Last weeks game will doubtless have taken a lot out of the team, so I'd expect Grix to utilise several who missed out at Wembley. I'd be surprised if he didn't find a place for Crooks and Sutcliffe; normally you'd expect Keyes if fit to be a certainty, but I've not a clue who he'd drop to accommodate him, as in my view JWH, Jouffret and Pickersgill all deserve their place. If one was to go I'd reluctantly drop Pickersgill and move JWH back to fullback. Then he's still got the luxury of Fleming, Tibbs and Inman as cover for any players carrying knocks. Not a bad situation ti be in at this stage of the season.

A very tough but equally important game as we return to the league . We return to the capital trying to maintain a place in the playoffs. Regardless of my opinions on whether we are ready for superleague or not every game has to be played with that being the objective. It’s gonna be nip and tuck whether we actually make the playoffs but if we do I think we have a good chance of winning it . Back to the game , many players I would imagine being emotionally and physically drained with the story of the weekend and the logistics involved but I would imagine some of the players who didn’t feature in the final will play , crooks ,tibbs , inman , Keyes , Fleming , sutcliffe all should be available to refresh the side hopefully this will be enough to see us grab victory again .

I would expect there will be some rotation. I wouldn't be surprised if Jouffret was left out for Keyes. Whilst overall he has had a good season, I think there is a frustration at the number of errors and incorrect decisions he has been making in recent weeks.

Joufret would be the first name on my team sheet, especially now he's got his eye in re his kicking. Maybe rest Moore and have Joufret backing up AOB at hooker (he used to play there). Looks like Wood has retired early and Grix seems nervous about including a raw Inman.

Will be a tough ask to pick ourselves back up again, but as mentioned we have enough replacements to add some freshness.

Not a "must win" game but obviously a win would be massive against a key rival. We have the easiest run in along with Batley, playing 3 of the bottom teams in our last 6 games, with the rest of our rivals mainly playing each other thereby taking points of each other. Widnes have the hardest finish with their "easiest" game being against York, and Sheffield also have a tough finish - nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see them get pipped at the post and seeing Aston's miserable mug blaming everyone else for their failure.

We're still in the driving seat for a top 6 finish so going for a narrow Fax win of 22-20 against a nervous London.

I feel every game now is a must win to finish on the top six. Widnes and London are one point behind us. Widnes beat York (which is real possibility) we lose toLondon and we potentially drop to 8th. Winning this weekend would keep London 3 points behind us.

London away is always a tough game but the lads have proved they can do it and whilst Saturday will have taken a lot out of them it’s better to be going into it on the back of a win over a loss.

With several teams still fighting it out to get into the playoffs just goes to show how up and down form has been for a number of them and how competitive the league has become.

A very tough game to call,we have played pretty much every week since the start of the season while most other sides have had some free weekends to recharge their batteries. I say it most games the start for me will be crucial we are battle hardened so if we can catch London cold a bit like Sheffield but then go on with it we could pick up a important 2 points.

Aye, this game will be a tough one and is undoubtedly a four pointer. I expect Simon to freshen the team up and, if fit, introduce Joe Keyes back into the team. What a boost he would be for the run in. As with most games this season with us it's almost impossible to forecast but if we can do it i would think it would more or less cement our place in the playoffs. Up The Fax!

Squad out and the only changes are Crooks and Tibbs coming in for McComb and Inman.

Difficult to see who will be dropped from last week, unless there's some knocks. But would have thought Keyes, Crooks and Sutcliffe will play, in place of McComb and 2 further unknowns. The biggest dilemma is who makes way for Keyes. Pickersgill, Woodburn Hall and Joufret have all been outstanding. As I've said - probably have Joufret back up AOB at hooker and rest Moore who ran his blood to water at Wembley.

Crookes and Sooty will play but not sure on how LJ would cope with having to defend down the middle against a big London pack so Brandon and O'Brien in the nines and party trick roles.
Keyes could be held back for another week but if not go with the strongest original starting line up of Keyes, LJ and Woody at 6,7 and 1 with an unfortunate Pickers 18th man / missing out?

Just listening to Grix he makes clear that he regards Keyes as the best half in the championship, so if he really is fit can't see him being left out of such an important game. Very tough on Pickersgill who's got better each week but completely agree with the above. If Moore needed a rest then Inman would have been brought in - I'd go one further than Grix - when they're on form I think the Jouffret/Keyes partnership is the best pairing in the championship.

Yep. Other than that he mentioned Kev with a knee problem being doubtful and we will need 3 big guys and the interchange 9 on the bench against London.
Salty has being carrying a bit of a knock over the last month and finished last week heavily bandaged and limping a bit so have to see if he comes through.

Always a massive ask to lift yourself a week after a final - all 4 of last week's finalists lost this weekend. And it's always a tough long trip to a very good London, who might be the dark horses to create an upset or 2 in the play offs.

Even Batley came a cropper against lowly Keighley which has really brought them back in to the mix. They host Sheffield next week, and with Fax taking on Widnes it's all getting quire feisty.

A tough defeat to take and some big games to come to get in the playoffs now , what’s frustrating is we are capable of beating anyone on our day , the problem is it’s only our day half the time this season. Sounds like maizen and woody failed their hia’s so we might see the Keyes n jouffret partnership return against Widnes.

Disappointing result; was happy with the team picked but difficult to gauge how much last week took out of them . Wasn't there so don't know at what stage Maizen and JWH were withdrawn but losing 2 backs, especially a half must have namade a a difference. Would guess Tibbs and Keyes will be brought in next week, both are on paper great replacements but obviously very short of recent match practice. Only good part of the day is that because of other results we're still in touch with the teams above us - looking at London's run in with 4 out out of 5 at home I'd expect them to finish in the top 6 - next week at home to Widnes now an absolute must win.

Tough result at a crucial point in the season and doesn’t leave much if any room to play with.

Back to the game 3 players having to leave for HIA’s and 2 failing caused a lot of disruption and they scored down his side when Walmsley was off on the 2 minute green card leading up to his HIA before we could get a sub on and again when Woody was down in back play before he went off and like Maizen couldn’t return, Sooty coming on in the centres.
Fairbank covered a few minutes at 6 before they regrouped with PIckers going there with Crookes going to 1.

A couple of individual errors and very close missed chances lead to further points conceded / missed.

Keyes will be back next week with either Tibbs or McComb coming into the 3/4’s.

With the HIAs Tibbs back in the centre position and Keyes back for JWH.

Mccomb for me,but at least we've still got good options..

Same problems as many of our defeats this season. Poor attitude, poor discipline, and poor handling but it was always going to be tough going back down London the week after the final. It does make the Widnes game pretty much do or die though for the playoffs and predicting how many of our last 5 games we will win is pretty much impossible. I mean we could beat Toulouse but easily lose one of the games either side of that in Haven and Keighley with our away form so poor. Four out of Five wins should be good enough for 4th and a home tie but any less than that and there is a good chance we miss out altogether.

Our away form has really let us down this season - won 2, drawn 1 and lost 8, having failed to win at any of the top 9 which includes some thrashings. Stark contrast to last season. The barmy army mustn't have been beating their drum hard enough!

I have just listened to Simon post match interview and i think he sums it up pretty well. Yes we had every excuse under the sun to lose yesterday against a good London side, but there is this frustrating habit we have got into in the league this year of making too many unforced errors to give ourselves a chance of winning. And when you add in 3 players going off in the first half all backs for head injuries and then 2 of them can not come back on you can see why we lost. A couple of things in the game did niggle me when we had players down with head knocks the game was allowed to continue and they scored 2 of there tries during that time. And how many six agains can a side concede before a referee takes stronger action, because we won a number of these and i think until stronger action is taken sides are happy to give them away in a cynical way. As for next week that is a massive game now because i can not see London losing at home to Whitehaven so we really need to beat Widnes. It also answers the question of how to fit Keyes back in the side with Woodburn-hall missing.