Lost to Salford, fell 14-0 behind to Catalans before eventually winning 43-26

Lost to Saints away and followed it up by 18-0 down at Hull and when Hull had a man sent off they still couldn't win.

The week after they did hammer an injury hit Wigan.

So one real good response from 3. The previous two they went behind 14-0 & 18-0 in the opening 15 mins respectively.

My mistake. Followed up 2 out of 3 losses with big wins the following week and the one they didn't follow up with a win was a 3 day easter turnaround.

Too soon to write their obituary. Best to give it longer than a mediocre 80 minutes and even then they only lost on penalty kicks away at the cup holders.

Nobody is writing their obituary, far from it. Cas are still favourites for SL i would say at this point but not as far ahead of the field as they perhaps were a few weeks ago. Plus, we look a far better unit ourselves since that drubbing we took earlier in the year and have closer to a full strength team so a bit more reason to be optimistic, but certainly no cockiness involved. Hoping for a good game and at least looking for us to put in a good 80 minute performance against them for the first time in a couple of years.

Having to claw back against Catalans especially given Cas' other home performances was hardly a great showing. And Hull had the same turnaround and play a man down for 60 mins.

It's also 6 wins on the trot and 3 at Headingley but let's not pretend Leeds were in good shape for those games. 2015 we got given a 4 day turnaround Sunday - Thursday and was inevitably knackered for the Cas game and Cas caught us post Wembley when we slumped and also lost to Saints and Catalans comfortably. 2016, pfffftt.....everyone had our number last year we were awful, hardly anything to brag about beating us then. This year we had 8 guys who will most likely feature on Friday missing and at Magic we lost two starting props midweek and still were the better team in the first half and the 2nd half wasn't Cas coming up with some Plan B to win the game, it was us throwing it away with needless errors.

The 6 in a row sounds impressive but Cas have landed quite lucky in when they've faced us for a while.

A fair point. Probably the only one you wouldn't fancy in a fight is Webster, not that Leeds' backs are overly physical. I think the QF loss in that weather, together with the 2 day less turnaround will be too much for Cas. If they can get up from the Hull loss & get a victory it promises well for the rest of the season. If not it could be the mental side that is their undoing.

I fully expect Cas to come out all guns blazing.
Let's not forget that Tuimivave scored off an interception where Cas otherwise would most likely have scored.
That could have put a completely different complexion on the game.
I expect Powell will have them totally motivated to come back strongly to put the cup defeat firmly behind them.
Beware the wounded tiger.

Cas seemed to struggle against the quickness of the hull play the ball. Not certain that's a cas weakness or it just a sub par performance on the day.
Don't think there's any secret of the cas style of play. When the opportunity presents itself gale and Shenton swing the ball out quick to the wingers. Memo to briscoe ,please try and stay on the the wing and mark your opposite winger.

I feel that Hall is at times equally guilty of not trusting the defence inside him.

I think thats putting it mildly, his ability to hold shape with his on line D is next to zero.

Burrow has to have an operation so expect him out for a while.

Might be time to pack in.

I believe it's about eight weeks, having the plate taken out and a clear out.

Lilley needs to come back from Bradford then.

No he doesn't. Lilley is nowhere near SL standard.

Its odd someone mentioned a straight line in defence. The absolute worst case I think I've seen in years was Hull's against us this year - it was virtually a permanent dog-leg on their right side. Even our attack had a field day. A straight line in defence, whether moving up or sliding covers 90% of the team side of RL defence. Why sides cannot maintain this most basic facet is really quite amazing. Regularly running out of the line or not keeping it straight ought to lead to being dropped.

At last I might get my wish of Keinhorst as interchange hooker on the bench

, Hall to centre and Handley on the wing.
Or we could give Hallas a stab as an interchange hooker.
Does Parcell play the full 80 more often than not or does Garbutt have to deck him to come off?

Burrow in the squad along with Walker (might suggest Golding is still a doubt). Ablett ruled out with injury.

I played on the wing a bit, a was a prop-second row, but could run a bit when i was younger and at my peak fitness. the first time i got put on the wing, i was terrified, i had a young very quick winger and centre opposite, thought i was going to get right shown up. But i had a very good veteran centre inside me and he just said to me stay outside on your wing stay on your winger, i'l pick p the centre and any inside runners, if i miss him its my fault, just stay on and tackle your man. i had a great game never got past us once.

moral of this (true story) wingers stay on your wing stay on your man.

Shenton and Lynch out for us. Monaghan and Springer will probably come in.

Shenton is the most overrated player I've ever seen so no loss in my opinion. Total myth when it means anything.

He's a definite loss. Presume you were asleep for the second half at magic weekend. I don't think there's a centre with more assists this year. If you don't rate him that's fine but to say he's no loss is false. Our defence was baba last year much improved this year and a proportion of that is having our captain back playing.

that, or we dont consider a normal league game to mean that much

I would suggest you have not seen Castleford play at all. Shenton is a million miles away from over rated. He is far better than many running around super league.

I Have always thought Shenton was a good centre. Suits the Cas style of play to a tee.He will be a big miss for them

he's on the form of his life, but allot of that is down to cas structure, they play with great structure and utilize set moves very well. every one says what great rugby they are playing but for the most part is a great executed well drilled side and game plan. we play a much more off the cuff style relying on individual brilliance and off load game.
shenton is a loss as he is a main cog in a well oiled machine, but others can fill in and do a similar but not quite effective job, as a creative wingers centre he is no Brad Godden or Darren wright or David Stephenson or even Keith Senior. still a good player.