I go along with this. Sometime soon, someone's going to have to sit McGuire down and tell him some home truths. What the effect will be on this "special group of players" is anybody's guess.

We've had the same problem with Wellens for a few years

Not to take anything away from Saints but I thought that was one of the worst play off performances I've ever seen by HKR on saturday.

As for friday, I don't think it been at headingley will make much difference to be honest, too close to call for mine, should be a very good game.

Our best chance of victory against the Saints will be for our forwards to dominate. That means in defence as well as go forward. Hopefully the extra game time and work out will have improved our returning injured's match fitness. Delaney put in the effort but he was much less effective without his usual legdrives which we will need on Friday.

I would be tempted to revert to the side which beat Wigan and would certainly start Singleton at LF and have Achurch back on the bench. There is also an argument to start Sutcliffe and drop McGuire to the bench or even alltogether. However we must not forget his match winning abilities.

The other choice would be at prop. Kylie was lacking energy and did not have his usual impact. Bailey put in a decent but largely passive tackle count without any dominance, and the least said about his lack of go forward with 6 carries for 19 metres with an average of 3m per carry!!! This even made Kirke's 11 carries for 50 metres look good



We have plenty of tacklers and should therefore pick the forwards that will best put us on the front foot. We have to starve Roby of good possession by dominating the ruck.

Cheers for that, when was the last time we beat them in a non knock out play off?

Was it the Lauitiiti try in 2005?

This is spot on and exactly why I am worried.

Leeds under Mcdermott are impossible to predict. Excellent one week, sub par the next, terrible the next, average the next etc etc etc

spot on. this is why i find our esteemed coach such an enigma.
two supurb grand final wins, some magnificent displays in big games yet his use, or non use of replacements, baffling team selections and some dreadful displays sum up his tenure up to press

Leeds' Play-Off record V St Helens:

18-Oct-98 ….. FE ….. Home ….. Won 44 - 16

17-Sep-99 ….. QPO ….. Away ….. Lost 38 - 14

22-Sep-01 ….. EPO ….. Away ….. Lost 38 - 30

30-Sep-05 ….. QSF ….. Away ….. Won 16 - 19

28-Sep-07 ….. QSF ….. Away ….. Lost 10 - 8
13-Oct-07 ….. GF ….. Neutral ….. Won 6 - 33

19-Sep-08 ….. QSF ….. Away ….. Lost 38 - 10
04-Oct-08 ….. GF ….. Neutral ….. Won 16 - 24

10-Oct-09 ….. GF ….. Neutral ….. Won 18 - 10

08-Oct-11 ….. GF ….. Neutral ….. Won 16 - 32

FE - Final Eliminator (Loser Out)

QPO - Qualifying Play-Off (Both Survive)

QSF - Qualifying Semi-Final (Both Survive)

EPO - Elimination Play-Off (Loser Out)

GF - Grand Final

__________

The two coaches going head to head in the Play-Offs - McDermott 1 - 0 Brown

Tough one to call. 1 win each & 42 all on the scoreboard.

Leeds looked a bit tired after the Wire game, but they had done it tough at Wigan the week before & a few are still short of game time.

Saints came up with a big show against HKR & probably won't be as fluent or given as much time by Leeds.

I have a gut feeling Saints may nick it unless Leeds are running hot.

Can't believe someone has suggested Brian McDermott should be sacked.

1250 tickets sold by Saints already. So the pre-match chanting should be good and providing we don't give you another 16 point leg up, I'm expecting the lead to go back and forth a bit on Friday night.

I would not have given us great odds of getting past this round of the playoff's, but it will be refreshing not to meet Leeds in a final for a change.

Assuming we play to our recent form, then I'll take Saints by 8. But if we drop off, then it's Leeds all the way.

As a Saints fan this is the game I wanted in week 2. I thought after you lot beat Wigan and finished 3rd it wouldn't happen but thanks the reliability of Huddersfield's unreliability my wish has come true. This is a game Saints will be up for (more than we would be against Wire or Wigan) and the atmosphere at Headingley will be fantastic.

Looking forward to seeing you all on Friday!

Correct 100 percent

Hardaker
Jones-Bishop
Watkins
Moon
Hall
Sutcliffe
Burrow
Singleton
Sinfield
Peacock
Jones-Buchanan
Delaney
Ablett

McGuire
Leuluai
Bailey
Achurch

-Allows our two most energetic players (Sutcliffe & Singleton) to start

-Gives us Good bench options

-Doesn't put McGuire in the firing line early on

When a forward is allowed to post four (or even three) tries against you the previous week, that tells you that defence of your line is not what it should be.
It needs sorting very quickly or we're out.

Should be a great game and i for one will be chuffed if McGuire doesnt start as he always seems to be "that guy" against us.
Hopefully tickets are flying out down your end and we can have the biggest playoff attendance for a while for one of the best games!

would bring in Achurch for either Bailey or Kirke who both offered nothing last week going forward

1. Hardaker
2. Jones-Bishop
3. Watkins
4. Moon
5. Hall
13. Sinfield
6. McGuire
23. Singleton
7. Burrow
10. Peacock
11. Jones-Buchanan
15. Delaney
12. Ablett

8. Leuluai
16. Bailey
19. Achurch
26. Sutcliffe

Interesting reading. Everytime I think to myself there's no way we can pull it off again I get a huge sense of deja vous. Not an easy challenge by any means but Saints at home is game we are more than capable of winning regardless of what happened last week. Is it merely coincidence that the only play off we've lost under big mac is the only one we didn't have to win?

this

I'm not so sure. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Saints ambush Leeds and we exit the play-offs with a whimper. Then again I wouldn't be surprised if we turn in a good performance and sneak it. Looking forward to it either way.

Same squad as last week then.
No McShane so presumably McGuire is fit to play.
Hope he does something this week as we can`t carry too many in such a crucial game.
Clearly one of the untouchables!

Well sooner or later mac's record of knockout playoff games will come to an end, we can't just go on winning year after year.

I just can't see how this game will go. On the one hand with saints recent form i think 'uh oh here comes a taste of our own medicine' season gone with a whimper, but then on the other hand I think, look at the teams record they thrive on these situations we won't let this title go without an almighty fight. So it's a very difficult game to predict.

For me, i'll get an inkling in the first 10 minutes whether we are up to it or not. I expect completed sets, decent 4th/5th tackle kicks and muscle up front both in defence and attack. If saints are gaining quick play the balls, and we come up with poor options with ball in hand.....it's going to be a struggle.

Neither Bentham nor Silverdud encourage quick PTBs so you should probably be safe enough!

Personally, after the season we have had with the countless dismal performances I have watched my team put in, I am astounded we have made it this far. I can't see us winning on Friday but as long as Saints put in their best possible performance then I'll take something from an otherwise disappointing and sometimes depressing season.

If we win not only will it be a bonus but I will be stunned.

I'm not suprised. I had you down as dark horses 6 weeks ago. In terms of 'this far', it's one home win against a mid table team. So it doesn't take much of a stretch to imagine a team of saints ability being bale to accomplish that. It's the reason quite a few leeds fans had you down as dark horses. We could see you would finished somewhere 5th-8th. Anywhere outside the top 4 you get ''whipping boy rabble'' in week 1. Play half decent, you are suddenly in week 2.

If saints knock leeds out, theoretically theres no reason they can't go all the way.

Spin doctors out in force

"Leeds haven't beaten Saints at Headingly in the play offs since 1998!"

Or

"Leeds have a 100% success rate against Saints at Headingly in the play offs!"

your choice