Leeds Rhinos v Salford City Reds 8pm
Ref: T Alibert
Touch Judges: M Wilson and M Kidd

Kirke, JJB and Ali have all played prop before.

Not that it instills me with confidence, but they have done.

Relax.

They are only playing Salford.

And risk the development of the back rowers in the academy. IMO the 19 man squad will be:

Webb, Smith, Senior, Hall, Burrow, Buderus, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Sinfield, Lauitiiti, Kirke, Watkins, Hauraki, Clarkson, Pitts, Jones-Bishop, McShane, Singleton, Burgess/Stewart.

If Burgess isnt fit, Stewart to replace him and a choice between Stewart, Pitts and McShane to miss out, Singleton needs to play IMO. If Burgess is given the OK, Pitts and McShane to miss out.

I would use Hauraki as a prop in this one. He really struggled last week, so i'd strip back his game a little and just instruct him to take the ball up hard down the middle.

You say that... We were 'only playing Quins' last week!!



P.s LOVING the new sig!! You do make me smile Keith! Could do with being a bit clearer though. I can't quite make out some of the numbers.

Could be a good chance to play Jay Pitts at Prop and also move Senior into the pack

Webb, Smith, Senior, Hall, Burrow, Buderus, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Sinfield, Lauitiiti, Kirke, Watkins, Hauraki, Clarkson, Pitts, Jones-Bishop, McShane, Singleton, Stewart.

As i said.

BJB
Smith
Watkins
Senior
Hall
Webb
Burrow
Kirke
Buderus
Jones-Buchanan
Ablett
Clarkson
Sinfield

Stewart/Pitts
Singleton
Hauraki
Lauitiiti

McShane
Stewart/Pitts

Pitts will make the 17 imo so i think Mcshane and Singleton will miss out.

Isnt Singleton the more Prop one out of the two? Stewart more of a SR or LF? Pitts IMO will make the 17 after his performance in the U20s.

That's a fair point mate i was going by Stewart being closer to a call up out of the 2 and the option of Hauraki or Ali doing a short stint at Prop.

All of this could blend into insignificance if either of the only gets a 5 minute sting like the Quine game! I think it will be Pitts, it would be singleton's first senior team start otherwise and I don't see BMD risking it.

Bearing in mind that we are playing Salford this week, but followed shortly by Saints and Wigan, so we need to sort out a few things in defence this week in preparation for the 2 big ones.

Firstly I would keep Sinfield at 6. because he is playing well where he is and is averaging 21 tackles per game in addition to organising our attack. Web with due respect will not cover this number of tackles at 6 (averaging 3 per game and his body won't take 20+ tackles) so we could loose team tackles by moving Sinny back to 13.

I would play Clarkson at 13 for as much of the game as possible with a target of 25+ tackles in a covering the centres role (young legs)

I would move Senior into the 2nd row with Smith at centre. The last time Keef was in the pack he had both a high tackle count and metres gained.

I would drop Kirke. We know what he can do and it is just not good enough so we need to know which of the other props can step up for the big games. I would have JJB, Ablett as props and spell Lauitiiti, Hauraki for impact and also have Pitts/Stewart and Singleton on the bench.

Good post....

I'd actually overlooked the defence roll of 6 (possibly cos it's usually Danny 'Can't Tackle' McGuire!). You raise a very good point about Sinfield's defence, and I'm going to say you've convinced me that's probably why we should avoid Webb playing there!

As much as I agree with you on Kirke, I don't thing he'll drop him though.

Some reasonable suggestions Juan but Abbo at Prop??
No offence mate he'd get murdered and as bad as Kirke has been lomger minutes there MAY see him replicate his Hull performance which imo was good comsidering the injuries etc etc.

I am sure you are right and he will not drop him. But I would. We know too well his limitations and we urgently need to know what the reserve players can do. So an outing against Salford would be a fairer way of finding out than one against Wigan or Saints.

I know its not ideal! But Abblet is a big lad and if he followed Buderus on his shoulder I think he could make some metres and he will put in the tackles. We are scrapping the barrel at prop but this is a game to see what the reserves can do.

How long is Burgess going to be out?

No idea mate no time-frame has been specified as yet.
I see yer point re-Abbo and his impact but imo that's more running out wide and if it means shifting Hauraki ,Ali or blooding the youngsters then i'd prefer that option tbh.

Singleton is an England u16/u18 prop who was supposed to play against the aussies but had to pull out with a broken wrist i think. And i think he was 18th man against Harlequins also been playing well for u20s.

Stewart was 18th man mate!

McShane at 7

Who beat you at your place 2 seasons ago and very nearly did last season aswell! Anyway, if we play like we did against Wigan, given your injury list, I think we'd be in with a good chance of getting the 2 points.

If I were Salford's coaching staff, I'd be practising pushing in the scrums...

All the experienced forwards need to lift their games. The pack as a whole has done naff all so far - Hull apart - even with most of our first choice props.

Good point about the pack BR, compare our current pack with that of Widnes in the late 80's, or even Leeds under Murray. I fully understand that we have got players to come back, but even then we don't have a real Enforcer type, which leads me to believe that opposition teams take our pack lightly (if you pardon the pun).

One of the best memories I have of the Murray era was the letter we received from Red Hall telling us we were being "too rough" with the opposition, and they didn't like it. What would I give for a return to that style of forward play in defence now...