.

Walker
Briscoe
Watkins
Hurrell
Handley
Lolohea
Myler
Cuthbertson
Parcell
Singleton
Ward
Merrin
Dwyer
Sutcliffe
Ferres
Peteru
Oledzki
Donaldson
Newman

Wonder if Newman has been added to the squad cos Hurrell is doubtful? Just a thought. I can see Hurrell been the new Tonie Carroll unfortunately.

No Cam Smith again........(big sigh).

And no Crosby and Ablett either.
Could be another long night.

We were also heading for only our third nilling in 22 years until a very strong effort from Ward in the dying minutes. Warrington missed chances too, I'm not a fan of "if only" thinking.
As a performance, what we showed against Warrington were the SAME weaknesses which made us uncompetitive last year. The reason for that is because we haven't been able to replace enough players in one off-season, no matter the sterling work I'm sure Sinfield and Furner are putting in. The reason for THAT is that IMO Gary Hetherington has been way too tight with signings for way too long, and the club has seriously misjudged the lengths of contracts given to inadequate players, leaving us no room to move now. He has done many things really well at Leeds, but deserves criticism in this area.
If we do finish mid-high table you are right it will be a successful season given where the squad is at, and that's certainly possible but NOT if our pack keeps getting monstered like Warrington demonstrated. If we keep getting swamped in the middle this season will be much worse than you seem to expect. When and if I see us hold the middle and set a platform for the better players we do have, then I'll feel more positive.
I may seem pessimistic but remember that it's the optimists who die most quickly in a prison camp. Check out Admiral James Stockdale.

From that team I’d go:

1. Walker
2. Briscoe
3. Watkins
4. Hurrell
5. Handley
6. Lolohea
7. Myler
8. Cuthbertson
9. Parcell
10. Oledzki
11. Merrin
12. Ferres
13. Ward

14. Dwyer
15. Singleton
16. Peteru
17. Donaldson

I'm with you Marty, Cam Smith should be in the 17. His defence might be a little suspect but Sutcliffe isn't stellar in this area either, and I think Smith is the better player (in the back row certainly). Although to be fair Sutcliffe went OK against Warrington.

I wouldn't be surprised if Hurrell misses a game or two - it's hard with big money players because you want them out on the field, but I'm sure the club will do the right thing by him if he's not fit.

We really could do with having Crosby available.

I am worried if we sit back and give Wigan the space we gave Warrington, this one could be painful. Neither of our halves look great in defence. I think our pack has more to give; Oledzki had very little go-forward against Warrington, we need him to be making impact at the defensive line, he can't be going missing. I'd fancy my own chances of averaging 5m per carry, although I'd need a stint in hospital afterwards.

I'm hoping more Tuigamala than Carroll but we'll see! TC was great when he was fit but yes you can see the similarities.

Looks about right. Ferres and Singleton didn't really impress me much last week (nor Oledzki, but I think he can do better). Interested what Furner goes with - you'd like to think there will be a tweak or two from last week as the pack wasn't right.

Wouldn't be surprised if Furner continues with Merrin at prop but hopefully with Peteru being available it gives him the option of playing him in the back row.

Yep i think most of us are disapointed Smith is not getting a gig , we need to find out if he is good enough , we already know others are not ( Ferris , Sutty and Peteru )

Think Ferres will be in his last year this year, Sutcliffe and Peteru have this season to show they’re worth a spot.
Furner is probably deciding between Sutcliffe and Smith and going for Sutcliffe for now; not sure you’d have them both in the pack at the same time when we have lots of senior back rowers including new marquee.

Let’s be honest here, Koni isn’t playing is he?

Another tonking on the cards with young Newman getting absolutely brayed down that side.

I like the look of Smith, and i know it is only Furners 2nd game as coach, but Smith seems to keep getting overlooked. McDermott got stick for not giving him much chance but when Sinfield took over he was not a regular then either. Makes you wonder if they all think he is still not ready for 1st team.

i am fearing the same and wondering if Hurrell will be pulled out at the 11th hour

We need Hurrell fit for the games we have a better chance in. No point playing him injured. He’ll cause some damage when the weather improves.

He can’t be far off, but you might prefer Sutty to him given the difference in experience, if there’s only room for one of them. Sutcliffe played quite well against Wire.

I'd add that the quality of our home grown talent has, overall, not been good enough. Too many of those inadequate players are ones we've produced.

A positive start would be to have 2 props in the starting front row instead of back rowers (I don't consider Cuthbertson a prop by any definition) then see how they go from there. The game will always be based around it being the main priority to dominate this area, I'm not sure where the thinking of sending that front row up against Hill, Cooper and Clarke came from.

Ferres is absolute garbage, has been for 3 year, still gets an undeserved start last week, garbage yet again. if squad was selected on form he'd be on duel reg at fev, if theyd even want him. Cam Smith does pretty well whenever he gets a chance, but cant get look in, we'l end up losing him at this rate.

It's easy to focus on the negatives after the season we've just had, a big opening defeat, and difficult games to come. The forum breeds pessimism in these circumstances.

For the sake of saying something a bit different... Games are not won on paper (as we've discovered countless times in the past coming up against teams with injuries), Leeds are due to produce a response after last week (if not necessarily a result), this is very much a different team to last year, and playing Wigan usually brings out the best in us. Bring it on!

Yes but you would be up for the first game of the season surely? How much of a response can we really expect?
We can win the game against Wigan, but with the front row issues we have, we cannot afford to play slack, drop off tackles etc. High completion rates, high skill and good kicking game would help.

I think they were up for the game against Warrington. At this stage of the season I'd be willing to forgive some of the failings we saw because they are a new team, with a lot of new combinations and a new coach (cf. Warrington at the same point last season). And like it or not, I bet a few players were probably guilty of reverting to type when the chips were down in the first half... It might take a bit of time to get 2018 out of the system.

I'm not sure what kind of response we can expect. At the least they need a different approach to being competitive around the ruck and being less passive in the collision, on top of the things you mention. I think we should be able to expect these things to be better with the players at our disposal, never mind these two extra rawboned props everyone keeps going on about us missing. The issue should be whether we can be competitive around the ruck [iconsistently [/i over 80 minutes against the bigger teams with the weaker pack at our disposal, not whether we can do it at all... Let's see.

There were a few players who can do better than last week so let’s hope we put up a better fight at least.

If Hurrell doesn't play then we could put Handley at centre Luke Briscoe on the wing or give my mate Golding a place on the wing!!

Or just play Newman at centre.

I'd love to see Newman playing Centre. Let him show us what he can do in his natural position.