I am full of optimism from tonight's performance. Is it the larger or is it merited?

Firstly, I reckon that display from that 17 will be enough to beat the Bull snext week.

I wonder how the result might differ with that display including our 9 missing players (most of which will be back for the business end of the season).

Negatives, and I don't want to harp on because overall it was mostly positive. I thought Buderus did nothing on a night when our senior players needed to stand up and I thought some of McGuire's possesses on the right were bad. I thought Kirke was his usual soft, e self and Burgess is so lazy and slow around the ruck it makes me weep. Was Clarkson playing?

Plenty of positives. Ambler actually looked very comfortable, especially in his 1st stint. How weird that Amor looks so out of his depth yet Ambler stood up. I thought Pitts looked good and Bush did everything asked of him.

We're OK (on that performance) and I still think we will be in the mix and I wouldn't bet against us picking up 4 in a row.

No, it is not the larger, it was great effort from our best possible 17 on the night. They never gave up.

Think you are being a little harsh on both Clarkson and McGuire. Clarkson gave Hall his try and also, all Wigan's tries were scored on Bush and Seniors wing, so while I agree he was a little quiet, he did a fine job. I think McGuire worked his socks off and was everywhere and while Rob had his best game for a while, I still though McGuire was the better of the two half's.

I also thought Bailey was huge tonight, owned Fielden who was quite frankly Wigan's worst player by a country mile. (Just watched the Ganson/Fielden chat... really funny, you must watch it back!).

Agree re Clarkson, thought he was pretty solid in defence, though saying Clarkson gave Hall his try is a little generous.

Thought Ambler stood up well and Pitts seems to be going pretty well this season. Also thought that Buderus should have controlled things a little more, very disappointing, really hoped he would stand up in this game and prove some doubters wrong.

Yes, sorry, poor explanation on my part. Clarkson did give Hall the flick pass off JJB's pass from acting half, from which he went on to score.

Flick pass? I'm not sure Clarkson knew too much about it.

I thought Clarkson looked ok given that he was playing out of position, Pitts and Ambler did well and Tom Bush was quite impressive.
Diskin and Buderus didn't impress imo.

Completely agree.



Thought Burgess was easily our most effective prop going forward, where Bailey was most effective defensively. One without the other would not have worked. Buderus was by far and away the better of the two hookers, think you need to leave that agenda alone as it clouds your judgement. Diskin was very ineffective, and a couple of times his tackling technique shockingly dangerous, even as a Leeds fan I hope he gets a ban. Thought McGuire was superb at times. Clarkson did his job, although Hall really struggled IMO on the right with the sliding defence. Agree on Kirke.



Agreed. Not as much going forward as defensively, where he was huge. Have to be honest and say I never thought this lad had it in him, but he looked much more comfortable at this level than Amor. Pitts and Bush were very good. Bush had a lot of work IMO because Senior did not front up enough, and been the so called captain.



Agreed.

Apart from the first one maybe?

Plenty of positives G i do think Clarkson and Burgess deserve more credit though especially for the youngster in defence and Burgess was effective going forward imo.
I don't think Kirke has been at all on form so far this year but last night he picked up a shoulder injury very early so maybe that had a bigger effect than we thought.
I agree re-Buderus to some extent in that you'd think with his experience he'd be one of the "leaders" last night which i don't think he did at all,saying that i thought his distribution looked sharper than Diskos at times.

Correct,Mcguire buys the dummy by Carmont.

I would defend Buderus slightly with his tackling effort, i thought he really put himself about in defence. There was one set where i counted him making at least 4 of the tackles, if not 5.

That was all

My stand-out youngster last night was Bush, he handles top flight football well, although I think he may be more suited as a stand-off or even scrum half than a winger.

Danny Mags seemed to disappear after he took a knock and never really got back into the game.

Bailey was massive both running the ball in and defensively, Amor looked out of place, as did Clarkson – Abler, on the other hand coped well.

We still lacked imagination at times but overall not a terrible performance.

To add to my previous post, I thought Burrow played well and led from the front last night. Tried his socks off, defended well and I thought kicked well for the most part.

I thought Buderus passed sharper than Diskin but I was disappointed he didn't take the line on more.I agree with the rest especially about Burgess.That first penalty he gave on the six tackle was criminal.

I agree much better from Burrow.

In adversity some will always stand up - and the young players they stood up - this gives the squad some real depth. It gives McClennan some options; hopefully he will use them.

It also put pressure on the senior players to perform because the coach has alternatives - the likes of Diskin, Kylie, JJB, Senior etc need to justify their selection through performance.

A lot more positives than negatives last night IMO

Neither Hooker had a particularly good game but to criticize Buderus and not Diskin is a bit unfair IMO.
On a related theme we were back to the usual interchange times for the Hookers last night. Which appears to send out a message to McShane that the coach has no faith in him.

Which is a shame because I thought McShane showed promise and easily outplayed Diskin in the very short spell he was given against Hull KR.

Diskin has been poor imo for several weeks and even though I'm a Buderus fan I admit that even he has not delivered as I had hoped he would the last few weeks,especially on attack.That said I think Buderus has been much better than Diskin latley (not saying much I know)

Its a shame for McShane that he missed out last night given his performance against Hull KR but with loads of experienced leaders out last night there was no way that Bluey was ever/could ever leave out another experiened player to keep McShane in the 17.

On recent form alone though and if we had some/most of the missing players back i'd like to see McShane given more game time at the expense of one of Diskin or Buderus.

Unless the club are planning on buying in another 'top' hooker long term for when Buderus goes home at the end of the year or when Diskin hangs up his boots in a few years time then McShane is our future at hooker and I just hope he is the sort of lad who understands his time will come at Leeds and bide his time as opposed to becoming frustrated and looking to move elsewhere as if the latter were to happen I think it would be a massive error.

I think Buderus is coming in for a lot of unfair criticism at the moment. He is only 6 games back from a broken leg. I appreciate this could be his last season and he doesn't have age on his side but he should be given time to regain his form. Diskin took over a season after his injury to get back to anything like the player he was before the knee reconstruction.While Buderus' injury may not be as serious, he doesn't have that kind of time to regain his form but to criticize after only a handfull of games is unfair. Some of those giving the flak were singing his praises before the injury.
Regarding McShane. I have been impressed with the few games i have seen him play and last week was a perfect opportunity to give him a chance to shine.BM decision to only play him for 10 mins or so was a strange one.

Agree regarding the stick Buderus gets from lots on here who seem to wish that we'd never signed him and the whole 2 hooker debate which seems it will never go away.

He's one of my favourite players,just a shame that his short stay has been blighted through injuries.

As I said even though he has not been 'ripping it up' recently I still think he has offered more than Diskin in recent weeks.

I think if he can remain injury free the rest of the season and as the 17 on the paddock gets stronger we will get to see the best of him once more and lets hope he can see out his short Leeds career on a high and win over some of his doubters.

I also think/hope that Diskin will return to form.

Good points MR but the thing is before his injury he only performed at the top of his game 2/3 times.
When you spend money on a quality overseas player it's fair to expect the level of quality he's reputed for is it not?
Many fans have said he wasn't needed and up to now they are proven to correct imo.
I was chuffed when we signed him but i hope he and the team improve their gelling of one another otherwise it's gonna be remembered as a failed move by many.

He's out of form, but certainly offered more in both attack and defence than Diskin last night, IMO of course.

I disagree that he only performed at the top of his game a couple of times. He arrived with the bicep injury and it took him a few games to regain his form but he was one of, if not our best player until he broke his leg.

On the positive side our attitude was good last night and the youngsters did not let us down. So all credit to them. In the first half our defence was sound and we were in with a great chance at half time despite the missing players.

On the negative side some of the experienced players didn't step up enough. I thought Senior was not active enough and JJB's handling was not good enough. However my main concern is our lack of attacking ideas and once again our terrible kicking game which allowed Wigan easy yards with most of their attacks starting on the half way line.

When our missing players return we will be a force to be reckoned with once again. However there are warning signs and IMO our team is stronger on paper than on the field.

Firstly when Sinfield does not play our half back's shortcomings are exposed. What is obvious is that both our half backs have lost that blistering pace that was their main attacking weapon and both lack a kicking or controlling game. Loss of pace happens to all players as they grow older so some adapt and acquire new skills while other just fade away. The jury is out on which way our two will go. It must be said that McGuire has been one of our better players so far this year and has shown much greater involvement. Burrow had possibly his best game last night but has not really recovered from his injuries from a year ago. Neither has Web who is a shadow of his former self.

Buderus while showing us his class is not an impact player and so far we have not had value for money. I am not too worried about other players who are out of form as that will return.

Therefore the search should be on now for a new half back who has a good kicking game and has the ability to take control of a game. Not an easy task!

I don't disagree that Buderus looked better than Diskin. That is it though isn't it? Those are the only comments we can make about his performance.

My expectations for a player with his reputation, on his salary and taking up a quota spot are much, much higher and he simply is not living up to them.