Re: 21 man Squads - Devils v Leopards : Mon Apr 01, 2024 10:26 pm  

Our season will start in May, when we get the troops back. We had 6 1st teamers missing against Salford and still gave them a game in patches. On the plus side, it is giving good game time to the replacements which will only improve the squad strength.

Re: 21 man Squads - Devils v Leopards : Mon Apr 01, 2024 11:32 pm  

Seeing missed tackles, weak first contact in tackles, allowing so many offloads, seeing the forwards make minimal yards, are all hard to watch right now. My rants during the Salford game are what happens when I watch games like that alone at home !
But
Reality is that we had 4 out of our starting 6 pack members in the stands. That situation alone sets the challenges for our go forward and in defence. Add to that Ricky missing, and we have what happened against Salford. I still think we have the best halfback pairing in SL, but right now they are playing behind a struggling pack. Imagine our 1st choice pack with Ipape and Dwyer at 9 all game. With a bit of luck, that will be the second half of the season, and see us push into the top 6 and be a real danger in the playoffs.
The Challenge cup will be a miracle with a trip away to KR before any of that happens, but that won’t stop me believing it could happen. I am firmly with Bongser on the amount of beverage in my glass.
It could be a long April, but come May onwards, we will be the team other worry about.

Re: 21 man Squads - Devils v Leopards : Tue Apr 02, 2024 8:46 am  

ColD wrote:

Right Centre not a world beater but more than happy with hardaker

He's come up with some massive plays for us last season, in the cup semi and final in particular. But I think there are a number of weaknesses in his game at centre. He struggles to protect his winger when they're trying to claim kicks, and for someone so comfortable under a high ball at full back, he struggles against cross field kicks to his channel. He doesn't get many assists, and the break early in the second half at Salford gave an idea why, failed completely to commit any defenders before giving the ball to Hanley, who was then bundled into touch. It was poor centre play.

The first choice back line (before Hanley came in) are all over 30 and out of contract this year, so likely to need to replace at least a couple of them anyway. At the very least, I'd consider having Leutele and Hardaker swapping sides. Moylan is much more likely to look for the centre than Lam, who tends to go to O'Donnell or O'Brien.

Biggest worry for me though is the discipline of the defensive line. Even when nobody shoots out of the line, teams are finding it easy to create overlaps or gaps. If that, and the missed tackles isn't tightened up then Thursday will be a long long night.

Re: 21 man Squads - Devils v Leopards : Tue Apr 02, 2024 7:53 pm  

WYSIWYG2 wrote:

I'm going for Salford 16 Leigh 36

Just seen your cup prediction… not very good at are you

Re: 21 man Squads - Devils v Leopards : Tue Apr 02, 2024 8:10 pm  

redmuzza wrote:

Just seen your cup prediction… not very good at are you

What cup prediction was that muzzle face?

Re: 21 man Squads - Devils v Leopards : Tue Apr 02, 2024 8:30 pm  

LeythIg wrote:

I was worried when Lam suggested that we'd played well against Fev. If he suggests the same this time, we are in bother.

30+ missed tackles. A knock on from a kick off, knock on from a drop out, players leaving holes in the defensive line and countless offloads allowed. It really was poor.

Yet we still scored 4 tries. If we can sort the defence out, and find a right centre and back rower that can protect Moylan defensively, we can get some results. But if we keep losing until Asiata, Ipape and Amone are back, it will be a tough rot to stop.

The right edge is something of a concern , for my knockings of Reynolds , his defensive was top drawer when it mattered .
Wouldn’t change Moylan for a gold pig but he needs to either smarten up or get extra protection because one on one he is average at best

Re: 21 man Squads - Devils v Leopards : Tue Apr 02, 2024 8:49 pm  

If this had been our first season back in Super League then the results would be going as I would have expected and I'd have been more than thankful that (currently) London, Cas and Hull are putting on worse performances than us.

But after last season, we expect. With a squad better than last season, we expect.

The "W's" aren't there but we aren't far behind any team we've lost to (and should have really beaten Giants and Leeds), I actually don't think any team is that great (well, maybe Wigan when they haven't got to play Kendall and Saints) but I agree that we can/should write-off this month and hopefully, as an inverse to last season, the squad gets stronger, the injuries tail-off and the performance level goes stratospheric.

This is about as optimistic as I've ever been as both a Leigh fan and a Leigh fan with the team in a bit of a slump..

Re: 21 man Squads - Devils v Leopards : Tue Apr 02, 2024 9:18 pm  

From a positive pov, our fringe players are being given some SL experience with a chance to see what they can do. Also, If they are needed again later on in the season, that can only be a good thing. We have been very unlucky so far this season with injuries disrupting our plans, however, I do believe there are better times ahead.