I would take the GF or CC over the shield every day of the week and it appears that Tony Smith and Wire would too.

The SL is fast losing what little remains of its credibility as a serious competition.

Yes many clubs struggle after playing Wigan, in what is inevitably their biggest game of the season, but this heavy defeat for Wire is a joke.

Is there any point in the regular rounds any more? Does the competition have any integrity?

Yet another low for RL.

Will the RFL do anything about this? Of course not. Wire have a wealthy backer and the RFL are spineless and utterly incompetent.

Absolutely, and if the situation was reversed, I'd want our big guns rested too.

Not that I'm not enjoying this mind...

You hit the nail on the head, but as a supporter, I would have hoped we'd have kept the pressure on top spot until the death. Ah well, pick ourselves up, dust down and go again next week. There'll be bigger games to play over the coming weeks for most clubs!

3 minutes.

You hit the nail on the head, but as a supporter, I would have hoped we'd have kept the pressure on top spot until the death. Ah well, pick ourselves up, dust down and go again next week. There'll be bigger games to play over the coming weeks for most clubs!

Time to back that up with a win on Monday restore the 3 point cushion.

Winning the league leaders shield vs Saints at home has to be the kind of motivation & boost we are crying out for.

That will do for me, beat Salford and HKR. A tough one ..and we could rest a few v saints and still finish top

Are you expecting Richards, Tommy and any other injuries back for play off time?

No its not.

Win the shield ASAP and rest as many as we can for Saints, They might have to win the last game of the season to remain in the top 4. We have learnt nothing from last season. Instead of resting players against Crusaders we went into the last game of the season with as close to a full team as possible and lost the following week to Saints where we looked tired and that was the case at Saints for the final play off game.

If we go 3 points clear then we should aim to finish top before we play Saints and give us a rested side ready to go in the play offs unlike last season and we looked tired already last week against Wire.

Yes. Richards and Fielden are already back TL will be back before the play offs.

I thought only I could see the bigger picture than just beating Saints.

If they can pick up some match fitness in time, and given us and Leeds with the CC final distraction, Wigan could well be the team to beat come playoffs...hope not ha-ha!

I honestly, hand on my heart wouldn't.

For me the challenge cup means nothing anymore;

It's the easiest cup to win out of all three
It's one that almost guarantees you don't win the GF as well.

People can knock the league leaders shield all they want but for me it means you've been the best side that season. It doesn't mean your champions but then again neither does wining the cup.

IMO Wire had a better season than us last year as they got the shield and we won a cup.

The prestige for me lies in being #1 after 27 rounds which is a bigger achievement than winning 5 games over a period of almost 6 months.

this season is mapping out strangely like 2010, won the shield in the 2nd last game against KR in 2010, who could we possibly win the shield against this year? Warrington Leeds challenge cup final in 2010, warrington leeds challenge cup final this year. Same grand final and result please

No tbh for the play offs any side that beats Leeds will win it.

We get a rest next week + one if we finish top.

What we need is players back from injury and a run of games with a full strength side out.

We've struggled because we've not had a settled side so the last thing we need are more unnecessary changes.

Fair play, at least its looking at the next 6 or 7 weeks the season seems to be shaping up in to some excitement.

Wigan/Warrington vs Leeds in GF, one of the W's winning is my prediction

No no no.

You need momentum going into the playoffs, not a stuttering run up with some players being rested and others not.

So you would risk injuries to players even if we have finished top before the Saints game. We looked off the pace last week and we can not go into the play offs again with a side that is tired. We do not get another weeks rest if we finish top. we only get a rest now after next weeked if we win our first play off game. Which we have not done sine the new format.

What like last season.

The benefits of a team that's on the same page out weighs the potential for injury imo.

What we need more than anything is our players playing on the same wave length.

I can't think of anything worse for us than constantly changing the sides.

One week off next season 3 tough games with our fullest and fittest squad then one play off game and another rest.

Anyone got the 'Year of the wolfs' pic?

Where have i said constantly changing sides. Seems some are getting really hung up on finishing 1 or 2nd. Makes no difference where you finish in the top 2 as Saints and Leeds have been playing well recently and either is a tough game. Going all out in a Derby against Saints a week before will give Leeds if its Leeds we play a better chance for me than if we rest a few. Especially Hock after what happened last time we played them. If we play Saints and they need to win to stay in the top 4 i would send 1 or 2 squad players who will not feature in the play offs to start trouble as Saints do with Hock.

Wane needs to use his common sense and do what Tony Smith has just done this week. Thrown a game away and not risked any of his bigger players for the bigger price next weekend. If they win it then all Wire fans will have forgotten about today's game.

Quote ="tank123"Where have i said constantly changing sides. Seems some are getting really hung up on finishing 1 or 2nd. Makes no difference where you finish in the top 2 as Saints and Leeds have been playing well recently and either is a tough game. Going all out in a Derby against Saints a week before will give Leeds if its Leeds we play a better chance for me than if we rest a few. Especially Hock after what happened last time we played them. If we play Saints and they need to win to stay in the top 4 i would send 1 or 2 squad players who will not feature in the play offs to start trouble as Saints do with Hock. Wane needs to use his common sense and do what Tony Smith has just done this week. Thrown a game away and not risked any of his bigger players for the bigger price next weekend. If they win it then all Wire fans will have forgotten about today's game.'" You want to put a scratch side out vs Saints at home? Why do we need to rest players? We've got two weeks rest in the next 6? What we need is a constant team playing week in week out togthadverts/d ... ?adid=59er and building up confidence with back to back wins including Saints. That's common sense not resting a load of players and risking losing the final league game of the season going into the playoffs.

Quote ="tank123"Where have i said constantly changing sides. Seems some are getting really hung up on finishing 1 or 2nd. Makes no difference where you finish in the top 2 as Saints and Leeds have been playing well recently and either is a tough game. Going all out in a Derby against Saints a week before will give Leeds if its Leeds we play a better chance for me than if we rest a few. Especially Hock after what happened last time we played them. If we play Saints and they need to win to stay in the top 4 i would send 1 or 2 squad players who will not feature in the play offs to start trouble as Saints do with Hock. Wane needs to use his common sense and do what Tony Smith has just done this week. Thrown a game away and not risked any of his bigger players for the bigger price next weekend. If they win it then all Wire fans will have forgotten about today's game.'" You want to put a scratch side out vs Saints at home? Why do we need to rest players? We've got two weeks rest in the next 6? What we need is a constant team playing week in week out togthadverts/d ... ?adid=59er and building up confidence with back to back wins including Saints. That's common sense not resting a load of players and risking losing the final league game of the season going into the playoffs.