I'm surprised Pritchard didn't just hold onto it and look for Achurch to run at, given Mitch spent most of the game trying to get out of his way quite successfully.

And McGuire is better than Sutcliife and Cuthbertson can give us offloads and is much better than Galloway???

In a game of top trumps we missed more.

Much better in awful conditions we looked more paitent & more importantly as if we had a plan & direction.
Still lots to work on admittedly but chuffed the effort got the win they deserved.

Oh you had injuries? Don't think sky mentioned it lol

Never mentioned ours

As I said, leeds played the conditions better and just deserved to win

Much better with Lilley at 7, some actual shape and direction to the side. Burrow got better as the game wore on and he started running north to south, rather than crabbing across the field into other people's space.

Middle unit is still worrying. Mullally doesn't look like he can do more than ten minutes at a go, Galloway moves like he's in concrete boots and Garbutt doesn't look half the player he did last season. Delaney is basically broken and needs a spell out of the team even if that means throwing Smith or Baldwinson into the mix. We lose too much collision both with and without the ball, and as the pitches firm up and get faster that's going to start biting us in the backside.

Thought the two youngsters on the wing were terrific on a really difficult night. Handley is looking much more capable of coping with the physical nature of the game, and Golding getting out of his in-goal on the hour was probably the turning point of the game. Keinhorst did what Keinhorst does. Limited errors, defends like a trojan and has a nose for getting over the line with some clever angles. He'd be walking into the side ahead of Achurch for me, who was awful again. Anonymous, lazy and disinterested. If there's cap space, I'd come to a settlement and get shut as soon as we have some back row bodies fit again.

Heart of a pea that guy even if he can do a good offload once a game.

Whilst he has his critics regarding his place in the team you've got to hand it to Delaney, he was clearly hurt but the guy just wants to keep going. You can argue its foolhardy but you've also got to give the guy credit for his effort in a season when effort has been questioned.

Fans argue that for their money they want players to give their all for the shirt, you can never knock Delaney for that even if his speed or passing isn't up to standard.

On another note, as mentioned quite a few times this season. We won by two points, we could have had more wins this year had we took the friggin penalties when we should. Today proved that point.

Bit harsh on our Props imo Andy i thought they all did a tough nights graft to be honest.
Completely agree re-Achurch get Baldwinson onto the bench & Singo is more than capable in the BR.

The Pritchard break in the second half, where Handley comes back and makes the tackle, he actually looks at Mullally inside him then drifts further out to the left to leave the hole for Pritchard to run through. Shocking.

But Lilley played the full 80. I wouldn't have backed Sutcliffe and especially Hardaker to kick 4 from 4.

All willing, but none of them look like scattering defenders and winning a quick play the ball. Defensively, there were a number of times we had front rowers left on the floor by the likes of Watts and Green giving easy yards out of dummy half. Harder grounds or a half back like Roby or Pelissier would have killed us tonight, good job Houghton isn't the sharpest out of there.

Lilley worthy MOM closely followed by Burrow. JJB & Keinhorst were very good as was a much improved display from Hardaker handling mistakes apart. Both wingers were solid and the pack showed much more enthusiasm to work for each other with the still overweight Garbutt making some good metres and team spirit looked good too. So let us hope we have turned the corner. Big worry still is Watkins who doesn't even look like he is searching hard for his missing mojo. Our marker play was poor caused in the main by allowing them quick PTBs because we are not putting them on their backs.

Mac's comments were odd as it was a much better performance. I wonder what the off field stuff he referred to again is all about? He obviously thinks it is a factor. Has trouble perhaps come from the new signings?

I thought galloway looked decent tonight. He has a strange style almost walking tinto contact, then speedsup as the line approaches. He nearly always end on his knees, he even manned a couple of half breaks tonight. I think he, although no inpeacocks class is there to get through a tonne of work. No indiviual piece is outstanding but lots of contributions.

Thought garbutt looked really strong too. Took a lot of men to stop him.
Achurch is such a funny one. Awful defense

The guy had one good offload in the first half that set Keinhorst away who then gave it to Handley who got tackled into touch......this one offload is usually enough for some to cream their pants and say he should play more because too many only view the attacking side of the game and not the defensive side too.....and in defence he looked like the usual heart of a pea liability. It makes me shudder to think what if he'd have been on the bench in the GF instead of Keinhorst who came on and gave great energy and determination in defence in the last 25 mins.

I would have. But regardless of that we didn't lose those previous matches purely on missed kicks, we lost on not taking opportunities, inclusive of penalties. Tonight we took it and got the reward.

Butterfly effect.

The minute you make a decision to do one thing, it completely changes the outcomes of every single second in the game after that. If you elect to kick at goal rather than run it, what's to say you don't knock on from the kick off and give a try away?

You simply can't say "if we made decision A rather than decision B we would have won" because everything which follows that decision will have completely different outcomes.

Agree the winning the collision is still really bad in both attack and defence. Defensively it means we are scattered about which happened often tonight and offensively it gives the defence the time to get organised which is making it harder to score.

We lose the collision in both attack and defence so much it's a miracle that we have actually been involved in so many close games.

It's another reason why Lilley should be ahead of Sutcliffe when McGuire gets back.

Great to see the spirit when JJB scored and at the end. Lots to work on but thought more spark and movement on attack. Lilley and burrow best displays of season which I will credit as reason McD used the 16 man trick and left Falloon on bench. Just got home and watched last 10 mins and McD odd quote "we've got some things happening off the field at the moment". It is all a bit cryptic. Whatever it is he seems to keep waving the same flag. Presume it is a human issue rather than the well documented training ground problem or injury list. It's all very unlike what Leeds have been over last decade plus.

I agree, he should keep his place. He was key tonight and one of our other wins too vs Hudds.

He is at least making one poster in particular look foolish who said he should be in the lower leagues because of his pace and ripped him because he didn't convert the try in the WCC.

Thought both teams could hold their heads high tonight. Leeds I think walked away deserving winners, but pleased with how Hull performed as well.

Best game you could hope for in those conditions really.

On way to ground I heard McD interview on radio Leeds. Dave fletcher asked him about cam smith being 18th man last week and then is he ready for super league?
McD "no".
He said more but not much sugar coating and as biff and others have alluded sounded like a man seeking to make a broader point. No idea though what it was

True, whilst their were some knock ons, I was expecting a hell of a lot more and a much more stop-start game. For a pi$$ing it down game with the home team shot on confidence it wasn't bad at all. Not a classic but certainly a good watch.

TBH I got that from his Boxing Day game post match interview. He didn't seem happy they were playing the game and pretty much said the team wasn't ready for a game yet (again a knock on effect from extending the season by 2 weeks vs NZ imo)

Again one of the early loses he was asked if it was down to injuries/retirees/confidence and he said no it was more than that.

The other week he said that he and GH were going around in the off-season trying to keep players level headed when they were attending award do's and getting recognition for their success in 2015. Now I know morons like William have tried to make fun of it but I see this as hinting at my view that the squad enjoyed the acclaim it was getting for its success too much. If they weren't then why would McDermott express that he felt the need to make an effort to keep the players grounded post awards do's/recognition?

Or if Lilley always kicked when he is on the field...