he started 12 out of 31 under smith so therefore he was more often a sub so i did remember correctly

ganson is ref on friday i win the race

you are in my eyes!

$h1t! I misread what he'd put! my bad!

We’re fked then. Ganson’s going to want to make sure Saints are top of the league come end of the week by Leeds losing to Wakefield.

this is great news, hopefully, give the theories posted around here recently, the famous south stand might get behind the team for a change

Cheers, glad you like it!

The Southstand is lagging behind most Team Players atm. But that might change when Greg Eastwood comes!

Did anyone see his top on the field on Friday BTW?

It was huge and several kids had to pull it open!

MAKING IT EASY EASY !!!!

These are the three Leeds losses to Wakefield in the SL Reg Rds:

03-Mar-00..... SL 5-01..... Leeds 18..... Wakefield 22..... Steve Ganson..... 13,842
28-Mar-05..... SL 10-08..... Leeds 28..... Wakefield 44..... Ian Smith..... 18,257
20-Jul-07..... SL 12-21..... Leeds 16.....Wakefield 23..... Richard Silverwood..... 16,654

Fortunately since that shock Headingley loss (thanks to Karl Pratt), Ganson has also stood in these:

04-Jun-00..... SL 5-13..... Wakefield 24..... Leeds 30.....Steve Ganson..... 6,274
23-Apr-04..... SL 9-08..... Wakefield 12..... Leeds 36..... Steve Ganson..... 7,680
01-Aug-04..... SL 9-21..... Leeds 46..... Wakefield 28..... Steve Ganson..... 15,629
14-Sep-07..... SL 12-27..... Leeds 46..... Wakefield 4..... Steve Ganson..... 19,776
05-Sep-08..... SL 13-27..... Wakefield 12..... Leeds 30..... Steve Ganson..... 6,448

anyone else remember what Graham Murray said about him when he signed?

Was it "Who's this Pratt?"

Given the way both teams performed last week id be surprised if theres more than 6 points seperating them at full time

I reckon this will be close. Incidentally, having seen the highlights now, Wakey's first try last week may have owed something to some slightly slack defending, but it was very nicely worked. The Leeds defence will need to be on the ball, and shipping one try away at Wigan suggests they didn't defend too badly either. Rhinos by 8 I think.

I agree it could be a tight game but there could have been a lot more points scored by either team. I think 4 or 5 tries were dissalowed altogether. It was also a high intensity game with Wigan making 326 tackles and Wakefield making 341 tackles. Compare this to the relatively easy game at Headingley where Leeds made 285 tackles and Celtic only 258 and you could say we are going in under done.

Can't help thinking that you did no more than you had to do to win the game against CC and I'm pretty sure that they'll up the intensity on Friday, still if our defence is as good as it was against Wigan I think we'll keep it close and then the result kight come down to a bounce of the ball or a ref's decision. Whatever the result I'll be happy if we're competitive, having got two of our toughest away games of the season out of the way in the first two weeks and come away with at least two points we couldn't ask for any more than that.

Bang on assessment IMHO



I think someone might.....JK and JD for a start...

Oh, I agree but if a team comes to play then it is much easier if you have had a tougher game the week before. Also Leeds have lost a player and are playing 2 players who havent played for 4 and 6 months respectively.

Anyway... my men to watch in Fridays encounter are [url=http://superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php?hs1=2009&hp1=1097&hs2=2009&hp2=1129&stat=tries&season=2009Brad Drew and Ali Lauiti'iti.[/url. Both game breakers and both coming off good games last week.

Drew is a thinker, a schemer. He will play and play behind the line and then BANG... He has made a 50 metre break and passed to the support player and you are counting the points. He controls the shape of the Wakefield play and when he is on form, so are they.

Lauiti'iti seems to be getting involve a lot more these days and that is a sign of good things to come for Leeds. He attacks the line and very rarely gets knocked back. He also doesnt get put down very often either giving himself time to promote the ball. 110m and 5 offloads last Friday tells its own story and this with a quiet 2nd half too. When he is on the pitch Leeds look a hell of a lot more dangerous down the right side.

Hope so, it would show that the club's mindset is moving on from one that hopes to compete to one that expects to compete, although I think that those two have always been in that frame of mind we are now slowly getting one or two players that can deliver on that front.
It will be interesting to see how well Grix performs at s/o against a better class of player than he had to play against on Sunday.

Indeed, I'll never forget the nightmare of him scoring five against us at B/V

Only time a 'fiver' has been scored by a forward and it was from the bench (also unique, I believe). Just as well he wasn't on from the start.

The 19 man squad in full is:

2. Scott Donald
3. Lee Smith
5. Ryan Hall
6. Danny McGuire
8. Kylie Leuluai
9. Danny Buderus
10. Jamie Peacock
11. Jamie Jones Buchanan
12. Ali Lauitiiti
13. Kevin Sinfield
14. Matt Diskin
16. Ryan Bailey
17. Ian Kirke
18. Carl Ablett
19. Luke Burgess
20. Ashley Gibson
22. Danny Allan
23. Kallum Watkins
27. Dane Manning

My team would be
Smith
Donald
Watkins
Gibson
Hall
Sinfield
McGuire
Leuluai
Diskin
Peacock
JJB
Lauititi
Ablett

Subs
Buderus
Bailey
Allen
Kirke
No place for Burgess and Manning.

If Bluey decides that pairing Gibson & Watkins is too much of a risk, he may play Ablett in the centre, Kirke in the second row, move JJB to 13 and bring Burgess into the subs.
No place then for Gibson and Manning.

Probably start with Gibson and Watkins and if its not working switch it.

Is he Noble in disguise