I am certainly not looking forward to this one at all and if we perform against you on saturday like we have in our 2 most recent games then all scoring records will be broken

Watkins will have a field day if Sarginson plays as he is a complete liability at present defensively and couldn't tackle a hot diner.
If you can withstand our first 20 minutes of high intensity defense and still be in the game then at present the result will be a formality

What's your likely 17 going to be?

Our 17 depends on the fitness of Delaney and JJB. If neither make it then same as Friday. If one of them make then they start at loose with Achurch dropping to the bench. If both make it then Sutcliffe and Walters both drop out.

If those two are fit it'll be

Hardaker
Handley
Watkins
Moon
Hall
Sinfield
McGuire
Cuthbertson
Aiton
Peacock
Ablett
Ward
Delaney/JJB

Burrow
Singleton
Achurch
Delaney/JJB

With Walters and Sutcliffe on standby if one or both of those two (Delaney and JJB) haven't recovered.

I watched that Wigan game, and they were nowhere near as bad as the scoreline finished. Catalans deserve a lot of credit for that performance. Wigan came up quick and in your face, and Catalans came up with a plan to combat it, superbly getting it out on the fringes.

By contrast, if you look at our match on Friday, we really struggled to get it wide, and seemed obsessed in ruining at the side of the play the ball. Hull KR looked dangerous taking it wide and had a lot of success.

If Wigan defended the same as last night, against the way Leeds played on Friday, they would have much more success. So last nights scoreline for me, has little bearing on what will happen Saturday.

Think that will be the team, with Delaney starting and JJB bench if both fit. Would rather have Sutciffe than Burrow on the bench but that's not going to happen.

This isn't going to be the easy walkover that Wigan fans are dreading. We're still bloody inconsistent and if we turn up lax then Wigan will get momentum and beat us. If we play our best and lay the platform to get the ball to the 3/4s we'll win because Wigan are a defensive shambles out there. But Wane is going to react to the last couple of weeks in his usual "This is a war, I need real men" style and we've got to not get involved in the spoiling. Catalans killed Wigan with line-speed on defense and and I'd rather we saved our energy for that instead of a cock-waving contest with their pack.

Whilst some might say it making excuses, I think whoever gets the gig to ref this game is important. Thaler gets it and I think it goes well. Bentham gets it and a lot of penalties. Child gets it and chaos happens imo.

I agree I don't think it'll be easy and I think that a bit of kidology by Wigan fans to write themselves off just so they can celebrate a remarkable underdog victory f they do win.

What Wane says in the press this week should be interesting. Seems to be doing more harm than good this year and even the Wigan fans are cringing at what he's saying of late and it also doesn't seem to be firing up his players in the same way as it has in the past.

I thoroughly expect a massive reaction from Wigan. I think they are evens at the very least. If they win I won't be suprised. Always tough against a very grubby pie team.

Bentham's injured I think? It's the tastiest game of the weekend so I'd have thought it'll be Thaler or Silverwood.

Won't be short of support, Leeds and Hull have been the biggest selling clubs. They have shifted around 4000 each through club sales. Would imagine Leeds will have plenty more through the RFL and other outlets.

Both in the same end too.

It's a given that everyone in the Wigan camp will want to put the last couple of weekend firmly in the past. This is a show piece game and they will come out fast and furious. Controlling the first 20 will be important. Looking forward to it but nervy too. Game of the weekend IMO.

There is absolutely no way this is anything like an easy game. Wigan will come flying out of the traps at us, we have to be ready for that. They've had a couple of dodgy results, but they've not suddenly become a poor team. I expect them to turn up at the weekend and it'll be intense and it'll be close.

No game against Wigan, home, away or at a neutral venue is ever easy.

Without doubt we will see the real Wigan at Newcastle, wane will be feeding them raw meat this week,they will definitely be up for this game. First ten minutes will be interesting to say the least. No doubt messers Bateman and our old friend Micky will be in the thick of it,and why not ,it's all part of the game.
Reference wigans catalan venture, whilst Wigan did not perform I thought Catalan were superb . So the Wigan defeat may not be as bad as some on the Wigan board make out. It looked to me that once Catalan got a substantial lead some of the Wigan lads folded.
It definitely won't happen this weekend.

Catalans have set out the game plan for how to beat Wigan's blitz defence in the middle, but it requires speed of thought and speed of hands from your ball-players to make it work.

IMO Leeds allowed themselves to get pulled into a battle down the middle of the park last year and lost as a result. Need to be a bit less macho and a bit smarter this year.

Handsome Leeds win for me.

I don't doubt that wigan will be up for it. Whether they have the confidence and concentration to use the ball well is another matter.

www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... ic-weekend gonna be a bit tasty. hope we can get the two points but it won't be easy. I think we will see a better performance from wigan

www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... ic-weekend gonna be a bit tasty. hope we can get the two points but it won't be easy. I think we will see a better performance from wigan

I hope they get this printed in massive letters and placed around the training ground between now and when the team travel up to Newcastle

"To beat them you've just got to get in their faces, be confrontational for 80 minutes and they get a bit angry, and you get under their skin a bit and they kind of lose their heads.” :- Anthony Gelling

I am sure they know it themselves, considering they always struggle against that kind of defence. Wigan especially done it numerous times to us, even with kids.

What I take from that is an admission that if Leeds play with composure then they're a better side than Wigan...

It's exactly what they did in the Magic game last year. Worked like a charm. We'll see whether we handle it better this year.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but Bentham is the referee...

Will he be able to manage to last the full match this week.

Agreed. But what ever we think, I hope the team are P'd off that any opposing team feel they have a sure fire way of unsettling our game. I hope that Gelling's glib comments inspire a clinical response. Forewarned is forearmed and all that.

But as others have said it's exactly what they did to us last year and the team will know that with out the mind games banter from Gelling. I hope their response is appropriate

Whilst Wigan should play a similar style to last year, I think if they try an exact carbon copy then they could be in trouble. Leeds' attacking style is so completely removed from last years lacking in ideas style that Wigan will need to consider that change in Leeds from 12 months ago. As much as they did a job on us last year with tactics, we still could've won in that 2nd half with more points which we had the field position and possession to do.....something we don't struggle with this year. Add to it that we had no Aiton, Cuthberston or Watkins in last years game, also not sure if Stevie Ward played last year. If he did it wasn't the 2015 version......that's arguably our four best performers in 2015 so far so that should be taken into account.