IMO Grix was awful against Leeds ... he Williams Wood and Sio would be gone from the next game!

Jowitt, Finn in and whoever turns up early to watch can play hooker... can't do any worse than the two choices on Friday night!

Grix has been no better this year than Jowitt was last, and Jowitt's handling skills bring the wingers into the game more, especially Johnstone.

Wood has gone well, but he's not an 80 minute hooker and offers more impact from the bench. And we have look a lot more organised when Finn is on the pitch.

By playing Arona at loose it's basically a third prop as he plays down the middle, and he's more effective than Walker and Hirst at present. So it doesn't matter was role you give him, he does the same job.

Crowther is a tackling machine, has decent hands and gives everything he's got. It's time for him to make the shirt his own.

As much as we all want Batchelor to be the next thing, at this moment in time Kirmond is ahead of him. Even you must realise that?

Sio doesn't bring anything.

Give it a couple of months and you'll agree, but then conveniently forgot about this thread.

He was, but there were others worse. I actually thought Wood was one of the better ones.

I also would bring Max back but it's difficult because Grix has not really put a foot wrong. Just a personal feeling that's all.

My observation was...
Wood was first man behind most tackles... yet he just stood and watched players get driven back ... on one occasion the Trinity player gets his hands free ready to offload... wood wasn't looking; he had his eyes turned to see who was taking a drive... despite a huge hole opening up in th defence in front of him!

He doesn't play what's in front just the rehed plays!

A good hooker plays the game in front of him using the array of rehed plays... the team adapts to that...we are playing the game before the advantage line..primarily that's the acting half backs fault

Williams however is also guilt of playing before the line... he's committing no defenders to him...

At the moment we are playing soft.. like a rehed dance rather than a 'blood and guts' sport.

Im looking forward to Friday morning to really see what type of players these are... they have the talent! Do they have the heart?

We were saying a lot of the things were saying now 12 months ago about Sio, and the fact he isnt a 9, I agree and dont think he is.

I do disagree though about him bringing nothing. He moved to 13 around the time of Chessie coming in and think he played well for us there all last year in all conditions. I think he was second to Arona in tackle count for last year, and weighed in with a few tries.

One other thing I will say is that while we extended contracts early last year which is good, maybe some overseas players contracts were done too soon. With the Moore situation, and no quota spots available, it left our options rather limited

Agree with those wanting Max but Grix has been excellent in every game except Leeds so I would suggest putting Max in at centre with Johnstone outside him. Switch Tupou to the other side with BJB outside him.

I'd have Max at FB with Grix on the bench. Grix can come on for a number of positions and have impact from the bench.
There's no doubt that Max created a lot of tries down the left side last season and the lad oozes class. I would play him. Finn back in the halves for me.

Can't see how Grix would have an impact from the bench - he's not quick, and the days of him playing numerous positions are over.

Yes, I have also thought of Max in the centres, sure he has played there before, but would keep Arundel over Tupou, for his ability to put his winger away

Was Jowitt any good when you saw him play at centre?

I would definitely bring Batch back in.

I'm not sure Williams and Miller are combining as well as we'd have liked pre season and our game management has been atrocious at times this year. Even for the winning try against Salford, Fifitas drive committed defenders to the middle, there was an overlap out wide yet we still insisted on driving it into the middle 3 more times. We are lacking that general in the middle.

I also think we're very naive when it comes to managing the referees i.e. Letting Brough run the game 2nd half at hudds. Leigh like to play on the edge to put it nicely and how the game is officiated will be a big deciding factor.

Finally I think our tactics have been utterly dire. In TJ we have arguably the most dangerous attacking player in super league. Yet we don't seem to have a single play designed to put him in a gap. I'd even settle for a kick chase from a scrum!

Grix
Johnstone
Arundle
Tupou
BJB
Finn
Williams/Miller
Allgood
Sio
Huby
Ashurst
Hadley
Arona

Wood
Fifita
Batchelor
Hirst

I am not a fan of Sio at 9 however Leigh are very aggressive and dominant in the forwards and feel his defensive qualities would allow Wood to have more impact after 20-30 minutes. After that I would use him to interchange with Arona and loose. Reason why I picked Hirst is because he is a big lad and I feel we need size so they dont get on top. I thought Williams long kicking game was decent however his short not so good, I think Miller would be targeted in attack due to his frame. Dependent on weather who gets in the team.

Max's speed was a big factor in us having a fair seson last year ,I might be wrong but think it was Chester who moved Bishop on to the wing to play Max at fullback, Grix as done well but too slow to go through gaps as Max can hope Kear is not stopping Chester from picking the team we just seem to be playing a lot more drives down the middle and seem to have stop the free flowing football ov last year do not think it all down to soft grounds

I think Grix has been good and is clearly the only vocal one when we are behind the posts, as such I'd want to fit him in somewhere but also I would like to see Max back in the team as he and TJ clearly know and work well with each other.
Is Grix still capable of playing in the halves if we also have Finn in the team as well for options?

Could we try:

Jowitt -
Johnstone
Arundel
Tupou
Jones-Bishop
Grix
Williams
Huby
Finn
Allgood
Ashurst
Hadley
Arona

Wood
Fifita
Hirst
Batchelor

Why are people so intent on dropping Grix or moving his position to fit Max in?

Yes Max is a talented kid but Grix has probably been our best player this season, leave him where he is and let him keep doing what he has been doing.

I suspect its as much a change in attitude required from Friday as much as playing staff. We looks out of sorts compared to first four games.

Why haven't you announced your massive injury crisis yet ? , everybody else has before,during and after playing us

You obviously haven't listened to Chester following Leeds game then. No injuries during the game! Obviously after stirring things.

Because at the minute Tom J is not getting the ball that he was getting last year and Max provided quite a few of those as they appeared to have a good understanding between them. That may also be partly due to his centre partner.
I'd like to see Max back in the team for that reason, but would also agree that Grix has been one of our best so far this season, which is why I suggested leaving him in but possibly moving him. That and the fact that Miller/Williams is not quite clicking as a partnership at present.

DK is up before the disciplinary with a Grade A charge, NFA to 1 match, the charge is high tackle-careless-ball carrier dips.
Arona was given 'no charge' and Miller was the laughable one - 'Opponent slips before making contact. Player making legitimate attempt to tackle. Arm does not come above horizontal and contact is open-handed. Penalty sufficient'. The RFL didn't want to say that the referee got it wrong and that the penalty given was wrong.

It's started has it, thought we'd have got to this point yesterday evening.

must win game if we are going to make top 8

We don't have an injury crisis, come back when you have something remotely sensible to say!

Leigh are not getting too much credit for winning their games atm, just as we usually dont.
Every team they have beaten has "had an injury crisis" and they have been given little credit for winning.

We need our forwards to do their job in the middle of the park.
After the superb defence for the first 20 minutes, Leeds started to make easy yards and went straight up the middle. They didn't need anything too fancy to make 70/80 metres each set.
This will certainly have to improve and I would certainly try giving Johnstone a different centre to work with, his opportunities have been very limited this season, although, most teams are attacking down our left and with some success and this may be being done to negate his attacking threat.

Leigh will go into the game as favourites and it's whether we can stop their forwards playing.