One of our biggest away fixtures of the season is fast approaching & so I wonder what are your best guestimates on the score & what will be key for us to bag a big victory ?

I kick off with a scoreline of Fax 22 Leigh 30.

I think our forwards have been immense so far & I hope for more of the same on Sunday. If our pack can dominate then we [ishould[/i win, but not by a massive margin.
Tighten up that defence, especially outside on the flanks & we could romp it home, but, & it is a big but, we are all too aware of how much Fax can lift their game for a Leigh visit & so it will be another really tough encounter.

Good luck to both sides ......


but [iVictory[/i to [iLEIGH[/i

#NorthStandRoarOnTour

I will wait until the squad is announced. It has been nearly a week since the Brierley incident kicked off. I am sure we are due another crisis by now. Although we have lost Lee Smith and Greg Worthington to injury since then so maybe that counts...

The reality is we are playing nowhere near the standard we were at the back end of the season and I can not see anything other than a Leigh victory and a comfortable one at that.

Impossible to predict. We don't know how many new players Leigh will have signed between now and the match.

The Grove, shudds. Durham Magus 3.8 % Mmm!

If you had Greenwood, Johnston, Sharp, Tyrer, Heaton, Smeaton, Murrell, G. Moore, Ben Kaye, Manning and Fairbank all missing at the same time you might be looking at bringing a few in too



That is the equivalent of what we are missing.

2 fullbacks, 1 winger, 3 centres, 2 half backs, 1 hooker, 1 second row and 1 loose all out of action. Plus Ridyard playing with busted ribs and Higham and a few others playing with pain killing injections.

You can almost get a Leigh XIII who have never been on the pitch together "Nice to meet you - can I introduce you to Gaz" (at the first scrum)

You have to be major favourites for this one, given the number of players we are missing. We still haven't managed to play the same half back pairing in any two games this season - hardly the recipe for a settled team!

BATLEY:- Ridyard & Brierley
OLDHAM:- Ridyard & Chase, then Foster & Chase
LONDON:- Chase & Brierley
BRADFORD:- Patterson & Brierley
SHEFFIELD:- Ridyard & Charncok.

Given that two of those players are missing, we may see one of the above formations in use again on Sunday!

It's good to have a SL ref for this one, it should stop the usual acts of thuggery from the usual suspects in the Fax side. Leigh by 18.

Any win would do.

Fax are quite capable of turning us over, and doing that with some style.

I have massive reservations about our backline, but our pack is exceptional for this league.

If we have a good defensive game, Leigh by 10. If we allow Fax to offload, fax by 18 !

Im expecting a relatively clean game now the Leigh players have had an attitude adjustment, if you know what I mean.

42all draw

After we have gone 42-6 up, with 20 minutes left!

With any luck this week might be the first time our backline has stayed anything like the same line up 2 weeks in a row. Not ideal with loads missing and still lots of players having to play out of position but a bit of consistency can't hurt. Especially in terms of defence out wide.

Pownall
Owen
Whiting
Higson
Harper
Ridyard
Charnock
Moimoi
Higham
Weston
Hansen
Hock
Paterson

Bench:
Hood
Emmitt
Hopkins
Maitua

I would go

Pownall, Higson and Owen wings, Maitua and Whiting centres, charnock and Ridyard halves

Bringing Spencer or Acton into the 17

I would expect Leigh to have about -10 on the coupon. While we have not been playing too bad a record of 2 Wins against the worst teams in the division and 3 losses against teams fighting for the top 4 is hardly a record Leigh are going to be frightened by whatever anyone says. I honestly expected both teams to be unbeaten going in to this game, Leigh's problems are there for everyone to see, but we have started the season off very,very slowly.

You sound a bit like our owner there GFB!



Seriously though, this is a game I would have had us to lose at the start of the season. Mind you, our pack is much improved this time around - it could all depend on whether our backs are able to take advantage of that.

As for you having won two and lost three, it's (as you know) how you finish that counts. I suspect a lot more of the fancied teams will come unstuck against Batley and London this season.

At what point do we start to say that fancied teams are coming unstuck at Batley and London, and start saying that Batley and London are the fancied teams?

Fax 42 Leigh 12 turn it round this week

15-13 to Leigh for mine, MOM Richard Moore

...at a similar point that folk regarded Leicester as one of the fancied teams in the PL... possibly when it's too late for the rest to do anything about it.

Tbh, we look to have a much stronger competition this year, and the battle for top 4 is going to be a tough one.

If Fax can keep their discipline and respect the ball more than they have done so far this season then I'm going for a narrow 4 point win for us. If not, then Leigh by a lot.

Leigh Centurions by 20

Good article here: www.leighjournal.co.uk/sport/lei ... e/?ref=rss Liam Kay in with a chance of returning for Sunday. Tonga could be back as early as next week against Worky in the cup. It will be good to finally have more players coming back than dropping out!!

Good article here: www.leighjournal.co.uk/sport/lei ... e/?ref=rss Liam Kay in with a chance of returning for Sunday. Tonga could be back as early as next week against Worky in the cup. It will be good to finally have more players coming back than dropping out!!

If we hit 80% completion in any game we will win