That's why our resident troll mysteriously disappeared when we took the championship last year.

He slips nearer and nearer his default setting of "AP" with every post.

Yes it is. A win against Manly on Friday is worth far more to the club than 2 points away at Wigan.

Totally agree, next week we have a chance to become World Champions. Anyone who's says it does not matter next week should be shot at dawn

Regardless of what anyone thinks of the competition, and if whatever the result next week, you only get a trophy for winning one of these two games, and let me give you a clue, it's not the round 2 one at Wigan...

Agreed

sad aint he

My fear too

Don't worry kallum, some people don't play super league, they just like to pretend they could handle it

Sad, not only for Leeds, but for RL in general if this becomes the case. 2 centres with all the potential in the world. Ash still shows glimpses (usually against Saints) of what he could have become. Lets hope this is just precautionary in the case of Watkins.

On a side note, I wasted £20+ today. The only reason I went to the game was to watch Watkins and to find out when I get to my seat that he wasnt playing was a whole heap of disappointment. Had I found out on the way over I would have turned around and gone home.

On a positive note, at least you got to see the world's best winger. That's when you could find him on the wing.

Also had the privilege of giving Damo-Leeds a lift back home too...

I can confirm he is not you

Two of a kind.

The point to quit while you were behind was on Thursday. Shouldn't you be celebrating a good win?

He's the sort of player that makes you want to watch a game. He will be a superstar - got the talent the physical ability and the attitude, it's just a question of can he stay healthy long enough.

The question for me is this - is Watkins a player who will only play when he feels he is 100% and is not prepared to play with the niggling injuries all players must carry due to the nature of the sport?

He seems to to spend an inordinate time on the sidelines. Great talent superb to watch but the team cannot carry a player who struggles to play 30% of the games.

Sal i think it's the club who have taken him out of the line up rather than the other way round the kid had his knacked wrist strapped for a while and still played until the scans results came through an dthen again it was the clubs call to get the op then.

What's happened to BJB? Injured? dropped for Smith?

Time will tell - I hope they haven't decided the WCC is more important than last night's game and decided not risk him - if so that is a very poor decision IMO. Next weeks game is a friendly and far less important than the two points on offer last night.

I actually think that's exactly what's happened Sal.

I still think his/the clubs decision to play him in the CC final was potentially as poor a decision as playing Senior in 2005, he was nowhere near ready, so IMO that dispels the theory about him not fancying it.

As someone has already said JJB had terrible problems with injuries in his younger days, but the club are reaping the rewards of not throwing him on the scrapheap too soon. Watkins will be fine.

Sadly, the lack of international profile for the sport and the regularity and certainty of embarrassing defeat at that level has resulted in the WCC in this country taking on an over-inflated sense of importance and value. This is because it provides the only realistic format and one-off opportunity for us to beat an Australian team and earn a bit of credibility for the sport in the process.

I agree with you - the WCC is nothing more than an annual exhibition game which shouldn't be classed as more important than collecting 2 points in a regular SL round. However, given the uncompetitive nature of SL, the failure by a club like Leeds to gain 2 points isn't that crucial because of the absolute certainty that they'll still qualify for the play-offs no matter what.

Are you not privy to the plan this season ?

Challenge Cup ... And win the Grand Final from 8th !

Oh I think I can tell the difference Damo never ever criticises Leeds not even in troll mood he couldn't bring himself to do it

Yep ! Looking good for that

So losing 2 points away against a likely top 4 team is a disaster from which you can't recover? I can't recall that ever being the case in SL or NRL.

As for Watkins I think people are writing him off too early. There are some injuries which tend to recur - shoulders being the most obvious (David Creasser, Gary Spencer anyone - hopefully not Sam Burgess). I can't remember a player constantly out due to wrist issues (ready to be corrected on that). Watkins has missed a lot of games, but there's no evidence that he has any particular ongoing issue as yet.

In any event we should all be hoping he gets a decent run and delivers on his obvious potential. He needs to work on his game, but he's big, fast and actually looks to get his winger away. The last point shouldn't even be worth mentioning, but far too many SL centres look like they've never been told what their winger is there for.