Hull prop Josh Bowden goes under the radar but he's impressed me this year.

So with the players that missed the game last night I reckon everyone will return.

Golding Briscoe Watkins Moon Hall McGuire Parcell Cuthbertson Ablett JJB Ward Singleton Garbutt Keinhorst Mullally Baldwinson Ormondroyd Lilley Walker

I was suprised just how many you rested last night. By all means rest players with a niggle or wrap a few key players in cotton wool, but is it such a good thing to have that many sat out at once? I guess the proof will be next weekend.

Much less confident about next week than I was when the draw was made. We just cant hold on to the ball lately. On the plus side our defence has been pretty exceptional in recent weeks (it kind of has to be when you keep dropping it in your own 30). Hoping for warm and dry conditions which maybe just gives us the edge (you seem to handle wet conditions much better tham we do), but there is nothing between the sides really. I can see it being decided either by one peice of brilliance or one moment of controversy (hopefully not the latter).

Yes, gentrification seems to be hitting the most unlikely areas. I was in Alfred bar last night when a fella walked in who looked like he'd crawled from under the rubble of the long demolished white Council houses. When he saw the price of a pint he fainted and was stretchered back to the 1970's.

I think it was the right decision as we are not in a position to lose any more key players at this stage but like you say the absolute proof of that will be at the weekend.

Im anticipating a great cup semi, the ingredients are there. full ground, two sides in pretty good nick and i do hope it is dry and warm i think both sides would be better for that. Hopefully it will be a classic and the best team wins on the day.

Think it will be a good one and a good chance it'll be one score in it at the end. Hoping Salford are saving a performance for the cup and we have two good semi finals. Us getting swept aside by Wigan last night was understandable and expected, Salford getting niled by Leigh with a strong team out is poor.

I can see the arguement for it, and I know you have the points on the board to be able to do it, but I just think its better to try to carry some momentum into these games. Having most of the team on the bench isnt the approach I would take personally.

I agree personally I wouldn't do it but wrt momentum it is only one game. We did similar before the SF & F in 2014 and lost both league games to Bradford & London (the bottom two). If Cas do it for 3/4/5 games once they've wrapped up the LLS it's more questionable.

Thing is, if we win vs Hull it's justified. If we lose then I can't see us NOT finishing 2nd with no Wembley distraction and Hull as our nearest challengers in the league for 2nd would have the Wembley distraction.

I agree with that. With how many were out with genuine injurys, and the absolute need for Wigan to win, the likelyhood of winning that game was slim anyway. On that basis you may as well also rest key players to limit any risk of further injuries.

The time to really rest was the double weekends and the easy cup ties, but what effect they had on current Injurys we don't really know. So we were in the position we were anyway.

For me, Bowden is more of a threat at breaking the line than Taylor despite the meters made. That said, it would appear most Hull players have been playing with Teflon gloves lately.

Really looking forward to this game. Neutral venue games are usually a great atmosphere. Hoping for decent weather and tight contest.

With the old GF play-off format, the 1st team to qualify had a two week gap before the final which appeared to be a disadvantage. I'm hoping this isn't the case for Leeds as losing the semi would not us out of the cup and have brought all our rivals nearer to us in the league.

I wasnt too happy tbh, with the bulls out the league Wigan is the match I look forward to most now and to just throw it away seemed a bit disrespectful to the fans.
If we win the cup then its justifiable, but if we loose on Saturday or drop down the league and loose the cc final then Mac will rightly be hammered for it

lets just hope this was the rest we needed to put a big run together in league and cup

I predict whoever wins on Saturday, will lose on 31st August.

Looks like we've finally sold out as well as no more tickets are available online.

I can't see Leeds getting beat on Saturday - Hull just seem to flatter to deceive.

If Hull have a really hot day then they have the quality but this seems to happen so infrequently that Leeds would be unlucky to come up against a hot Hull side.

Facing a full strength Wigan in the final - can't see Salford turning them over - would be a different proposition though.

Last year and this year with beating Cas last round they do look a different proposition when it comes to the cup than their league form which I agree has been a bit hit and miss.

Drop the word rightly from your post and I'm sure no-one would disagree. As it stands you're ignoring the possibility of Hull playing to a standard that would beat us whether we'd rested players or not. IMO the current Leeds side isn't of such quality that it can take beating any of the top sides for granted.

I think that win or lose at the weekend, the week off will do us good. With the business end of the season coming up, fresher players is a good thing

I'm with clearwing in thinking we shouldn't overestimate how good we are. With the gap between us and Cas I would think that the focus is almost entirely on the Cup. Its clearly our best chance at some farewell silverware for Burrow and McGuire. I'm not at all sure we'll prosper in the playoffs regardless of the cup though. If the top 4 remains as is we'd have a good chance at getting to the GF, but if Hull, Sts or even Wigan come home strongly I wouldn't really fancy our chances TBH.

We'd beat any team if we made it to the GF.

With a leader like Sinfield I would agree but these days?

Depends who gets there for me.

A team that has played in that cauldron knows what is required to win, the mentality needed etc. We saw with HKR at Wembley that emotion will only take you so far and they let the occasion totally overwhelm them. Would Leeds's "big game" experience be enough to get the job done? I would say that it would be a definite advantage.

This is a great & very valid point but even those left with such experience know that at certain times they were able to rely on Sinfield & JP to both lead & do something special at the hardest moments in those GF's.
Having both those 2 also gave the likes of Mags & Burrow more freedom to produce such special memories & moments but now i am weary that when the players look around that Leadership & Big Game management isn't there.

All the expected lot back in, of those that have been out a while, Ferres and Sutcliffe return to the 19, Burrow and Delaney don't. Josh Jordan Roberts makes the 19 too

Golding
Briscoe
Watkins
Keinhorst
Hall
McGuire
Moon
Cuthbertson
Parcell
Singleton
Ward
Ablett
JJB

Mullally
Garbutt
Lilley
Ferres/Sutcliffe

JJR

Out of the missing players only really Burrow and Galloway would get in the 17.
Lilley for me is doing well enough to cover Burrow`s place.
For me Galloway will be the biggest miss even though Mullalley isn`t playing too badly.
The experience Burrow and Galloway bring is what we will miss the most.