3rd game in 8 days is always going to be low quality rugby league. I don't know why the RFL persist with these double rounds, and that includes over Easter.

If we can pick up the win over Wakey it would really put us in a strong position for a finishing top 4 spot. Think most of us expected Wigan to eventually come good and get in the 4 but they just haven't got the bodies back and I don't think they're going to make it now and that changes the playoff complexion massively if so.

Agree with this Printer

I think that most people and probably the Wigan club too believe that they would get the wins to enable them to finish in the top 4 and that they would then fancy their chances of winning the GF. They possibly still could, although it will be tough.

If Wigan do not make the top 4 then IMO the comp will be blown wide open and that all 4 of the sides will genuinely fancy their chances this year with not having to play such a battle hardened side like a full strength Wigan either in the semi's or in the final.

Sides like the Tigers,Hull FC and Salford although relatively inexperienced in the GF play off's could finally put a long overdue new name on the trophy.

If the Rhinos make the 4 then could their experience of being there and knowing what it takes to deliver the wins make them strong challengers and maybe even see them lifting the trophy for an 8th time?

I have to ask, when people post about top four, you are talking about regular season? We do realise that is not the final table? Can't see Leeds winning more than a couple of games in middle eights, so it would need a good six to eight point cushion going into that stage.

I agree however, that should certain teams miss out, it does blow the competition open. But still expect both Saints and Wigan to be there.

Sill do-able for Saints and wigan though I think it a long shot now that both will make top 4.

I'm guessing you meant you can only see Leeds winning a couple of games in the super 8s rather than the middles? If so, I think we're bit better than that. A 6 or 8 point cushion would still be nice, mind. Though if we need that much insurance it'll mean we're too poor to worry anyone in the playoffs.

have a gander at the Wigan board, they don't seem to think so, are you always so negative, every team is struggling with the amount of games and Saints got lucky getting a week off, the consistent thing about the league is its inconsistancy, i think we will make the top four and finish 2nd or 3rd, was it you or Sal who confidently stated the wire had a much better squad than us and would finish above us??

Yeah super eight if that's what we call them, you are correct. I actually thought there were seven matches left from now not six, so over estimated that. Still, that's 12 points of regular season, and I just can't see us picking up more than six, probably four. But it is the eights that worries me more, that is where IMO our true level will be shown. Although, if people are right there will be nothing for positions five to eight to play for, which makes it a null point, and in that case would accept the view.

And just to add here, I think the above purely on what I said earlier on this thread, that a win is simply not just a win. I think the last week will have a damaging effect on this Leeds team due to how they were flogged over the three games, and can't see them recovering. When your top two players play so many minutes in that period of games, you are simply looking over your shoulder for that defining injury.

As half of the games Leeds have lost have been against the team at the bottom, the super 8s should be a breeze.

I mean the final 30 game table. Think we can do well in the Super 8's. As pointed out a few of our losses have been complacent losses vs bottom 4 teams, against teams in the current top 8 we've got a healthy W-L record barring games vs Cas and decent chance we'll have 4 home games and we've got a good home record minus the blip vs Hudds.

Also the others aren't convincing are they. Still early days to think Saints are going to start ripping it up (although the Cas lineup today gives them a great chance) and as mentioned Wigan are struggling. Hull are hardly convincing and are very Jekyll and Hyde. Salford and a Wakey are doing well so far but have they got it in them to keep going all season long?

Depending how the fixtures land you could face the teams in 7th/8th when their chances have mathematically finished and they start going through the motions. I'd say after Cas we're the next most likely to finish in the top 4 at the moment.

Whoever gets through to the CC Final could play a big factor though as we've seen us and Hull struggle after winning recently.

It's 2 months away a lot could change between now and then.

Not for a minute defending the fixture list but the players will recover. Let's face it, the three games in question were hardly the most attritional ever and while they were unquestionably and unsurprisingly knackered, the 8s and playoffs will be worse. IMO of course.

To be honest, just "players" doesn't concern me. Interested in Cuthbertson and Parcell, as that is the difference in this team between top four and bottom four.

the team with least injuries to key players come play off semi final time will win it.
cas lose shenton, gale and mcshane, we lose cuthbertson, mcguire and parcel and both teams are stuffed. same with other sides.

Yes, agree with this. And while I also agree with Gotcha's views on the importance of Parcell and Cuthbo there's little point in resting them if we drop points and miss top 4 as a result. Simply making the 4 has to be the target, anything after that could well be a roll of the injury dice as you suggest.

Spot on. Gotcha talks about us losing Cuthbertdon and Parcell and Saints catching up, what if they lose Walmsley and Roby?

I think its wide open this season. also I agree with printer. the teams making the Wembley final will be at a disadvantage come old Trafford time

Because I am not a Saints fan, they don't interest me. What does is my team challenging. I repeat, without Cuthbertson and a Parcell we are a bottom four team. It doesn't matter about the opposition, we still are not challenging with those players missing or shattered to none performance. We are flogging them, and further down the line we will suffer because of it. We have had every chance to rest those players and avoid that, Barrow, Widnes, Leugh, but no the same thing.

They don't though. This change in fixtures had nothing to do with the mid-season international.

I've done a bit of a about face on the game. Posters on here pointing out that it was our 4th game in 12 days are right. How can we expect a quality game under those circumstances?

My only real concern is that against the bottom two of the league, we've looked less fit than our opponents and badly run out of steam.

perhaps they have been rested and rotated more?
both have had lots of injuries so it could be a lot of players haven't played many games

If you rotate your squad effectively, and please bear in mind we have played Doncaster and Barrow before this spell, then you can expect a quality different to Friday. That is the point been made. Nobody has said the same players playing all these games should still produce quality.

Cas get their results out of competition for places. Our first seventeen picks it's self and continually plays without rest without an injury stopping that.

26 penalties in the game which wasn't a rough house.
Bloody ridiculous.
Child needs to put his whistle away.
He gave a penalty on the first tackle of the game for goodness sake. Set the tone for the entire game.
He needs to watch how Thaler & even Bentham use a bit of nous to allow the game to flow.
I'm sure nearly every decision he gives is technically correct but he has no feel for the game nor any rapport with the players.
So everyone ends up being frustrated that then boils over into a niggly stop/start affair.

spot on. I reffed pro football. we are coached abut managing games. its when to give fouls. obviously bad or clear fouls have to be penalised.
bentham was brilliant when he did leeds v cas at magic. could have penalised more but as they were minor he let it go. the game had a great flow.
refs will make errors, sometimes big ones. that's life, so do players.


the younger refs know the laws but they don't know the game, and they don't know how to manage games. they have no rapport with players. you need dialogue.
I worry about the advice/coaching they are being given

Yes I was thinking Fridays game wasn't ill disciplined to the level Child blew for. It never should've been 26 penalties, put Thaler or Bentham in charge of the same game and they'd probably reached only half of that 26 figure.