If it was up to me the team for Doncaster would be:
Shaw UlugiaUaisele* Purtell Baile Williams Addy Mullaney Fleming Halafihi Clough Walshaw Mellor Walker
Petersen Ferguson Tahraoui Lauaki
Gaskell, O'Brien, Sidlow, Pitts and Henry should be rested. IMO Gaskell, Sidlow and Pitts had mixed games against Hull KR, whereas O'Brien was good and Henry was pants.
Edit: Uaisele not Ulugia as he is injured.
Last edited by hindle xiii on Wed Apr 22, 2015 3:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
If it was up to me the team for Doncaster would be:
Shaw Ulugia Purtell Baile Williams Addy Mullaney Fleming Halafihi Clough Walshaw Mellor Walker
Petersen Ferguson Tahraoui Lauaki
Gaskell, O'Brien, Sidlow, Pitts and Henry should be rested. IMO Gaskell, Sidlow and Pitts had mixed games against Hull KR, whereas O'Brien was good and Henry was pants.
Agreed. Would give Clough a rest too as i don't think he has had a break yet.
Getting a few bodies back now, Blythe, Petersen, Davies etc
Donny are bottom of the league, a few of our players looked a bit battered and weary last week, so a week off for Gaskell, O'brien, Sidlow etc will do us good.
I don't trust Donny......They beat the mighty Leigh last year. They've probably been pretending all season just to lure us into their lair then pounce on us. They can't logically have gone from top 4 Super League standard to nowhere in less than a year. We need strongest possible team to just limit the damage they could do.
I'm not sure whether to view it as foregone conclusion and ripe for resting some players. Or given our points difference is gradually falling behind Leigh, a chance to claw some back.
Perhaps both views is a bit disrespectful. They have travelled quite badly but barring the odd blip not totally off the pace at home.
I'm pretty sure Doncaster have added to their squad over the last couple of weeks, including taking a half on loan from Leigh (who their fans rated), so they might put up a bit more of a fight than they were doing earlier in the season. I'd expect Purtell and Mullaney to be back. I don't think we'll rest Gaskell, but wouldn't be surprised to see some prop rotation and maybe switch up the second row a little.
I'm pretty sure Doncaster have added to their squad over the last couple of weeks, including taking a half on loan from Leigh (who their fans rated), so they might put up a bit more of a fight than they were doing earlier in the season.
Ben Reynolds is the half from Leigh. They also signed Peter Fox and Matt Groat.
I'd prefer we put out the strongest squad we had and told them to go to town on Doncaster to try and beef up our points difference.
Telling players to, "beef up the scoring difference", is asking for trouble. Not only is it disrespectful, it also gives players the idea that they don't need to work for the win, when the truth is that points only come on the back of solid graft. By all means tell them not to back off, if and when in in front but I suspect Donny, like a few more, are going to see this as their cup final.
Bulls’ 19-man squad: Adam Henry, Adam O’Brien, Adam Sidlow, Alex Mellor, Chev Walker, Dale Ferguson, Dan Fleming, Danny Addy, Etu Uaisele, Jake Mullaney, Jay Pitts, Jean-Philippe Baile, Lee Gaskell, Lucas Walshaw, Paul Clough, Ryan Shaw, Steve Crossley, Tom Olbison, Vila Halafihi.
So,
FB: Mullaney W: Uaisele C: Baile C: Henry W: Shaw SO: Gaskell SH: Addy P: Clough H: O'Brien P: Sidlow SR: Ferguson SR: Olbison LF: Pitts
With Walshaw, Mellor, Fleming and Crossley on the bench
I expect Halafihi to be on the bench and to do decent minutes to give O'Brien a bit of a rest. Personally if it was me, I'd be resting O'Brien for this one.
Also Mullaney at 7 and Addy at Loose Forward please...