, don't think anybody was. As much as it worked tonight I'm really worried about playing this format in future. The ball was kept to close to the ruck, when it went out it was obvious it had to go to McGuire.
Losing both Aiton & Sutcliffe could be a hammer blow.

What we did well tonight, what we don't usually do, is not get sucked in to Wigan's cheap shots (forearms into the tackled players face etc)


Also, how many times do a Wigan players - Liam Farrell being the worst - keep crawling forward, off the mark, when the tackles complete. Making it look like we're keeping hold of the tackled player?

Odd game. Defence very intense in first half, but we tired in the second. The scoreline seemed narrower than it should have. Not sure if there were injuries to Kylie and Burrow, but neither had more than 15 minutes. Add Achurch's injury and we were near enough playing with 14 men.

Ward's defence was really good, Cuthbertson a danger, Garbutt good all-round and Sinfield fine from dummy-half. Would probably have given McGuire m.o.m as he seemed to be playing both half-back positions at the same time, and did a pretty good job of it.

As much as I can see why you think Sinfield should be 9, as IMHO he's without doubt the 2nd best 9 at the club, we're to one dimensional when we only have one half on. Our whole successful style of play this year cannot be achieved.

I just don't see Robbie Ward getting much of a chance at this stage, so Sinfield is probably the only realistic option.

I agree.Burrow to renew his partnership with Mcguire in the halves for me with Sinfield at 9.The way we played tonight proved right in the conditions but we will quickly become predictable if we continue with it imo.

Exactly right. It'll be easy for opposing teams to prepare to face us.
My guess is Burrow will play a lot of game time at 9 in the CC Final.
Unfortunately it's going to be unavoidable as we have few options

Why on Earth don't you sit down for god sake ? But I bet you do really I know your wind up style by now.You sit down don't you ? A man of your age would never stand at the ginned end

A game of two halves as they say. We looked well on top in the first and looked second best in the second. It was an ugly win, but we hung in there and won. Shock of the night had to be Ull turning over Saints at home, a good night for Leeds

Sinfield was brilliant, took some cheap shots and kept taking it in. But at 9 a major weakness for our team, due to just leaving McGuire for kicks, who is poor. The best two kicks of the night were two of only I think four Sinfield did.

If he is going to play 9, he needs to come away from dummy half after the first three tackles.

Perhaps now those that questioned the loss that Aiton will be will [unow[/u understand !!!

A great defensive effort and a return to the good old fashined ground out win ....but .....those lovely runs from dummy half with equally lovely go forward and off loads reached a peak against Warrington.

Credit to McDermott for his blind-sider, but it was close.

As others have already pointed out McGuire was trying to cover two half back roles....and he did do a good job, but going forward I think we have to really give Robbie Ward an opportunity against Hull (which I think will be done with the healthy lead and those extra 2 valuable points).

I too believe Sinfield is now our best dummy half option, but it does look now to be leaving too big a 'hole' in the halfbacks. I'm not sure Burrow is the answer: IMO he is still best coming off the bench.

Maybe Lilley might be tried at halfback against Hull too? Some tough decisions ahead....but one game before wembley how many more injury risks can Leeds afford to take?

Poor old Achurch....hope he makes a recovery to play against Hull

Put your feet up and relax next week, you have top place secured.

Biggest problem tonight as the match wore on was too many guys wanting to play the attractive stuff instead of the sensible wet weather rugby that was required. That's why Sinfield is so important and was rightly MOM, because he knows what's needed, whilst some guys made some poor decisions in the 2nd half. (Watkins trying to squeeze a ball over his shoulder on halfway with 5 mins left that lead to Wigan's last try an example)

Sinfield at 9 does create a HB problem but surely they could get someone to stand in for at least the last tackle at dummy half so Sinfield can be a kicking option. Given the weather I'm not sure you can totally write off this same lineup playing again as the wet conditions did shackle us a bit just as much (more) as the way we lined up.

Hardaker was quality again and Garbutt had a good game. A few players not at their best with getting dragged into giving penalties away like Cuthbertson and Ward, the latter I can see developing a bit of a heated rivalry over the next few years with Bateman.

Saints are going to have to buck up their ideas and straight away now looking at the table

3rd...Saints - 32pts
4th...Hudds - 30pts
5th...Cas - 30pts

Saints have played and lost to the two 'weakest' teams in the 8's in Hull and Catalans. That leaves them with 5 games on the trot against the 5 strongest other teams and when in horrible form.

Hudds (h)
Leeds (a)
Cas (a)
Wigan (h)
Wire (h)

Lose to Hudds next week and then face two away games then they could really be in trouble.

You would think Saints have to find some form again soon they have too much quality not to imo.Maybe the weeks rest for wembley will do them the world of good.I still think them and Wigan are an equal threat to us for the GF.

Sinfield excellent MOM performance. Garbutt, Ward and Ablett put in some big shifts. JP a bit below par and Watkins and Briscoe a bit sloppy. Moon really strong in the middle and Mags sharp.

We should rest key players next week as growing injury list is becoming a big worry. Saints could even drop out of the top 4. The GF could be played by 2 sets of reserves at this rate.