The spreadsheet says Kirke started at loose forward just the once in 2012 - the away loss at Belle Vue.

As they might say in parliament, he made 33% of all his starts last season in that position, which while not representing the majority, is still a significant number.

Heard Hull FC have sold out there allocation for this evening.

Oh joy.

Will look something like this:

Vile:

@LeagueFreak
Hey #HullFC fans, you ready to watch those c**ty #LeedsRhinos get fuc**** smashed? Let tear some ing goal posts down! #RugbyLeague
11:34 a.m. Fri, Feb 1

Don't take things too seriously

I keep hearing about how much we "flogged" Peacock last year and how this is going to have a detrimental effect on his performances.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in September and October last year he didn't look like a prop that had been "flogged" for the preceding 7-8 months,

Jamie Peacock can give you 60-70 minutes of solid impact, 32 weeks a year that will get you by at domestic level.

And Bloodbath, given League Freak's usual MO, that's just as likely to be a dig at FC fans as it is Leeds

Did Peacock's dip in form coincide with negotiation of his contract extension, perhaps under less favourable terms than he might have wished for?

I only ask because the fatigue theory isn't watertight for me. Why, for example, wasn't he most fatigued at the season's end?

he really isn't one of ours, in fact, I doubt anyone would admit to him being one of theirs, and he's too short to reach the porn shelf, which explains why he's such an angry vile little Aussie.

hope it's a great game tonight and enjoyed by all.

Thanks xx

(And it's "their"icon_wink.gif.

Leeds by 6 points tonight.

See what you make of my other predictions right here;

[urlhttp://www.johnstankevitch.com/site/this-weeks-betting-tips/[/url

You say he lacked consistency:
Yet JP was our best and most consistent forward last season with performances up with the best props in SL.

You say that he should be rested more because we overplayed him and that had a negative effect on his form and performance yet:
JP was our best offloader and 2nd best in SL
JP was our 2nd best metre maker (only 9m behind WBW Hall!)
JP made the 2nd most carries and the most of any of our forwards
JP was our 2nd best tackler (249 more than our next best prop who incidentally is Kylie the other one you think should not play as often)
JP was our 2nd best marker tackler making 75% more than our next best prop.

I say again JP thrives on work and will not improve sitting on the bench. You imply the coach was "flogging" him but JP flogs himself it is the way he has always played. Playing did not effect his form and the proof was his form at the end of the season which rather disproves your point.

You say we should bring other lesser players in so we are ready when JP hangs up his boots. Well you could argue the same for Sinfield Burrow and McGuire.

Sure we can rotate the bigger squad more this year but for the majority of games I say pick the best team.

He has pretty much been prop since Peacock & Burgess got injured at Castleford just before the 2010 CC Final. Before that in '09 and '10 the usual 4 props in the matchday 17 were -
Peacock
Leuluai
Bailey
Burgess

We saw out the end of 2010 with
Leuluai
Bailey
Kirke
Eastwood (also switching from second row.....and being much better)

When McDermott came in he clearly wasn't keen on Cross, and he wasn't playing a clearly-bound-for-Sydney Burgess too much. He played with
Leuluai
Bailey
Kirke
Cross/Burgess

As soon as Peacock returned then Cross and Burgess left the club.

JC-So by your reckoning his form never dropped then??
Well he looked way off against Wire (a) ST's(a) Wigan (h+a) ordinary at best against the likes of Wakey away ,Giants away etc etc.
The figures and stats dont show how he and our pack got battered at times last year and showed their age whether he thrives on 60mins+ a game last year showed he couldn't maintain it and the actual game footage shows that not numbers.
You can be good across the board in numbers but actual perfiormances are what count stats are a guideline not the be all and end all.
I stick by my opinion and the opinion of what i saw live at games last year we wont get away with it this year especially as both he and Kylie are 1 year closer to retirement and the brutal roles they play insists they cant go on forever.
Pre-planning prevents p!$$ poor performance and imo we should start the process to prepare for the loss of the 2 now.

Sitting on the bench a bit more may or may not help Peacock, but it clearly didn't help Griffin getting only 20 odd mins in games or Moore hardly getting a game. The forwards need to be viewed as a group, not as an individual and that has probably been Leeds' problem at times in the past. Too much looking towards Peacock and not sharing the workload, similar scenerio caught Saints out in GF's when they started to rely to heavily on James Graham and others didn't put their hand up.

With 4 props in a 17 you could share the workload 25% each, or going on the basis that your starters are usually better go for your starters doing 30% each and the 2 subs 20% each.

Doesn't or shouldn't have to be Peacock doing 50% of the workload and the other 3 sharing the other 50% between them.

As probably expected with Leuluai's absence, Bailey is starting the game.

The 13 as expected. Subs are Clarkson, Kirke, Achurch and McShane (thankfully).

Griffin misses out and guessing that Achurch is going to come on in the front row and with Leuluai to return, that must make Griffin 6th choice prop now.

Awesome

Great performance from you're lot, it's got to be said Peacock looked awesome out there, made big meters and he was a nightmare to get down.

Sublime from Leeds tonight!

- Massively better defensively.
- Good making metres upfield.
- Bit unorganised/sloppy when we got to the final 20m in the 1st half but credit Hull's energy for that, once they got tired out in the 2nd we broke through.
- Kicking game downfield very good, minus a few dodgy cross field attempts from Sinfield.
- Moon, Peacock, Burrow, Sinfield and McGuire all big games.
- We were on the recieving end of some quite soft calls from Ganson which was really the only reason Hull had hope for 55 mins.
- Great to see things like Sinfield kicking from the scrum from Leeds' own 20m for Watkins to chase, the game was won but they were trying to keep it entertaining when others would have been up the jumper, likewise the effort for Hall's try.

- .......and finally, WTF are the refs/touch judges wearing????

Good start to the season. Looked organised - especially defensively which was enthusiastic, hard and intelligent all night.

Once again the usual suspects ran the show on the back of a strong forward showing. Big change from the last couple of seasons for me was that we played patient rugby - not trying to score from all over the pitch - content to take the ball out and kick when required, but still making the offloads when the percentages were right.

Very, very good start especially as I thought Hull's defence for 65 minutes was almost claustrophobic, very good.

Hull in the second half were about as good as Lemar

Would agree with all that. Sinfield MoM imo. Ablett was also very good wide left before Vickery's injury and over the season can see Ablett/Moon/Hall having the sort of joy that Lauititi/Senior/Bai once did.

McShane was very good at the simple things, giving us a bit more zip and freeing up Burrow a bit when he came on at 6-6, after which we became more clinical. Achurch and Kirke went under the radar a bit, but couldn't say anyone had a bad game.

Only disappointment was a lack of ball for Watkins (even when he was at centre) and Hardaker, but all in all a very engouraging start.

I thought we were very good for a 1st game of the year and defensively outstanding.
Once the passes started sticking Ull had no answer and to be fair they were lucky we only got 36 and they got 6.
I wonder when the FC chairman Mr Pearson is gonna deliver this world class team he was gobbing off all pre-season about

It's an interesting point, but Watkins looked far more dangerous in an England shirt. He is a great ball player, Moon has had the press as an offloader, but Watkins passing is superb. If you go to him he passes and if you hesitate he kills you himself - especially near the line when it's try time. Then you have his sheer pace from anywhere on the pitch.
Shame he's missing his winger at the moment.