Gotcha - how many friendlies do most teams play? The fact that Leeds look under cooked is training issue - i.e. too much strength and conditioning not enough ball skills and moves. It could also be the coach hasn't got a clue what he is doing!!

Matches very good for the ball skills and moves.



Wigan had quite a few friendlies last preseason, mixing a lot of their youngsters with established players. Gave Wane the confidence in the players when needed.



Not suggesting a friendly every week like. But same time a wasted game 8 weeks before season starts, then a game against Hunslet and a testimonial at the time they should be played just doesn't seem to do it. I would like to see a mixed fringe and high potential youngsters play a Sheffield, Hailifax or Featherstone team, to give them a test before season starts. Like I said championship one doesn't star until two weeks after super league, so dual reg becomes an issue for fringe players.

24 days to go.



Fantastic.

Sheffield, Fax and Fev might well be miles off fitness-wise given their later start. Any stand out performances by our fringe players would be almost meaningless in that context.

What later start? I think you might have got confused.



Championship clubs start same as Super League, Championship one starts two weeks later. Which was why I questioned whether a need for fixutres, due to the fact that dual reg becomes an issue for those early weeks.

Strength is four one hour sessions a week. You consider that too much?



Are you sure you're not really just seeing the changes in passing and catching you would expect to see as the weather gets warmer and dryer?

Since we're in the unfamiliar position of having no WCC to prepare for, perhaps being "fully cooked" in pre-season isn't the aim?



Also, we've played Salford while on training camp in the uS before, might do the same in Dubai? To be honest I always find it a bit odd that most clubs seem to think that a week in scorching sun and glorious weather is the best way to prepare for a season that starts in February on the M62 corridor. A bit of altitude training, on the other hand, could do wonders.



I'm just keyboard warrior-ing though, I remain confident that the conditioning team know what they're doing.

Do the conditioning team decide our preason fixtures and where we go?

It isn't wasted. It'll get a few thousand paying punters through the door on a day when the stadium would otherwise not be generating income. Several hundred of said paying punters will also have their Christmas cash from nan burning a hole in their pocket as they wander past the club shop.



For the punters, it's a trip out into the fresh air to recover from a hangover and watch a game which teaches us nothing about form or prospects, but is often quite entertaining if you watch it as an isloated event.



A few players who are still a bit cob-webby having not played for a while also get to blow a bit of dust off around the time the internationals come back into the fold, having played competitively much more recently. But that's a fringe benefit.

I don't imagine they care where we go, but while I am not party to the decision-making, they may well a) have an input; and b) be using the dates to plan the programs for players, and thus probably do have an input to team selection that they wouldn't have during the season.



All conjecture.



Do you have any substantive information to the contrary that isn't conjecture?

The boxing day fixture has lost all interest from me having fooled me into thinking Joe Vickery was a competent rugby league player last year.



That Vickery shone in pre season should be factored into the reckoning when discussing the value of friendlies to assess a player's abilities.

The "Warm Weather" training the team goes on is more about team-building and camaraderie than actual training. More of a jolly so to speak.