Leeds 19.

Webb, Smith, Delaney, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Buderus, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Sinfield, Lauitiiti, Bailey, Kirke, Hauraki, Pitts, McShane, Hardaker.

No Cross, Burgess, or Clarkson again.

Saints 19

1. Paul Wellens, 3. Michael Shenton, 4. Sia Soliola, 5. Francis Meli, 7. Kyle Eastmond, 8. Josh Perry, 9. James Roby, 10. James Graham, 11. Tony Puletua, 12. Jon Wilkin, 14. Scott Moore, 15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 18. Matty Ashurst, 19. Andrew Dixon, 20. Jonny Lomax, 21. Shaun Magennis, 22. Jamie Foster, 25. Lee Gaskell, 28. Thomas Makinson.

Josh Perry has received a 1 match ban.

Not heard anything official regarding burgess being injured and nothing about clarky. Seems again two stupid ommisions if there are no injuries.

And if he is that big on squad rotations why no cross to rotate in?

Personally clarky and burgess are the two weird decisions... Again

I don't understand why he refuses to pick Clarkson or Burgess, who are currently playing better than Hauraki..
from that i think the squad will be
1 Webb
27 Hardaker
3 Delaney
2 Smith
5 Hall
6 McGuire
7 Burrow
8 Leuluai
9 Buderus
10 Peacock
11 Jones Buchaanan
12 Ablett
13 Sinfield
Subs:
14 Lauitiiti
16 Bailey
17 Kirke/22 Pitts/ 20 Hauraki
24 McShane
I think it will be Pitts and Hauraki will be dropped, but i would pick Pitts personally

Ali and hauraki to drop for me.

Clarkson, Burgess and Cross should all be in, in my opinion. Hauraki has been like a revolving door recently and he got dominated in the collision against wire, whilst Pitts has looked good against mediocre opposition like Crusaders but goes missing whenever he is needed, usually coming up with about 5 carries each worth 3 meters - not good enough.

Given McDermott has being quoted as saying none of Burgess,Clarkson and Cross are injured then in relation to Burgess I wonder whether it means he's informed the club that he has no intention of signing a new contract and is off to the NRL and McDermott is preferring to go with props that he knows will be here in 2012??

Maybe I'm looking for things that are not there but IMO Burgess has been one of if not the best of our props this season.

Given the performance or lack of last week I must admit I expected Burgess,Clarkson and Cross to be all brought into the starting 17.

If none of them get picked for the Hull KR came when we will be severly depleted then questions will need to be asked in parliament

Could the fact that Cross has been recently overlooked for selection be a ploy by the club to pee him off enough to that he will look for an early return down under?

Or are his performances to date not deemed good enough?

I'm intrigued to know why Biff and Clarkson have been omitted yet again though

Nail on the head for mine.

Well if that's what's happening it would be incredibly stupid. In case he hasn't noticed there's still a season going on right now. I don't notice Saints benching James Graham, or Wigan leaving out Ryan Hoffman.

Mcdermotts a clueless clown. Nothing should surprise you. Hauraki over clarkson again? The guys a tool

Hauraki, pitts and Ali should all be behind clarky in pecking order, biff has been one of the best front rowers this year and cross should be given a chance. Non of props coveredthemselves in glory last week and if anything he should be fresh!!

McDermott, do us all a favour and just walk will you!!

The pack got absolutely demolished last week. Yet this week again two of our form forwards are left out of the squad. Squad rotation - Rest and punishment?

At least mcshane has been included this week but still seems like a poor squad selection

i believe mcshane didnt play because it would have triggered a bonus if he plays so many games on the trot and similar with clarkson and burgess.

if that is true it's a absolute shambles. Who would want to sign for us knowing bonuses are lies.

And if above is the case why doesn't GH just sack mac as it would clearly be GH picking the team.

Can't see that being the reason though, or would like to think that's not the reason

Clowns are funny!

Don't go guys.....it's the only way the club will act.

As others have said...what's the point of having a squad if the poor performers aren't dropped ? It was a travesty Burgess, Clarkson and McShane were dropped anyway. To omit Burgess and Clarkson again is unforgivable IMO.

The excuse that Burgess is not going to sign a new contract - even if true - is not a good reason to reduce the chances of a much needed victory. Ridiculous.

Would agree that Cross too should be brought in as a direct response to the pathetic forward effort from all but Buderus and JJB last week. Peacock can be forgiven perhaps, but the rest do not deserve this match.

17 for me:

Webb
Hardaker
Hall
Wilson
Smith
McGuire
Burrow
Burgess
Buderus
Peacock
JJB
Clarkson
Sinfield

Delaney
Cross
McShane
Ablett

Hall and Wilson at centre over Ablett and Delaney explain why you would move our best winger(possibly in SL) to centre and partner him with a novice.

i think if tghis is the way forward maybe the match day squad thread should be merged with the WTF thread!
Taxi for the lunatic who's running the asylum!

It certainly seems that for whatever reason Cross, Burgess and Clarkson are on the outer. If ever there was a game to bring in another three forwards and drop three, to send a message about playing cr*p, this was it.

weller at loose again anyone?

Webb
Hardaker
Delaney
Smith
Hall
McGuire
Burrow
Leulaui
Buderus
Peacock
Jones-Buchanan
Ablett
Sinfield

McShane
Lauititi
Bailey
Kirke

Buderus on Warrington game: [iSpeaking to Rhinos TV, Buderus said, "The review was pretty uncomfortable and the coaching staff didn't pull any punches and nor should they. We know that we need to produce better performances than that but importantly we know that we can. We need to produce what we did for the second quarter for the whole eighty minutes. We have got a massive challenge against St Helens this week but I think that is good for us. We know we have to be at our best this week so there is no hiding place."[/i

The first sentence is good reading. At least the coaching staff have got stuck in to the players. Maybe McDermott wants to see how they'll respond to that instead of dropping a couple. It will give him a bigger indication of who will stay and go next season maybe.

Same old same old.....



Ablett is a LOOSE FORWARD
Delaney is a SECOND ROWER

Hardaker looks [umore[/u composed and demanding of his place than a lot of the so called first team regulars. I have no doubt he will perform better than most.

Hall IMO will make a good centre (however I appreciate the risk and have good old versatile Smith on the left wing to interchange).

Wilson deserves a break.

The main point of the post was to exclaim my surprise at the continued inclusion of the likes of Hauraki, Bailey and Ali (sad to see his petulant frustration) at the expense of Clarkson and Burgess etc.