So, after another horror show (the worst ever) what team is Macca gonna pick for fri? (if he's still in a job) For me Platt has gotta pay for that shocker by losing his place and its about time Deacon was dropped, for heavens sake its week after week of bad to average performances from him.
So, my team..

Halley
Tadulala
Sykes
Nero
Sheriffe
Menzies
Jeffries
Scruton
Newton (only cos Godwin is out)
Lynch
Cook
Worrincy (give him some game time)
Langley

Subs: Burgess, Koppy, Deacon (as cover) and Solomona if fit, if not then Donaldson.

i thought deacon's kicking game was pretty good although there were a couple of tackles he should have made.

agree about platt though. that try cost us the match and he was letting balls bounce all over.

Ahem . . . us throwing away an unassailable 26 -0 lead is what cost us the match. Pinning the loss on Platt is dumb. He is not the reason for our humiliation.

True, but heads have to roll after that performance and if not Macca's some players have to pay for their actions.

Fully agreed.

ok but he was still a major part in that. how many times did he fail to claim the high ball? his decision making was poor.

The main change I would like to see for the Leeds game is the construction of a high wall around the ptch to block out the view. Even as we speak old French ladies are bringing their knitting with them and leaving their favourite spots close to the guillotine.

How many missed tackles came from Deacon, Langley, Newton and Jeffries?

Do we drop them all or just the usual scapegoat?

There's no easy solutions to this mess.

Platt is not alone in his guilt for letting go of a 26-0 lead. However, he has been improving his confidence (something that any FB needs) over the last few weeks and I don't think dropping him is the right way to go.

Having Halley on the bench and bringing him on for the last few minutes of both halves might be an improvement over him getting 10 minutes at the end of the game

I wouldn't change the team at all unless Sol is fit.



Give them a chance to redeem themselves. Take pride in the shirt.



As I predicted last week we were always gonna find it tough in France but I have a sneaking feeling we will put one on the Rhinos! You read it here first (well second actually if you read my original post).

Leeds looked out of sorts against Saints I reckon Nero could go well against Gibson boy is he small for a centre. Senior still looks a 10 on and off the field though stop him and we will win IMO

Sorry but Worrincy doesnt need game time he needs to learn how to play the game, he was useless on that pitch, for one tackle he fair pulled Terry off he looks like a rabbit in the headlights..Simply not good enough we are on the slippery road to oblivion seems the board may simply be happy balancing the books, wont happen when the fans stay away, could be in for lowest derby crowd we have seen on friday. Leeds to outnumber the home fans perhaps...P1ss poor

I think the crowd will be a decent one of Friday, but I wouldn't put money against it being nearly 50/50 split

It might be an idea to give him a few kicks to chase as well.
As a matter of fact does anybody know , since coming back, how many tries he has scored / min game time.

I wouldn't waste a bench spot with a winger TBF...

Start Halley on the right Wing.

Agree with what others have said about Langley, Deacon, Jefferies et al missing tackles - as they are the rudder of the team, they seem to have opted the attitude "we don't have to tackle".

Markers are standing too close to the opposition ruck, they need to stand a little deeper and work harder.

Although as Bullseye said, not an easy fix really...

As I said last night, I'd drop Sheriffe and Deacon out of the squad if Solomona is passed fit. I'd promote Halley to right wing and move Menzies to 6 to partner Ben Jeffries. It won't be enough to beat Leeds but it improve our defence a little. If Deacon plays on Fri I fully expect them to single him out for some extra defence.

I cannot see there been a coaching change before Friday so He will have to sort it.
All we can do is turn up and get behind them as always. Although not sure what will happen with the crowd reaction if we start to get a spanking!

Make some changes and try to freshen it up. Picking the same team week in week out tells the players that no action will be taken.

Sykes. Halley. Nero. Crookes. Tadulala. Menzies. Jeffries. Scruton. Newton. Lynch. Burgess. Cook. Solomona. Subs. Crossley. Langley. Deacon. Whitehead.

A few fresh faces and droppings would do us the world of good in my books.

Now here's a thing.You might even beat Leeds on Friday.Stranger things have happened.

on oth here and the T & A fans are calling for changes to the team, but deep down we all know he will pick the exact same team. Then the same at Wakefield. Comfort zone for the senior players and young players busting for a chance getting on a downer through lack of opportunity.

Platt is taking some hammer. Not all his fault we lost, but he was doing this all last year. Now if the coach is doing his job Platt would not be doing it still - time to teach him a lesson and drop him.
Smith was not afraid at he Wire - Briers was straight out of the team.....

I have been Deacons biggest fan, but he has been poor. Should have had another player this year to help out both him and Jeffries with a view to them taking over full time in a few years time. Instead we wanted to have every second rower in the world playing for us.

Just seen Burgess getting some hammer. Just one of many off form, but let someone else getting battered in the front row and use him at loose.

Wouldn't read too much into what you see on T&A forum. That's where the entity formerly known as the Punisher holds sway, and it uses the same tactics on there as it did on here/does when it manages to sneak back. I virtually never ever post on there. But, that said, and even when you discard the Punisher posts, must admit the activity on there has hit new heights since Sunday. There are a lot of responsible posters on there too who are at the end of their tether.

Anyone naive enough to think we would see any kind of announcement today was not thinking about the logistics of the team, coach and directors getting back nor of the logistics of convening a board meeting. I do think, though, that - short of a miracle on Friday - history will show we did indeed pass the tipping point on Sunday.

And whilst I am bitterly disappointed with results/performances under McNamara (especially the latter of his tenure) I would still be sad to see him leave the club. Everything I have heard about his work away from matchday's has been glowing in praise.

I still think the guy has plenty to offer the game and possibly still the Bulls in some capacity. I'd like to see a strong coaching team with an experienced coach at the helm. I would be willing to bet that McNamara would step aside to work alongside somebody like Brian Smith for a couple of years. Whether the club could afford such a luxury though is perhaps pretty unlikely.

There must be a case for dropping Platt simply because Sunday's howler must have destroyed his confidence. But the various permutations that have been posted here are all much of a muchness. It may be dispiriting but the squad that featured on Sunday is probably as good as we've got.

As for playing the youngsters, fine if one or two are playing well enough. I havent seen enough of them to comment, although I didnt really think Crookes looked to be ready against Hull. But I'd think twice about throwing younger players into what, unfortunately, may be a very tense situation on Friday.

I'd agree. And the players on duty of Sunday got us into this mess - so they can bloody well try and get us out of it on Friday.

Realistically, I can't see anything other than a thrashing.

But what I can't decide is whether it will be better to lose by 50+, thereby maybe forcing the issue. Or losing by a few points which will give rise to 'the lads showed character' type speeches and another bit of false hope.

An example of how crazy it is at the moment is, imagine (I did say imagine) that the Bulls raced into a 30-0 lead against Leeds on Friday. Who would realistically now expect them to actually win the game?