He's not going to stay on the wing long-term. The question is does he look to be a better bet on the wing than Lee Smith - at least for this year.

I think Smith is a very talented player, but given the increasing propensity of teams like Wigan and Wire to score so many of their points by kicking high to the corners and have their giant, specifically trained, wingers leap up to catch and score, the days of having 5'10'' wingers like Lee Smith defend such ploys could be numbered. On those terms, Jones-Bishop is a better bet. It doesn't harm that he's also quite a bit faster than Smith.

There's obviously a wider point there as to whether except for 1,6,7 and 9 every Rugby League player is becoming more and more physically similar and interchangable, but Smith's most viable positions are currently probably fullback or halfback.

Having said that: even if he isn't in our first-choice 3/4 line he'd still get 15 games a season such are the inevitability of injuries in the modern game.

I've not been on here since last season - and i know none of you will be glad to see me back.

I'd just like to say though, although we played better for alot of the game, you showed that you still have that quality throughout the squad which shone through in the last 20 minutes. You lot will still be contenders this year imo.

Your supporters were superb today too - really got behind your lads in the last 20. It's clear there are plenty of Leeds supporters who are a credit to your club as I had a couple of people saying how we didn't deserve to lose and also how we could be back up there this season.

Cracking match - lets hope for 2 more later in the year.

I would have to dissagree with a few comments.

Personally I thought Pitts was very good, and certainly looked the pick of the backrowers.

I also thought our props, despite not been outstanding, did their jobs very well and probably followed to the letter what was instructed of them.

Kirke was a waste of a player, I would agree with that one, but I wouldn't put him in the prop category anyway.

Our major weakness was the centre positions, which were both very poor defensively. Watkins coming on changed it a lot, and I am in agreement with the majority that the partnership with BJB looked extremely promising. We also looked weak at halback in the first half, which hopefully was just a first game scenario because it did improve a lot second half.

I'll have a go:

He was poor. Calling a spade a spade. He settled down in the 2nd half. But his first stint he couldn't cope with the speed. He struggled in defence, to get back etc.

But hopefully he will settle down sooner rather than later and offer a no frills approach, I eman that in a good way.

Biff was easily our best prop yesterday.

Got to say Gotcha i thought Pitts was pretty quiet and was at fault for Diskos try when he turned his back on the ptb.
I like him and think he'll add to our squad the more he plays and would have him in ahead of Kirke but i just don't think he was at his best (along with others) yesterday.
Fair call re-Props i thought Biffa did well and looked sharper especially in defence grapple aside.

Pitts was naive there. I think we was avoiding contact with Disco, so he didn't give a penalty away. But that would have been the better thing to do!

He also was naive when Senior tackled high on one of the Bradford players, Senior got on with it but Pitts looked back at the ref to see if he would call it, luckily he didn't blow. Other than that I liked the look of him.

For the second rowers I thought Ali and JJB carried alot of tempo. I thought it was good coaching leaving it for the later part of the half when they were brought back on. Brian could have panicked and brought them on too soon and wasted playing the card. That is worth noting, he bided his time and it paid off, just.

Why oh why oh why would anyone pick Delaney over the classy Watkins. Delaney is a Donkey. Like someone just posted, play Delaney in the second row. He is good in defence and his lack of attacking flair wouldn't be a problem there. As the old saying goes "if he's good enough, then he's old enough", so stop baby-sitting Watkins and play him the full 80 mins.

I have to dissagree with that Pitts assessment. He was the only man at the marker area and it was a quick play the ball. What was clear was that Senior did not fill in, and realized it afterwards, and I can't remember who it was infront of the on the ingoal who did not move forward. All which resulted in a massive gap for Diskin to dive into. Infact Pitts was the only one to tackle him.

I'm not saying Pitts should not take some blame for it, but not alone. The rest of his game besides that though for me looked very good. I would be interested in the stats, because maybe I was wrong, but I thought he defended very well.

Brett Delaney is a good signing.

He's a solid, no nonsense type centre who will be absolutely ideal in the second row.

Kirke I think. Stood and watched.

Fair points re-ptb area i just thought it was naive to turn his back on the play and Ali was the stand out BR imo.

Cross shouldn't have started. I said that before the match too.

First sign of weakness from McD for me was the way he set us up. I totally agreed with his choice of 17, but that bench was dire!! I'd have started Burgess & Kirke and had Cross & Ali on the bench.

The problem is, we had no "game changers" on the bench. Kirke, Burgess, Pitts & Watkins. All fine players, even good players. But if the game slips away from you in the first 20 mins (as it did!!!) you're banking on a few of the big guns coming on to stop the rot, had Cross & Ali started on the bench, I think things could've gone differently.

He had our strongest (available) 13 as the 13 that started the match. Which is all well and good if you get off to a flyer, but as a tactic for the opening game of the season, against practically unknown opponents, I think he should've kept something in reserve.

Showed more go forward than he did with ball in hand then, when he usually ended up driven backwards. Still a waste of a jersey.

The main problem in the first 65 minutes was a lack of composure and at times, simple indiscipline. This was a collective problem for the team, so no point in blaming individuals yet.

The big question for me is - have Leeds really changed at all from last season? Apart from flinging the ball around with little conception of when to do it they were very similar. Defence and discipline still needs much work.

Of course we don't want to be in our top form quite yet, but the silly mistakes and low percentage plays just made it too easy for Bradford. Also, certain players still need to learn to stop talking to the referee - Senior for example. The first try was well worked but after that Leeds were reminiscent of 2006 - trying to score off every play instead of building some pressure first. The end result was obviously pleasing and shows that Leeds still have the steel to come back, but this is not something we want to be making a habit of. To be quite frank we were lucky to come away with the win. It is nice to see the team throw the ball around but this is RL, not basketball.

On the positive side I was impressed with several individual performances. As has been mentioned, Webb and Lauitiiti looked a lot sharper. I think starting with Lauitiiti might be a good way of getting more out of him, although he still needs careful spelling later in the game. Burgess and Pitts looked better for another pre-season, although both still have a lot of work to do. It was good to see Burrow get more involved and his passing seems to have improved too. I don't think we missed Diskin, but it would have been nice to have McGuire out there to call some of the attacking plays. Still not convinced with Sinfield at stand-off, but it looks like this will be a permanent role until McGuire returns.

BJB and Watkins looked very good together and have convinced me that Delaney should be used elsewhere (I still maintain that he did OK for us at centre last year, considering there wasn't much alternative). Dunno why Smith didn't appear in the squad but as far as I'm concerned he's now below BJB in the pecking order. Smith would, however, make a good utility player from the bench if there is space for him there.

As a final note, Phil Clarke's comments re: the Raynor incident were interesting. Shouldn't he have deserved an injury for the deliberate foul?

No, because Raynor didn't commit a deliberate foul. It was a "perfectly legitimate tackle". Weren't you watching???

Got to agree with you on both counts BB

I can hear the surprise in your voice Juan!

There seems to be a lot of comments about Leeds defensive frailties, presumably based on conceding five tries yesterday.

The first three tries came from Brent Webb f*ck ups - caught in the defensive line twice late in the tackle count (something he made a habit of doing last year as well, with the size of the in goals at Cardiff it's a no brainer that you can't be caught in that position) and one poorly executed long pass.

The Diskin try sits on Jay Pitts's shoulders IMO (despite what those with agendas against Senior and Kirke would have you believe). You do not turn your back on the play when you're retreating into the defensive line. If he stays face on to the play then he can at least get himself in Diskin's way and maybe concede the penalty.

So three tries from kicks, two from individual errors (the Ah Van and Diskin tries). No tries conceded from being split open by the opposition moving the ball around, despite having to do a fair bit of defending on our own line.

Agreed. Not to mention 2 of the 3 "team's fault" tries were scored against 12 men.

To be fair, I was watching it and thinking at the time that they couldn't find a way through. As stupid as this sounds (conceding 5 tries) we looked pretty solid for the most part. They were camped on our line and didn't find any gaps too easily.

Got to confess I had to take a deep breath first and still had to cough a bit.



Biffa had the best metre per carry for the props at 8m (Kylie 6.9m, Cross 6.5m & Kirke 4.5m) and he took the ball up with some good aggression.

With regard to Cross his go forward was a bit disappointing but he did put in 31 tackles.

Ali had the best back row stats with 9.5m per carry and 19 tackles with Pitts probably the worst with 4.5m and 12 tackles.

Although I do not rate Delaney as a centre it has to be said he put in a good effort in the 2nd row. I guess most of his 37 tackles and yardage were made in the pack.

As a general reflection on the match Leeds not only won the game but made more metres, carries, offloads, tackle busts and clean breaks than Bradford. While Bradford made more tackles (+46), missed tackles. On these stats you would say we were easy winners.

However despite the above stats, Bradford almost won the game because they were well ahead in the crusial attacking kicks, kicks in general play and runs from dummy half. This game highlighted for Leeds a weakness in both marker defence and a woeful defence against attacking kicks (high and grubber)

It baffles me why the experienced Senior, who is a big unit, seems all at sea when a bomb goes anywhere near him. He always seems to position himself so the ball goes over his head. So not only does he then have no chance of catching it but then is in the wrong place to defend his line. His positional play in normal defence is also a worry as he often does not slide out leaving his outside men exposed or he comes out of the line totally and leaves a hole.

Considering our key man Sinfield was below his normal par (he was closely marked) and we were missing key men, plus up against a resurgent Bradford it
was not a bad effort over the whole 80 minutes.

I've never papered a fish before!

So you prefer on a plate than out of paper?

I know it's probably not that in depth an assessment, but truthfully we won against a team that probably targetted this fixture big style. First games of the season are seldom the scene for the best rugby you will see all year (in previous years not helped by record penalty counts as the refs try out some new interpretation of the PTB laws). Some of the guys looked sharp, some need to get into their stride yet. It's a bonus if guys look sharp and not too unusual if some don't at this time.
Watkins and BJB are a breath of fresh air, and it will be great to see Clarkson back soon as well. They are going to be a joy to watch this year.

Half the time Bradford were confused with what positions they were playing. On occasions forming scrums with about four forwards and no scrum half.

I think we caught them at just the right time.

Leeds continually invited Bradford into the game with penalties and passes mis-directed into player's backs or with big red crosses on.

Thank gawd it was only a first hit out. Next up Hull who somehow managed to run out of gas in the first twenty after looking totally in charge.