Team looks so much better and well balanced with Hardaker in the centres.

We really should have held on to Sarginson, he covered all of the back positions.

I'm not sure where the points come from in that side - have to hope we can fix the issues with kick defence in the friendly and win a low scoring one. I'd be shocked if we scored more than 2 tries, 3 at a push.

looks like a similar side that played against salford.......god help us

I'd go the same as you I think.

They showed his tackle on French last night on the preview show and I felt pretty gutted he’s not here anymore. It’s still beyond me how he got so much stick. Covered numerous positions and is an absolute competitor. The guy was and should’ve continued to be a valuable asset for us.

One thing I wouldn’t under play from that Friendly is that Salford have a very good side this year again and Leigh are certainly not in that class. Poor old skint Salford keep signing players and adding more and more depth to their squad (all whilst being poor and skint) and will have a very good season for my money. It’s very plausible we could get beat on Friday but I’d give Salford plenty of credit for that win and I actually think they may well turn Saints over in the first game.

Isn't this like the winger discussion though? How many good players can you have?

He's not in the same class as Hardaker, Gildart or French. He's too good to be a back up. No problem.

Not sure anyone tried harder than Sarginson but I think he got stick because he was prone to silly errors and wasn't especially good at anything. Might be harsh but Hardaker and Gildart are so much better to watch than when we had Sarge and Gelling and it was a matter of time before they did something stupid.

hes as good as hardaker for me, not pre ban but a current hardaker

1 Hardaker
2 Field
5 Hanley

How longs Gildart out for?

Unlike a winger though, you’re getting 3 players in one with Sarginson, so he can play centre, in his best position of fullback or even cover the wing. You might be pushing it to say he could even fill in at stand off but it is where he started his career.

I’m probably with Pieman as well and would have the current version of Sarginson pretty even stevens with the current version of Hardaker at centre. I think Zak is getting to grips with centre and can improve further but he certainly wasn’t terrorising teams from the position last year. The energy Sarginson brings to a side is unbelievable.

Was Sarginson leaving out choice or his? I'd have definitely been in favour of keeping him

I dont suppose we will ever know like we dont for most players

+1

I think it was his choice. Following the sad death of his brother I think he needed a change.

Well I am going to vote for Sarge over Zak. I think Zak has lost too much pace and I don't see him producing anything like the form he showed at Castleford either at fullback or at centre. I hope he proves me wrong though. What both players have in bundles is a desire to win.

I'd be far more confident with your team than the one you think Lam will pick. The former in my view is asking for trouble. Whilst both packs are fine, I am concerned about our threequarters - no genuine pace, a young forward at centre and both Bibby and Hardaker looked very lethargic against Salford and were exposed to a decent kicking game.

20 pages on a thread for the team for Friday?
Have people really missed rugby that much or am I missing some sort of earth shattering news when not reading the 20 pages?

Why did you log on to a rugby forum if you didn't want discussion about rugby?

Hang about, chill out mate. It was a genuine question


I don’t find opinions on team predictions interesting but find 99% of other stuff on here interesting so that’s why I’m on here.
I was just genuinely interested to know if I’d missed say a big injury news story or such like without flicking through 20 pages of if Isa is worth a shirt of not etc (opinions which people are fully entitled to before you criticise me for that too

)

I guess so, even though you're only playing Leigh. We've had no RL for 12 months, so personally speaking I'm quite giddy, though I'll probably be thinking "I knew we'd get stuffed" at full time.

Good job you know nowt..

No falling out boys it is just a game of rugby.

I think you'll find it's called "recruiting wisely" Nicky.

When you read predictions on most forums Salford are widely tipped as bottom 3 contenders again so the vast majority of RL watchers don't appear to agree with you (asides from us ever-pessimistic Salford fans who think we'll go ok).

I'm sure the "poor old skint Salford" comment is a bit of a dig but all those quality players we've managed to bring in have all been deemed surplus to requirements at other clubs or are wanting a chance to play every week where they may have been squad players elsewhere (Burgess/Sarginson/Taylor/Watkins to name but four). That's how we have to operate to survive/thrive by good coaching and picking up fringe players with hunger/a point to prove etc. Slightly different from cherry (& white

) picking players from "smaller" clubs. We certainly aren't doubling/trebling players wages.