Nice to see it looks like Milnes will keep his place.

What's happened to Liam Johnson? Is he injured?

He played for the reserves the other week

I like Johnson, but who would you drop to accommodate him?

I'm hoping we can run away with it.

Did Johnson do anything wrong? I only really saw him in pre-season but he looked dangerous when he ran the ball in.

Wasn’t great against Warrington dropped a lot of tackles Which led to breaks which was a shame

I'd go with Minchella at stand off for this one.

I would keep Milnes at stand off. Who knows how long Keyes is out for?.

Think we have more attacking threat whenever Minchella is on the pitch with that in mind I’d play him for full 80 but split between loose forward and standoff. Have hallas do 40 mins at loose and Milnes 40 at stand-off.

Think some people are taking Newcastle a bit too lightly. There right up there in mix for top of table and we need to treat them like we would York or Doncaster.

Mick Gledhill says on Twitter:

"Joe Keyes is looking at missing out the next three weeks. He has had the back scan and there is no structural damage, just musculoskeletal. He's been placed on a rehab programme to ensure that there's no further repeat of the injury."

I agree with Newcastle being a threat. With that in mind and that Milnes maybe somewhat targeted i'd like to see Minchella at stand off.

That's correct mate.

Injury update with John Kear should be on Bulls TV later.

Not injury concerns. He just can't get in the team at the moment.

John Kear Bulls TV (PRE NEWCASTLE THUNDER) https://youtu.be/nsepqK5enig

John Kear Bulls TV (PRE NEWCASTLE THUNDER) https://youtu.be/nsepqK5enig

I'd stick with him. Yes he had a few nervous moments last week, but he did fine. He won't be as nervous this week as he's already had his debut. Also he set up two tries for Ethan with some nice kicks. We have to bite the bullet and give the kids a chance. I don't like the idea of him coming off the bench. This is difficult even for the most experienced half backs.

I remember Ethan Ryans debut. Dropped a simple high kick, next tackle the opposition player ran straight through him. Would have been easy to not play him rest of season, but we stuck with him and he was one of our best players towards the end of the year. Keyes could be out for a month, lets give the young HB a go and stick with him. Let Elliot do what he's been doing, play as a ball-playing 13, or wide-running SR.

Newcastle will be a much tougher prospect than Skolars but I don't think Milnes did much wrong last week so deserves to keep his place IMO.

Now is the ideal few weeks to give him a go considering the opposition.

I'd stick with the same combinations as last weekend. This will be a tougher game with a more intense atmosphere where he (Rowan) will be able to play under pressure.

Unfortunately I can't make the game so will be watching on Proper Sport. COYB!

The best scenario this season is to get promoted and blood the youngsters ready for next season where it will be much tougher. Leave him at half back from the start and see how he grows from week to week.

For me:

Pickersgill
Ryan
Smith
Gibson
Grant
Milnes
Chisholm
Crossley
Hallas
Kirk
Garside
Laithwaite
Minchella

Flanagan
Peltier
Bustin
Wood/Milton

Kirk and Crossley to hammer their middle and allow for the barnstorming Peltier and Bustin later with Flanagan tearing them apart on the back of that. Minchella at 13 so we have a ball player there to help out young Milnes, and give us another option should Milnes have a quiet game.

BULLS TEAM:

Pickersgill
Ryan
Smith
Gibson
Grant
Minchella
Chisholm
Crossley
Halafihi
Bustin
Garside
Laithwaite
Milton

Flanagan
Kirk
Peltier
Milnes

Well it's certainly been a step up from the teams we've played recently. Not been helped by Bradford being very sloppy with the ball in hand.

If it was throwing it down, you might be able to forgive the number of handling errors this evening. But it's a beautiful evening so you just think that Kear will be hoping for half time so he can get the lads in and get them to calm it down

Not sure how we're ahead at HT with the amount of errors. Sure Kear will be into them at HT about it. When we're near the line we score. Just got to keep hold of the ball and we should win. Look a decent outfit Newcastle.

The two points main thing. Newcastle deserve a heap of credit extremely lively. Lewis young and Theerapol Ritson have been very very good for them

I think that might be our worst performance of the season. God knows what our completion rate and error count was.
Rescued by a couple of moments of individual skill there, but there was absolutely no cohesion from us as a group of players whatsoever.

Very scrappy game but we’ve got the 2 points. Another lacklustre performance. Thunder never gave up and could have pinched it. Brandon Pickersgill & Ethan Ryan were immense tonight.

Great atmosphere!