Lucky/unlucky

Leeds had 60 more plays than Wire, we made a 1/4 more meters than Wire, Wire conceded double the penalties.

With that position and possesion I thought we were unlucky to not get the win. We made some nice brakes but just didn't get the job done, looking a bit rusty.

Wires obstruction try was pretty fortunate. It didn't even go up stairs. Wires defensive line wasn't great but the scramble was outstanding which got you out of jail a few times.

Credit to Wire for holding it together. Great determination, great toughness to hold on. Great individual brilliance for the try.

A brave win.

9 times out of 10 stats like that would see a reversed result.

That's why I thought Leeds were unlucky.

Feel free to rebuff every sentence. It is your year!

I believe we should have won. And that's to take nothing away from Warrington who showed great heart and desire in defence to repel us time after time. I wouldn't term it unlucky though either, we had enough chances to win the game and didn't, for that we only have ourselves to blame.We will play a lot, lot worse than that this year and collect the 2 points. Like you say, it was a good close game, close enough to maybe say that had that kick gone over at the end the draw was a fair result and both sides would have been happy. Lets hope that is a sign of things to come for games between the top teams as i thought it was a great game considering it was the first of the year.

We were unlucky as far as the amount of possession and field position we had, we SHOULD have won the game. What is missed in that is that we were very lucky that you were indisciplined and kept continually turning over the ball, which was the very reason for all our field position. We weren't unlucky to lose, as you make your own luck, and our attacking threat was poor which is the bottom line.

Reminiscent of a couple of seasons ago....when it was actually better for us not to get too close to the opposition line for the best chance of scoring tries. Hopefully things will change....and again Lilley looks like our best option there, especially in Danny's enforced absence.

I've just watched the second half again. I'm still not sure how Wire managed to win.

I thought despite no McGuire and the rust I thought we played some nice stuff.

Early season it's always easier to defend than get our timing on attack right. Tough for both teams to post points, in the end goalkicking could have won it for us. Warrington scrambled well and our attack was disjointed, not helped at all by losing McGuire so early.
Not an easy opening fixture but given our often woeful early form prior to a WCC I'd rather we lost to a potential title contender (which Warrington may be this year) than what would be generally a banker 2 points later in the season. 2 points off Widnes would be nice though.

Time for Lilley and Sutcliffe to take their chance. I reckon by mid season we'll be looking at those two and thinking all is well with the halves for the next 10 years.

Defence is just as important in a game as attack. Despite our mistakes, we defended well and scored when we had the opportunity, which gave us the win. If Leeds had scraped a win I could argue that, considering they struggled to score, they were lucky Warrington coughed up so much ball which they wouldn't do 9 times out of 10. Call it luck if you want but I don't buy it.

Agree with that. I've been hugely impressed every time I've seen Lilley. Was it Catalans away when we got hammered that he made his debut? And in a well beaten team, playing out of position at hooker, I was massively impressed, just as i was with him in the NZ game.
As you say I think we'll soon be thinking all is well at half back, maybe not by mid-season, maybe not even next season. But if we have patience I'm pretty sure these 2 will come good.
The big question for me is what to do with Golding?

.....and Handley!!

You're assuming the present squad will remain intact by the time Golding's patience has run out. Maybe things will not work out and we will lose some talent the next year or so, but anything could/might happen between then and now. Contracts, who is valued the most and (god forbid) injuries could yet play a part.

Maybe Golding could become the new 'Burrow game changer' off the bench ....albeit not at dummy half, but at half back (Lilley moving into the DH position or Sutcliffe moving to LF)

...and as for Handley.....I don't know how long Moon will want to stay here (hopefully he does), but maybe Handley will take his place in the threequarters

What surprised me is that he didn't even try to change direction or use footwork to try and get past Currie - either with a big left foot step back inside him or by taking a couple of paces straight to hold him then going off the right foot towards the corner again. He just seemed to accept that he was going to get caught and cover up to take the tackle.

Which game was it last season where he blew an open run to the line by just stopping and taking the tackle (Hudds away?).

Yeah that's right....forgot about that. Again Burrow can be forgiven much for all he has contributed over the years and he [uIS[/u generally a fearless, plucky individual, but again I thought this just pulling up was hard to forgive when so critical for the win (he 'chickened out' although there are a few on here that would still desperately attempt excuses for it).
Even if he had not made the line (and I think he would have) he could not have been criticised for going for it......and on the next play out wide a try probably would have been scored (Hall)

Maybe he is worried about some sort of injury/potential injury that has not previously bothered him.?

Holy Moley I forgot about Handley. Again another who looks too good to lose. Unfortunately for him Hall, Briscoe, Watkins and Moon are nowhere near past their sell by date. And Moon proved again on Thursday how good a player he is.
Hmmm not at all sure what to do with Handley.

As for Golding, you'd think the half backs will be Sutcliffe and Lilley. Unless Hardaker leaves I can't really see a role for Golding other than like you say as a half off the bench with Lilley moving to hooker.

Thanks for that.

Maybe we can all enjoy the game a bit more now you have brought us up to speed.

Any other pearls you wish to share?

I reckon it could be your year this year

No really it could

from memory he slipped and fell over last year at hudds. He has probably lost half a yard over the years as well. Think he was hoping to come back inside currie. As GH would say enjoy whilst still here,. We will miss him when he goes.

I see the talent in Lilley and Golding although I still have slight reservations with regards to Golding. Handley, however, I have not seen anything from him to suggest he would make it at a top SL club. He has had a couple of good matches against Saints but he doesn't appear overly fast, he isn't great under the kick and he never looks like he'll break a tackle. I might be being harsh as he is only young and he may grow into a really good player but from what i've seen so far I have not been overly impressed. He just appears steady away at the moment.

No problem, you obviously forgot that bit.

Can anyone else smell a red herring?

It's obvious to everyone your one of those posters!

I've seen plenty of accounts like yours.

The point was how patronising are you (which isn't a red herring) posting stuff like

"Defence is just as important in a game as a attack"

No $hit Sherlock!

Rebuff! Rebuff! Straw man! False opposition!

Sure

I'll just agree with everything you say next time and save myself the abuse.

It's always best to sleep on it!

I really think you are being very harsh to be honest mate. Handley is way ahead of where anybody could have expected him to be right now.He has all the core skills needed imo, and the fact he played almost half a season at 18 scoring plenty of tries (13 in 21 games for Leeds 2015) and generally holding his own and not looking out of place against seasoned pro's bodes really well for the future. By comparison Ryan Hall was 19 almost 20 when he was just breaking into the Leeds side sporadically and was not the monster winger he is these days. Handley at 1 inch taller has the frame to also fill out and become an excellent three quarter in the next few years.If he keeps getting the game time at Fev and the odd game for us he is on the right track. Same goes for Golding and even Lilley ( who is getting his chance now but is no way fully developed) these lads need patience if we are to see them hit their full potential but that is a few years away.

....have you been watching the same player? He scored some cracking tries last season and apart from a little hiccup against H'field I think, he never looked out of his depth. In fairness too after his 'hiccup' he bounced right back next match. He is faster than Hall and as equally fast as Briscoe - regardless speed aint everything these days for a quality winger. He is definitely fast enough for a SL threequarter, has elusive credentials, is strong (will get stronger) and I don't remember him ever been Joe Vickeryish in any way whatsoever. Now he was hopeless which everybody could see, apparently, long before our esteemed coaching staff did. I think the last straw for them was that bluddy awful crabbing across the defensive line before being embarrsingly pushed back over it (Hull??).

Yeah, me too. I reckon if Handley had been a couple of years older we'd not have signed Briscoe.

Going to have to take you up on that one.

There were a number of times he looked out of his depth last season - Cas at home when his backside fell out taking a straightforward high kick, Magic Weekend when he was like a rabbit in headlights and couldn't hold the ball in contact both stand out.

He did some good things, but let's not pretend there weren't times he looked to be in over his head as well.