news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 615939.stm As per Maguire, Tommy expected to be back for next week (maybe he means Quins, rather than Sheff). Good news if true as I expected him out till the Murrayfield game.

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 615939.stm As per Maguire, Tommy expected to be back for next week (maybe he means Quins, rather than Sheff). Good news if true as I expected him out till the Murrayfield game.

Good news competition for places is so good

I thought we noticeably missed Tommy against Salford.

I know he's not a great kicker or ball-player, but when Salford's man-on-man marking was looking strong, which was for most of the game, Tommy's 'wild card' broken-field running could have been useful.

Deacon is a much less physical halfback. Though he brings his own talents to the team, and scored a good try, he's never going to blast his way through the way Tommy does.

Tommy could have given Salford a few problems. I'll be happy to see him back.

I'm glad he's back, but I think we should probably give him an extra week off while we don't really need him for this one.

My thoughts exactly Grimmy. Save him for Murrayfield.

Bring him back for Quins, I'm sure he will enjoy playing against his old club.

Happy to hear its not long-term and he should come back into the 13 but there either needs to be some serious work done with his long kicking game or we should look to get Sean O'Loughlin more involved in that department along with Sam of course.

Lockers doesn't really have the desired accuracy with the boot either but at least he has the power in him. Kicking it dead although not an attractive option is a better result than kicking it straight down the throat of the fullback as Leuluai is consistently guilty of - such a kick can begin a real momentum shift in a game.

Especially in a close game

Good to hear.

Another week off for him is a must though.

I have heard that barr injuries, Maguire will be fielding his strongest side. So that would suggest that Tommy, Lockers, Fielden etc will all play .

Wow.

Now that is a real momentum shift in the club.

I can understand his thinking though. Don't let the players slack off and don't take anything for granted just because it's Sheffield.

I would far rather take a strong team and batter them than take a reserve side and risk going out.

I think we will see our strongest side with a mix of some emerging talent. Fully expect a couple of Walker, Vievers, Charnley, Farrell etc to be in the 17.

But would our usual side be the strongest side for this one? I'm not saying our experienced players will be complacent but this game would surely mean more to Liam Farrell than it would to Phil Bailey for example.

MM said he's done his homework, expects a tough physical game and so will field strongest possible side.
Also said, being from Aus that he isnt used to knockout competition and wont be taking anyone lightly, true professional IMO.

That is the best way to sum up MM (and our entire, new coaching/training setup).

It's like we've gone from a good amateur side to a fully-pro team in one season.

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Ill back MM. I dont agree with it, but he knows what he is doing more than any of us.

I have to say that I would have taken the opportunity to rest a couple players such as Lockers, Prescott, Joel and Mossop. With all due respect, I think we would have had more than enough for Sheffield even without these. Just my opinion, of course, and MM quite obviously doesn't agree. I just wonder if we'll regret not resting players when we had the chance come the business end of the season.

Yep, that's how I feel about it, really. He knows the status of all the players better than we do - he must reckon an "extra" game won't do them any harm. Still seems like overkill to me, though - not that most people are advocating wholesale changes, but resting a couple of players who are carrying niggling knocks would seem to make more sense.

Still, as you say, "in Madge we trust"! (a flag slogan...?)

Would think that it would be a good time to rest players but my mind goes back a few seasons when we had a mid term break (think it was fir a french international) and then if i remember rightly we came back and played huddersfield and got trounced. Keep the momentum I say but if people are carrying Knocks this would be a good time to rest them. I would think that the time off between games should be enough to recoop. f we continue to win games and towards the end of the season we are points ahead perhaps he will rest players to freshen up for the play offs,ie if we are leading the table by 6 points we could rest for 2 games and although I would not want to loose tham we could afford to, but that is in the future