Higson is out for a few weeks by the looks of things, had his leg in a brace at the airport today.

Now here's the scenario at the next training session.........

NK " Sorry Ian but you,re dropped for Thursday "
IM " Why's that Neil, thought i've played pretty well recently? "
NK " Because we've signed Stuart, he's costing us a lot of money and we need to play him at fullback.
IM " Why? "
NK " Because our money would of been better off invested elsewhere, but we made a slight mess of things, plus you've got time on you're side, and more to the point Kelly's Eye thinks so. "
IM " Fair point Neil, if Kelly's Eye thinks so, then that's good enough for me."

Getting a bit worried for Adam - he seems to be picking up a few nasty injuries lately.

Quite right Keith.....I like this kid, maybe a bit biased because i was involved in his development, and i make no secret of it! It's a good point you make, and one worth consideration......Not seen him at the paper shop recently, so not had the the chance to speak to him, then again he,s an Electrician, as i am.........If you read this and you're out of work Morty, give me a bell.

and how long ago was that and how old wat tony when he was on the wing

time always catches up with players and it has done with tony

Doesn't happen often, but I completely agree with you. That said, his defence is sound enough for him still to warrant a place in the squad and, let's be honest, our defence is utter bobbins out wide at the minute. Sick and tired of us conceding the same tries, over and over again, where the winger or centre is drawn inside to an opposition second rower/centre and is allowed to offload to an overlapping winger.

team for thursday. ahem, some new players - get rid of the DEAD WOOD !
We have far too many players, who you know, that when they recieve the ball, are not going to 'make a break' or throw out a super pass/dummy.
At the moment we have a side that looks 'truly awful'. The only rugby I've enjoyed this season, is the 1st half against Barrow. We probably won't get relegated, but we are not capable of 'thrashing' anyone, but we have/will get thrashed ourselves. It's very bleak being a Leigh fan right now, new ground or not !

If they don't make some big changes to personnel and style of rugby then I'm afraid that is a distinct possibility

The problem is when we try to play an open style of rugby, when you are struggling basic rugby is what you should play we are NOT Saints!

I think he's a terrific prospect too, Keith. He has some excellent natural attributes and good coaching should see him develop into an outstanding player. For some reason, there were those who didn't like Turley either, despite his regular 300-400 points a season! (oh for someone to score 300 points for us now!)

Curiously, the comment about Ian standing behind the tryline reminded me of Stuart, in his first season. He used to stand right on the tryline, always made the tackle, but it was too late, as the attacker just fell over the line. However, someone (Millward?) obviously had a word with him, as he started to position himself away from the tryline and made some outstanding, try-saving tackles.

Frankly, I was disappointed when we re-signed Stuart, purely because I thought that might mean Ian missing out. In my opinion, Stuart is wasted at centre, where we don't/can't get him into the game. So, what's wrong with playing Stuart at full-back, and Ian on the wing? In many ways, wing is like full back, and both could be devastating, backing up breaks/half-breaks - if we could unearth someone to make those breaks!!

Stuart hates playing centre he has the NO1 shirt and thats where he wants to play he was signed toplay there so FFS play him there i know NK says the reason he is in the centre is cos we have no one else so lets get someone in! Morty deserves a place in the team so play him wing centre or even stand off!

They are even struggling with that

Thats what i mean we can't walk never mind run!
Drive x5 kick (but try and make it a decent kick)

If they were fit i'd mix it up a bit and go for

Donlan
Mort
Rudd
Alstead
Stanton
Powell
Watto
Hill
Durbin
Morrison
Haggerty
Armistead
McConnell

Rourke
Cookson
Taylor
leuluia

Been Holland for 12 days with the family so i've missed the last 3 games guessing by this thread we havent been playing well and need a shuffle round.......

Interesting.
We both feel the same about Hobson.
Hope our new 6 is in the mix, otherwise Ridyard at 7, Stanton at 6.
Taylor must start, then move him up to prop, Haggerty on bench, Alstead on wing and Reay at centre.
There thats a shake up.

Bit behind the times here, who is our new #6?

Nobody knows for sure but seems to be overseas.

Reay can't tackle simple as that!

Haggerty? I was struggling with Higson out,and Maden is poor so far.

Haggerty could play there i suppose at the mo its defence we need so we could push him out there thats why even tho i'm not a Rudd fan i would have him in for his tackling alone unless we are going to pull our fingers out and sign somebody before thursday!

could we not take Karl Pryce on loan as a centre before thursday? there was talk about this last week and he was left out of Wigans team at the weekend!

Both Donlan and Higson will be missing on Thursday I understand.

Maybe now Rud will get a chance in the centres to prove what he is worth and hopefully he takes the chance with two hands. I don't think Kelly has much left to change with players (there is some good news on the horizon I believe though

) For Thursday I would go for:

1. Mort
2. Stanton
3. Rudd
4. Reay
5. Maden/Alstead (if fit)
6. Ridyard
7. Watson
8. Morrison
9. Durbin
10. Hill
11. Taylor
12. Armistead
13. McConnell

14. Meekin
15. Haggerty
16. Cookson
17. Rourke

Very surprised nobody has put Meekin in their side, been very solid for us and looks like a real prospect for the future.