A win that keeps Rohan Smith in a job for another week, then we come up against a London side that are struggling in the super league.

Possibly Newman and Handley back, but Momirovski coped an injury which hopefully isn't too be bad. Lumb has to play again after what was a good performance for him

This won't happen because Rohan Smith doesn't have credentials to do it but I'd want this to be our team for next Friday.

Edgell
Lumb
Roberts
Martin
McCormack
Croft
Sinfield
Oledzki
Ackers
Goudemand
Mcdonnell
Ruan
Smith

Subs

O'Connor
Lisone
T.N.W
Littlewood

Like I say I highly doubt we'll see the likes of Miller & Frawley dropped but that 17 is still more than good enough to beat London and it would allow our young talent to get a chance and stake a claim for a shirt.

I would consider moving Miller to wing but I wouldn’t drop him. He had MoM performances in him and he needs to play back into form.

I would drop Frawley and give Sinfield an early chance to stake his claim to partner Croft. I’d swap Sangare and Lisone too. Other than that, probably Ned McCormack in for Mom. Maybe Jack Smith but think Ned is a little ahead.

Miller
Lumb, McCormack, Martin, Roberts
Croft, Sinfield
Mik, Ackers, Lisone
McDonnell, Goudemand
Smith:

Sangare, Ruan, O’Connor, Edgell

Be interesting to see the attendance for this one. Hopefully plenty turn out but there’s a definite cloud over the club at present

Be a shame if Momirovski is injured, he was probably having his best game for Leeds.
And looked like he was already building a good relationship with Lumb.
He's a good centre for a young winger to be outside.

I also think Roberts is doing pretty well on the wing. He carries well and is a big, strong lad.
Should we give him a go in the centre with Edgell on the wing?

Keep Miller at FB, but he needs to be told to just do the basics, cut out the 7's stuff as it usually ends in mistakes.

And definitely Sinfield for Frawley.
But Smith won't do it.

I don't see much point in bringing in Sinfield if the pack plays like it has in most games and we continue to lack any kind of structure. Sinfield will look as bad as Frawley.

I would go Jack Smith over Ned due to having more size and pace to burn.I thought he did really well in the trial games.

I like Jack Smith, I think he has loads of potential. Amongst all the doom mongering, we do have some talent coming through as we've seen in the friendlies and since.

Its hard to predict the backs until we know if any players will be fit and returning.

No disrespect to Roberts but Lumb should be ahead of him now at winger. He showed more in attack than Roberts has all season and thought he was slightly better with yardage. Roberts seems to always be stopped dead when trucking it out.

Sinfield in for Frawley as at the very minimum, I would expect some of his kicks not to go straight down the back three's throats. I would just emphasise to Sinfield to really focus on his defence and make sure he misses nothing.

From the little I’ve seen this year, Sinfield’s D has improved but that is what you’ll lose because Frawley is generally pretty solid and strong.

Which is why I’d be tempted to play him against London and see where he’s at.

It’s the errors I cannot do with at this level. I know much is made of the stats, but everything is connected. For me errors are king: I.e. you make an error, it swaps possession. It kills field position. A team is more likely to make errors in some situations than others, but these are individual errors mostly.

I would give Sinfield kick off and drop out duties to hopefully reduce some of Miller's errors for a start.

Frawley was ShtthS his own it had nothing to do with the forwards he had plenty of kicks that he fluffed when he had lots of time and territory to pick his spot, his defence for their first try was abysmal too

Rhys Martin made the first miss for that first try yet no-one is bagging him, in part because the rest of his performance was better.

Frawley has become the new whipping boy. Maybe the fans should get behind him at games so early in his Leeds career (sorry I'm not able to go regularly) instead of constantly bagging the guy, it's not really interesting or clever.

I was definitely underwhelmed with signing Frawley, and he has made some unnecessary mistakes, but the problems don't start with him, and I don't think Sinfield would make much difference. All this talk of kicks going straight to players is an example of OTT stuff - if you're kicking from deep its almost impossible to make kicks which do much, as the opposing back three can stand way back and run onto the ball. I didn't rate Frawley because of his lack of speed and running threat, but his kicking has generally been pretty sound throughout his career. At least until now....

After the first of the 2 games I thought were the worst possible at this time for RS, it's played out as I feared it would. A win but by a slender margin and an uninspiring team performance with no signs of improvement. So what for Friday? A win by 50 does what to improve things?

Not looking forward to Friday, Leeds need to start really well, some early errors or a London try is going to sour what little atmosphere there will be.

I'd give Roberts a go at centre as that's his position and have Lumb and Edgell on the wings dependent on who is back. Can't see Frawley being dropped but it would be a good game for Sinfield to have a crack.

I'm not sure the first part is correct, the break by Walker was because it was Frawley who turned his hips to the sideline to close the gap that he shouldn't have left and Walker knew that it was a sure thing Frawley couldn't turn back on his inside shoulder to make the tackle. I can understand that the constant bagging of him doesn't help him (if he pays attention to social media that is), and I've tried to stop doing this as you all know already my thoughts.

We are currently 8th and could finish anywhere between 5th and 8th but that should not be seen as good enough for a team like Leeds that in theory has everything going for it off the field. We have minimal off contract for next year so barring a couple of new faces what we have now is what a coach needs to work with. Ultimately until the forwards create a better platform our backs are always going to struggle whoever starts. Too many players seem to be lacking confidence or direction. Thats not a great environment for young players and that would be my biggest concern. RS does not instill confidence that he can install that confidence and we lack on field leaders to maintain focus during games. Unfortunately in season what is the alternative as its definitely not within the existing back up team.

Smith needs to turn things around pretty soon. If not the players may throw him under the bus regardless of whether they like him or how much their own poor performances are down to their own efforts. They don't need to say anything to do that - just keep playing sh*te and eventually the situation will become untenable. Its happened time and again in all kinds of pro sports, including at Leeds (Agar admitting he couldn't do any more with the team etc), and quite possibly at Hull recently as well.

I don't think London matters that much unless we lose, in which case I cannot see Smith staying until the following game, but Cats and Sts away could get very ugly. We really need to show signs of turning the tide against those two teams if Smith's going to create any sense that he can really improve things.

The big thing I want to see is a more disciplined performance. We should be making fewer errors than London, clearly winning possession and territory as a result. RS needs to make a selection which delivers on that.

If you give any opposition over half possession they’re going to have a good go at you.

If it was me I’d give our starting back line another week to recover (Handley and Newman) and rely on youth for London.

Can’t see Mom being fit after Hull.

It does worry me that the south stand hecklers will get on the coach and players again very easily here so let’s hope the performance denies that.

Best way to turn the tide and get fans back on side is with quality performances that are worthy of our great club. The coach has to get this team moving in the right direction and competing at the top end of SL. If he continues not to do that then the discontent will naturally continue to grow and so it should - this is Leeds, we are a huge RL club with big resources and big expectations (however there's the right way to go about showing your discontent at the right time).

Miller
Croft
Frawley
Oledzki
Ackers
Martin
C Smith
O’Connor
Lisone
McDonnell
Sangare
Goudemand
Sinfield
Ruan
Roberts
Edgell
Nicholson-Watton
McCormack
Littlewood
Lumb
J Smith

Don’t expect any returnees this week so I reckon this will be the 21

Yep we are a big club who should be doing much better but this is hardly new is it? We’ve been bad for a very long time, CC trophy aside.

We need a strategic approach to a strategic failure. The head coach is part of that for sure. Anyway frankly I’m pretty bored of every thread on the forum turning a “Smith Out” thread… not being funny but personally I’m not getting much out of posting on here.

Anyway YEP reports that Mom, Handley, Newman, obviously Fus unlikely to play, also worryingly still Holroyd.

Again this is an area where I would criticise our recruitment, we all knew we were a good prop short and we just didn’t address it. We need to recruit someone who is probably our best prop, and put the rest of the pecking order down a peg.

I’m not sure whether we play Martin in the centres again (well, RS will…) or just play Lumb, N McCormack, J Smith, Roberts and let them have a crack with Edgell bench again. Martin in the pack gives us a better platform for the backs IMO.

I do think RS will get sacked if we lose this, half if this forum will be supporting London!

Is Max Simpson fit yet?