Depends how long Walker is out for. We have played pretty well with Lolohea at 6, although we still need to sort out how we’re defending with him, the second row and Watkins together.
If Walker is still out, we could try Sutcliffe at 1 because he’s not doing much in the pack yet. Think he’s had one good game in 5 so far.
McLelland AND Newman gives us yet another right hand combination, and they’re both young lads. Get a Tupou running at them and they’ll struggle even if they get better positioned...
Watkins looked injured in that second half so he may miss out anyway.
Tupou’s comments after the game were interesting; plan was to get between Watkins and Briscoe. I think that’s at
least in part to expose Watkins laterally because he’s not fully mobile or confident on the knee yet (as well as getting caught in two minds with what his inside defender is up to).

Yes Handley has been alright, some nice finishing and plenty of enthusiasm. Again, not our biggest problem even if he’s not a “top” winger.

We were killed by their numbers 6,7 and 9, pace in their centres and on each wing, credit to them they played very well, and have recruited well.
To play our stand off at FB,it cut down our attacking options, Cam Smithis not a number 6 , should have left our stand off at number 6 and move sutcliffe to full back. So disappointed tonight it's like last season not much spark going forward and unable to defend well, our right hand side is poor in defence, KW needs time out to get fit, it's so obvious he is out of form but our coach keeps picking him. It's a shame but we ain't going to get better quickly, this is a long term job, after 4 games in I hope the confidence hasn't gone.
Good news , the view from the North stand is brilliant, great seats, plenty of room, brilliant, all we need is the team to get some form.
Keep the faith

Im 50/50 on Watkins, how’s he supposed to get match fot without playing but can we afford to carry him unril he gets match fit?

As hard as it is for some fans unfortunately we are rebuilding and it's going to take time and we will all need to be patient. We played well the previous 2 weeks and tonight was a big step backwards. That's a sign we aren't good enough but despite the disappointment tonight I do feel we're going in the right direction but ultimately the halves and forwards aren't good enough at this moment in time but we all knew that at the start of the year.

Lolohea isn't fit enough but it was nice seeing him in his best position tonight and he gave the final pass on all 4 tries. He's not a 6 unfortunately for me.

Think young Ash Handley is doing a nice job for us so far this year.

The pack, as most have said for weeks, is too small and leaderless really and was well beaten by a much bigger pack tonight.

Furner needs time and there will be some rocky nights to come but things will come good again. Leeds is too strong a club for it not to. Get these kids coming thru it's a priority.

Im 50/50 on Watkins, how’s he supposed to get match fot without playing but can we afford to carry him unril he gets match fit?

I dunno. When the going is tough, really the senior players should be there doing the digging. We have a fair few international-experienced players, they just need to play better, basically.

We are going to lose games while some players are finding fitness or form, or where we have young lads who aren’t physically able to match it with seasoned pros.

It’s a tough place to be at Leeds with expectations high and scrutiny intense, but on the other hand this is the third year out of four where we’re regularly getting beaten by clubs with much fewer resources than Leeds are blessed with.

A big step back after the promise shown at Saints,although Wakey are a good side. Our right side defence is a joke. Watkins did look injured, but he has looked well off the pace since his injury, that was probably his worst performance in a Leeds shirt. The whole unit of Smith, Sutcliffe and Watkins looked vulnerable but Watkins against Tupou was a mismatch.
Merrins discipline is very poor for such an experienced player. He seems to fall out with the referee every week and it seems he is turning into a penalty machine. A very poor start to his Leeds career for me,although I do think there is a quality player in there. Inferior replacement for Garbutt up to now.
Oledski ran strongly again and gives us our best go forward, he could be the real deal if he continues to develop.
Agree regarding Handley. He has been one of our better players so far.

I’m not quite as downbeat as some. It’s a poor performance overall but not as disastrous or lacking in positives as last season.

My biggest fear this season was that we would be killed in the forwards and I don’t think we are being. We made plenty of ground and weren’t run ragged by their forwards. I think the kicking from our halves has been terrible so far this year and tonight it really cost us. I’m struggling to think of one even semi decent kick put in despite some decent positions made by our forwards.

Obviously the defence, mostly on the right hand side, is an issue and for me is the main reason for the loss. Whatever Watkins did tonight he was getting it wrong. Staying back, pushing up, pushing out or dipping in, whenever he did it it was the wrong thing!
I don’t think Watkins is injured I just think he’s taking longer to recover than we’ve hoped from a nasty injury and he needs more game time. He’s been targeted and will continue to be but the only way to get out of that is to play games.

Get the online and right hand defence sorted and we’re a much bigger threat to teams.

Just goes to show, in the 19s yesterday when Holroyd and Mustapha were on, they changed the game. Really took the side forward and were tough in D too. Oledzski has been good most games this year; to be fair Cuthbo has been good too and I’m not always a fan of his at prop. Dwyer has impressed me. Merrin is solid but needs direct players around him to give him space to play.

Definitely some glimmers of progress and hope overall. It’s sport isn’t it? We had plenty of disappointing results even when we had a better side, it happens.

Would agree mostly.

Watkins took a knock in the second half (after most
of the scoring damage was already done) and was struggling to run for a while.

Sorting out the edge defence (I’m not sure how great Hurrell and Handley are in this regard either!) - is easier said than done. These are mostly seasoned professionals we’re talking about. Other sides just seem better at this than we are at present, hands down.

We do still look better than the second half of last year, but tonight was a massive fart in the perfume shop.

First, the best team won. I search for positives, but struggled tonight after been there and watching it back.

Defence poor, especially the right side. The discipline was as bad.

Smith isn’t a 6, will be a good 13

Peteru and Merrin would be better as our back rowers not props.
Sutcliffe and Ferres woeful.
Attitude needs to change quickly for all, including some “supporters”! I.E the twitter post re Kendal and calling for Furner to be sacked and GH to quit!!

Some on here may not have been following the team, in the 80’s / 90’s when we nearly went bust (before GH and PC saved us) but we are rebuilding, don’t rush them and with the 19’s coming through we will be fine in a few years.

I don't get the criticism of ferries tonight. In no way outstanding but a solid enough game. He's better probably our best second row so far this season. Is it just previous seasons reputation

Everyone knew we still needed at least 2 props & a monster BR.
Also it was always going to be an 18mths/2years rebuild when we didnt complete an all out cull.
Just a side note pete smith said Golding is fit & available but i think last nights selections show exactly where he is in the pecking order.

Stats from the game. https://www.rugby-league.com/superleagu ... port/95672 We really do need a leader in the front row. Only 31 carries between all of them. We have a squad of 3rd and 4th choice props which would be fine if we had 2 solid starting front rowers. Re Golding, if he was fit, then he should've played IMO.

Stats from the game. https://www.rugby-league.com/superleagu ... port/95672 We really do need a leader in the front row. Only 31 carries between all of them. We have a squad of 3rd and 4th choice props which would be fine if we had 2 solid starting front rowers. Re Golding, if he was fit, then he should've played IMO.

We appear to have taken a view on Golding in respect of quality, as I can't believe there's an issue with attitude from what we've seen previously.

One of my biggest concerns is Furner's willingness to play people out of position as a first resort. Little positive is likely to come from that long term. As others have said I'd rather give the young un's the game time.

I was up at 4am yesterday to come back from Germany. I went to bed before the end we were simply not worth watching.

The biggest issue is our defence. Defending is about 4 things: Attitude, Comminication, Fitness and Technique. We don’t look to have any of them sorted out, anywhere across the field. Until that gets resolved we will ship tries.

We still have a heap of players that are not good enough, we knew this before a ball was kicked this year, and some of them must be close to being dropped now even if it’s for kids. A message must be sent to them.

The injured players will take time to get match fit when they are available for selection, so won’t be a quick fix. It’s the current players that need to dig us out of this situation and they need to show a lot more attitude and commitment to do so.

Posting them all a copy of the letter from the RFL asking us to stop tackling so hard during the Murray era would be a good start.

We’re soft and passive in defence, that’s the thing that’s getting me most, I can accept kids making mistakes.

Watkins 7 missed tackles and Sutcliffe and Smith 4 each. When Lolohea gets back defending on that side we look even weaker. If the stats are correct Donaldson 23 tackles and 0 misses may help to shore that side up?

As I always say tho apart from saving the club, winning 8 titles, 3 x WCC, 3 x Challenge Cups, 3 x league leaders shields, rebuilding the club's finances, giving us a fantastic stadium, producing an amazing foundation which does an amazing job in the community what exactly has GH and Caddick done for us eh?

I can certainly remember the dark days of the 80s and 90s. We all need to be patient our time will come again.

I am not in disagreement on the need for front line prop addition. However that really wasn’t the reason for loss or performance. We had bigger issues, including that consistently appalling right edge defence. But also did people not notice how class the Wakey second rows performed, especially Ashurst, they were miles and miles ahead of our options. We have lots of backrowers yet we look incredibly weak.

Amidst all the deservedly doom and gloom we should give wakey some credit. Unlike our pie eating friends who strangle you to death, wakey play good quality rugby, drive the ball hard and fast with the forwards, then move it out quickly to the backs. Similar to cas a couple of seasons ago . Meanwhile over at hull fc they will have noted with great delight our porous goal line defence. Surely we can improve on last nights debacle, if not it’s going to be a long season.

It will. Some glaring defensive weaknesses and if they're not sorted, every opposition coach will exploit them again and again. Attacking improvement is pretty much irrelevant if we're shipping 5, 6, 7 tries every week. We have some truly feeble tacklers.

Im absolutly gutted about last night to be honest, think theres too much leeway being given, we'v got a new coach and a few new players ..so what, its nothing unusual, dosnt excuse the none existant defence last night.

We got embarresed on our big occasion, finally back home blah blah blah.

We'v got big problems imo.

Our big signings have got massive defficiencies in there games that are going to kill us, Hurrell, for all his eye catching work makes errors and coughs up possession at an alarming rate, loloheas defence at 6 is shocking, playing him at fullback means we leave out one of our best young talents. Merrin i think will be fine.

Our best two players watkins and ward...injureies injuries injureies for ward, watkins goin to need lots of time by looks of it.

Ferres and suttcliffe are the worst pair of second rows in the league, by a country mile, unfortunatly form dosnt seem to matter with furner, they keep getting starting spots and are constantly terrible, ferres didnt do a lot wrong last night but my god he does nothing inpactful either, absolute waste of time

Without sugar coating it, furners team selections so far have been rubbish, love the structure he's put into our attack but the one time he got forced into picking a team that most want to see, we win convincingly. You just know cam smith is going to suffer for his performance last night while the two second rows iv just mentioned keep plodding away, which is unfair on smith, he deserves a fair shot in the back row. Even playing out of position last night you could see how more dangerous he is than either of our starting second rows in running the ball.

Richie myler...very, very, very poor

Sorry for the negativity, just cant get over how bad that was last night. Lots of work to do. On the plus side, the clubs in unbeleivable shape everyhere else, brilliant stadium and unbelievable young talent throughout the academy and scholorship.

The South Stand looks impressive. However, as feared, the atmosphere is dead due to the design.

Every side we’ve played has come at us down our right channel, with success. It’s just an obvious gift to opposing coaches.
Furner will be as aware as anyone; the question is what options does he have to fix it up?