Another tough test to come at Headlingley with short turn around, as although Leeds were poor against Warrington I can't see them being as bad for their home opener and we will no doubt face a side that wants redress their last performance.

Hopefully we will have Sao and Savelio back and also include Brown in the 17 and not run with both Lovodua & Houghton on the bench again if Dwyer starts (which he should).

We've got to go with a big bench against Leeds because they are so soft up the guts. The ease Warrington got a roll on against them was crazy and on the other side of the ball, Leeds couldn't make any yardage in exit sets.

Same starting 13 but with a bench of Sao, Evans, Brown & Joey for me, can't see Dre playing this week either.

Can't argue with that as Leeds look like they may well be bullied out of a lot of games as like you say they look very soft in the middle. Though I would think that Rohan Smith will have been addressing that in someway this week leading up to Friday.

That's also the bench I'd go for if Savelio doesn't make it.

There's been a lot of talk at Leeds about Rohan Smith doing things differently and revolutionising the game. Short kick offs, new defensive structures, trick plays, training ground moves. When I watched Leeds last week I couldn't help but think that they have simply forgotten that you can't do any of that stuff if you are getting bullied down the middle. Big pack, Dwyer and Lovodua testing them behind the ruck, I think we can dominate them.

The saying 'Forwards decide the winner and backs decide by how many' will always be true. On trick plays, I loved our perfectly executed short dropout yesterday.

Is Mitch fit?

If so i would bring him in for Mcintosh with Ligi,Savelio, Brown and Lovodua (interchange hooker) on the bench.

Hoy
Mitch
Scott
Sutcliffe
Swift
Mcnamara
Clifford
Satae
Dwyer
Taylor
Lane
Griffin
Fash

Sao
Brown
Savelio
Lovodua

Mitch has a sprained ankle and they can take 5/6 weeks to heal so cant see him being available yet.
McIntosh is another average signing by Brett Hodgson and we need better.I agree Mitch is a far better defender and has more pace than McIntosh.
Hopefully Ligi Sao back with Brown should give us a better balanced bench.
Second row for me is still a concern.Lane had potential but seems to be stagnating and not pushing on.

Better defender, quicker, stronger in collision. When he's fit it's a no brainer for me. I just don't think McIntosh is good enough at this level.

With regards to Lane I tend to agree as after a really strong showing previously he has been quite abject in terms of his performances and like you say really needs to push on..

I would agree with this but I still expect Houghton to feature.

He has to hit the ground running this season imo , needs a big year but I would have Mitch in front of him also .

Spot on mcintosh makes too many errors and his defensive positioning is terrible

Mitch far and away better

Pressure is on leeds after getting tonked at wire I'm confident we can beat Leeds just hope Austin doesn't have his wonder game against us