I'm sorry that Lawrence at Huddersfield didn't get to face a full strength Bradford on Sunday as it would have swelled the gate for his testimonial. These lads put their body on the line for our entertainment so anyone getting to a testimonial stage has my respect. As it was we split the first team roughly in half to play Saturday night in the pre-season Yorkshire cup semi, and Sunday against Huddersfield.

We beat Dewsbury 20-18 and lost to Huddersfield 56-12. Given the way we had to split the team, it's hard to draw many conclusions other than Dewsbury are solid, Huddersfield look pretty good, and Bradford will probably go ok.

5th for Trinity, with their meagre budget is one hell of an achievement and it was in the super 8's which was supposed to mean something. After all 4th was a semi final spot ??

And yes, a 5th place finish should mean that Leeds get some stick, they are supposed to be one of the top 2 clubs in the country, therefore, finishing 3rd (or worse) is an under achievement for Leeds.

As for "boasting", my post was in reply to a Huddersfield fan asking why Trinity should be "expecting" a higher place finish than them (Huddersfield).

It's quite hilarious when people like you dismiss clubs like Trinity, when they are doing prett well (for their size and income), after all we are a long way behind the spending power of most SL clubs and can only dream of spending the full cap with a couple of marque players thrown in as well.

With your current obsession for all things Trinity, perhaps you should come down to Bell Vue, instead of Headingley.

Trial game fixtures :

Friday 18th January Coventry v Leeds (7.30pm) London Skolars v Wigan (2pm)

Saturday 19th January St Helens v Hull FC (2pm) Hull KR v Toronto (2pm)

Sunday 20 January Workington v Huddersfield Leeds v Castleford (3pm) Barrow v Whitehaven (3pm) Salford v Wigan (2pm) Warrington v Widnes (3pm) Doncaster v London Broncos (3pm) Swinton v North Wales (3pm) Oldham v Rochdale (3pm) Batley v Bradford (2pm)

Tuesday 22 January Wakefield v Huddersfield (7.30pm)

Friday 25th January London Skolars v London Broncos (7pm) Catalans v Toulouse (7.30pm) Bradford v Toronto (7.30pm)

Saturday 26th January Barrow v Wigan (3pm) Rochdale v Warrington (3pm)

Sunday 27th January Featherstone v Leeds (3pm) Swinton v Oldham (3pm) Widnes v North Wales (3pm) Leigh v London Broncos (3pm)

Saturday 2nd February West Wales v Wigan (2pm)

Sunday 3rd February Hunslet v Leeds (3pm) Oldham v Newcastle (3pm)

Quote ="My Mate Ronnie"Trial game fixtures : Friday 18th January Coventry v Leeds (7.30pm) '" Finished 16-20 to Leeds. Tries are here: https://www.therhinos.co.uk/video/coven ... ch-action/

Quote ="My Mate Ronnie"Trial game fixtures : Friday 18th January Coventry v Leeds (7.30pm) '" Finished 16-20 to Leeds. Tries are here: https://www.therhinos.co.uk/video/coven ... ch-action/

St Helens 28-18 Hull FC

Jake Connor caused controversy at Saints when he was sin-binned for dissent. He also ended up on the floor following a second-half scuffle.
It takes some doing to earn a yellow card in the pre-season but the Hull FC player managed it after Zeb Taia’s first-half try.

Coach Lee Radford wasn’t happy post-match “whilst it’s good to see Connor get under the skin of the opposition, he needs to tread the line carefully and not end up costing Hull when the real season kicks off “

Hull KR 24 - Toronto Wolfpack 14

Hull KR coach Tim Sheens was satisfied with his side’s pre-season victory against Toronto Wolfpack – with the match’s intensity particularly pleasing ahead of what’s to come.

“ I was very happy with the two wins but also with the standard of the game from both teams. A lot of set-for-set, tough tough football that first 20 minutes,".

“We struggled a bit with Toronto’s offloading but we threw it back at them in the second half. The players maybe got a bit confused with me wanting completions, holding onto the ball more rather than playing a bit more open football with our attack but I was pleased with our defence”

I see that Saints named 15 subs today, that’s even more ridiculous than the 13 Wakefield named last weekend....(see it’s not just you)

Newcastle 16 Wakey 6. No idea how many subs got used though I guess it was a young side

Enjoyed the game today. Welsby showed why he’s the most highly rated youngster in England. Another from The Saints production line. If only it wasn’t us Leeds and Wigan who could produce quality players. The Connor incident was nothing. Good news for England in that in his first game back Walmsley was immense as was another product of the world famous St. Helens academy Jack Ashworth. He mullered the hull football club forwards.

Friendly or not, Hull were dreadful and only looked interested when Saints brought on the reserves and youngsters. They’re in for a long season I think. Coote looked very good as did Naiqama and Paulo. Walmsley really good on his return as well.

Biggest pile of BS force fed by the club and its pet sports editor at Hull Daily Mail. Yes they had good chunk of injuries but no more than Cas Leeds Wigan ourselves or Widnes. If even a part of the local rumours are true they are a shambles behind closed doors. Signed nothing but kids or jobbers. Yes Radford conjured 2 cups but that was on the back of Ellis running the team, and the spirit and professionalism is long gone. Matty Jones biggest signing says it all. Them and London for wooden spoon imo.


Placeholder for multiple quotes when it all goes tits up Feb1st

Quote ="Ruune Rebellion"Enjoyed the game today. Welsby showed why he’s the most highly rated youngster in England. Another from The Saints production line. If only it wasn’t us Leeds and Wigan who could produce quality players. The Connor incident was nothing. Good news for England in that in his first game back Walmsley was immense as was another product of the world famous St. Helens academy [uJack Ashworth.[/u He mullered the hull football club forwards.'" He could be on DR @ Leigh along with Matty Costello, Adam Swift, and Jack Welsby. https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/of ... ossip-146/

Quote ="Ruune Rebellion"Enjoyed the game today. Welsby showed why he’s the most highly rated youngster in England. Another from The Saints production line. If only it wasn’t us Leeds and Wigan who could produce quality players. The Connor incident was nothing. Good news for England in that in his first game back Walmsley was immense as was another product of the world famous St. Helens academy [uJack Ashworth.[/u He mullered the hull football club forwards.'" He could be on DR @ Leigh along with Matty Costello, Adam Swift, and Jack Welsby. https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/of ... ossip-146/

Leeds 24 Cas 26. Maybe more between the sides than the score suggests - cas missed 5 kicks from 6...

you do realise 6 or 7 of our starting squad didnt play?

You're absolutely right, Leeds missed 3 from 5, so all told there's a potential 6 point difference between the teams rather than just 2...

Final of pre-season Yorkshire cup finished Batley 12 Bradford 14. I realise there's only so much you can take from friendlies but we've beaten all three established championship sides we've played so can't ask for more than that.

Were Bradford presented with the real Yorkshire Cup?

Quote ="Cokey"He could be on DR @ Leigh along with Matty Costello, Adam Swift, and Jack Welsby. https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/of ... ossip-146/'" I would suspect that you may get to see a lot of Kyle Amor too. James Bentley and Joe Batchelor early in the season also. It should be a good arrangement for both clubs.

Quote ="Cokey"He could be on DR @ Leigh along with Matty Costello, Adam Swift, and Jack Welsby. https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/of ... ossip-146/'" I would suspect that you may get to see a lot of Kyle Amor too. James Bentley and Joe Batchelor early in the season also. It should be a good arrangement for both clubs.

Salford 18 - 28 Wigan

Soft penalties gave Salford a lot of field position but Wigan finally have a goalkicker!

As a Leeds fan that's good to hear. My brother told me Leeds had scored only 4 tries but he's a less than reliable source

Classic game of 2 halves, cas easily best team first, Leeds best team second.

Shot clock massively improves the flow of the game!

Got to agree, the shot clock really did help things get a move on!

Spot on. For Leeds in both of their SL opposition friendlies this has been the case, interesting to see if this translates to the opening league game. Only Furner’s second friendly with the first string and today was the first game he had with several key players such as Watkins, Hurrell, Merrin and Parcell so plenty of work in progress. Obviously a friendly but Hurrell looked very good. Had a young centre in Newman on the wing with both Briscoe’s missing and he had some struggles that led to a few tries, but Tom Briscoe is expected to be fit for Round 1. Both teams may be concerned about goal kicking this season.

Yep I think both teams will improve defensively as well. They were both a bit soft in the first half but improved second.
I didn’t see the team sheet for Cas but sounded a decent team from them obviously missing Gale.
For Leeds, I thought Walker, Hurrell, Cuthbertson and Ward all looked very good. Leeds will also look a lot better on the wing with Tom Briscoe there rather than Newman. Cas scores 2 tries from kicking to that side. That’s not a criticism of Newman by the way, he’s a young centre not a winger. Hurrell really looks a handful and any go-forward we’ve lost from Hall should be replaced by him.

Was it Sammut ?