Would like to see Walters come in for JJB. Looks to have put on a bit of size this year, so see if that translates to running & hitting harder.

But I also have a bad feeling that Vas will turn us over.

Does anybody else think that in Henderson & Pelissier the Dragons have two of the most annoying opponents to play against?
Also you can take the boy out of Bradford but you can't take Bradford out of the boy. Whitehead always seems to lift his game when he plays the Rhinos, whoever he represents.

I am not decrying Aiton's efforts who was in good form again but to suggest Burrow "finally came into the game in the last 10 minutes" is totally inaccurate and not a fair view. Both he and Aiton played 40 minutes each and Burrow got into the game with an assist for Singleton after 17 minutes and made the space for the McGuire try one minute later. This period turned the momentum in our favour



This is harsh on Burrow. Catalans are a big and dangerous side and were a hand full throughout the game. They certainly started off the second half strongly helped by some sloppy Leeds play and we missed JJB's work in the middle of the field.

On defense you could have mentioned Hardaker being put on his backside twice by Whitehead as he scored his two tries or his habit of buying the dummy.



I would agree with most of this but Aiton and Burrow play in different styles and to make a fair comparison you have to also compare running abilities. Both made 7 carries with Burrow making more metres and 2 try assists (3 if you count his contribution to McGuire's try) and was equally dynamic in his contribution. We should be praising both players.

A Moon is an unsung hero.

Another immense tackling stint by Stevie Ward, closely followed by Brad Singleton. Thank god for the old timers!

Thanks



Burrow still had to time the pass to make Singleton's good angle work. Without Burrow's skill to create the space the fine work of Hall and Moon would never have been seen. Burrow was also backing up and could have scored himself.

.

You have been listening to the Sky commentators. Burrow is one of our best one on one tacklers and made the tackle on Pomeroy. Hall is not at his best at the moment and it was his mistake that allowed Cardace to go past him to score what was a good try by the way.



Well that may be! But on this occasion I was commenting on the outrageous suggestion that his performance was poor

Energy and enthusiasm of youth. I've been trying to work out a way to siphon it off my kids since they were born. I think JP has the secret, but he's just going to take it to the grave with him (or maybe that's what HKR are paying for?).

Got to say I'm chuffed with the 2 points, ask Wire what a banana skin Catalans can be. There's plenty of room for improvement, but that applies to every team in the comp at this stage. Thought we did well in the 1st half against the wind, but indiscipline, some bad decision making, and refs calls made for a nightmare start to the 2nd half which ultimately could have cost us the game. We missed JP while he was off, and probably missed Sinny's calming influence when the momentum began to change so rapidly, but the young lads played their part in what could be a vital 2 points come September. I'm happy for the team to fly out on the morning of the game, it makes sense to get a good nights kip in the Lodge without someone playing Plastic Bertrand at full volume outside, I'm surprised more team don't do it TBH. The flight time is nothing, and routines aren't compromised. I bet there was a terrible stench in the video refs booth as the ball ricocheted around and Cuthbertson touched down. I can imagine the look of horror on their faces as they jettisoned the entire contents of their bowels into their underwear. The whole facade of pretending to look impartially at events was laughable, and the idea of donning false beards, dark glasses and oversized hats to escape afterwards obviously didn't appeal to the refs. Fortunately it didn't cost us, and barring a couple of injury concerns, it was a good days work.

We've won there four times in a row now. How many of them were under the 'one day there & back' routine?


As leeds owl says, it's a wonder more teams don't do it.

With JJB playing a prop/loose middle man role this year I'd bring Yates back into the 17 otherwise the bench starts to look too 2nd row heavy, and Achurch shouldn't be used as a prop if it can be avoided.

Only Peacock made more carries than Watkins yesterday so he saw enough of the ball. And if any one player was responsible for the wheels falling off at the start of the second half it was Watkins.

Missing in action on the kickoff that didn't go far because of the wind, then when we forced a dropout he dropped the short kick, then gave a penalty away for a ball steal, then threw an aimless offload over his head that a Catalans player picked up and made a break that lead to one of their tries.

All within the opening 15 mins of the 2nd half. He was missing in action again on a short kickoff later to the point that Hardaker who usually stands on the tryline for kick offs was moved upfield for the later ones and he managed fine to catch the next one that landed around that 35m mark.

He put the team under massive pressure at the start of that 2nd half with his numerous mistakes and it almost cost us.

Missed the game yesterday, how did we play?

That's not what I'm talking about. A lot of his carries were working the ball back while the forwards had a rest. Even then he looked dangerous. Did we really give him early ball in space to attack? With what was infront of him there was a clear mis-match. We didn't exploit that.

I thought Silverwood had a half decent game yesterday, not intimidated by the crowd.
Re the Cuthbertson try, my first impression was no try, so not too fussed when it wasn't given.
We've never been able to deal with short kick offs against the Dragons, particularly at their place.
I recall us losing there to 2 late tries, their winner coming right at the end after our failure to catch their short kick off with scarcely any time left on the clock. What made it worse was that's the only time I've ever made it there for a game & having been losing for most of the match we got into a winning position only to chuck it away at the death.
& we got caught in the most horrendous thunderstorm walking back into the town after the match.
Still perversely an enjoyable trip though.

Yes just before Stevie Ward. Watkins got the ball, looked to be about to beat the defender......then slipped and landed on his face.

All very fair points - often Watkins' deficiencies can be overlooked because he is such an exciting player to watch - lets not forget he is still young and still on an upward curve.

Perhaps if Hardaker hadn't going missing 3 times that cost 3 tries the score would not have been so close?

ATEOD we are top of the League without putting a complete 80 minute performance together which i'm sure everyone of us would have taken before the season kicked off.
As for this game i thought we had enough experience on the pitch to play a much calmer and controlled style but at times we looked like strangers and panicked far too often leading to far too many unforced errors imo.
I think most of the individual ratings have been covered although i'm surprised Hardaker has only been picked out by 2/3 for me it was his worse defensive performance since he joined and looked like he hadn't got off the plane.
We showed an outstanding resolve overall and despite their absentees lets not over look ours either and especially losing Jjb and Aiton during the game which imo highlighted again why Achurch is not a Prop.
Stevie Ward was named M.O.M by the Rhinos staff and i'd agree with that followed by Singleton/Moon.
Finally i'm still not convinced Mcguire is Captain material he is far too quiet & imo his "show and go" only to get hammered when the defensive line is set doesn't point to "leading the way" either.
Plenty to work on not least better Ball control and communication but top of the league going into Easter is something positive to build on.
P.s. Cuthbertson scored that Try fair and square another example of p!$$ poor officials.

Marginal, for me. I can certainly see why it wasn't given.

He was slightly behind the Catalans player and leant into him with the shoulder to his back, knocking him out of the way. Not quite as blatant as the Briscoe shove that Brough made the most of at home to Huddersfield last year, but still enough to be worth a penalty.

If it had been at the other end, I don't doubt a lot of Leeds fans would have been howling for the penalty.

The close up replay showed minimal contact & if anything Whitehead had over-run it but went down like he'd been shot but the key was both players were looking at the ball and imo it's play on unless it was a blatant heavy handed push.
We've seen much heavier contact when players are competing for kicks but not penalised and the explanation given is invariably "both players looking at and competing for the ball" which i think is clearly the case with the Cuthbo one.

Spot on

I agree with you rhimoms on all except McGuire. He has big shoes to fill in Sinfield's absence and he perhaps tried too hard to influence the game in the first half and nothing came off for him but he is a head up player and he showed in the second half why his experience and ability to read situations is invaluable.

Ability wise mate i have no argument at all but when we were clearly on the back foot i just thought he was far too quiet you can see Burrow for e.g talking to the team throughout his time on the pitch as we always do with Sinfield.
Also whoever ends up as Captain will always have huge boots to fill it wasn't a direct comparison per say.
Will also say having watched the post match interview with Mcdermott it was pleasing to hear him tell his runners that he wasn't sending on any message as the players had turned it around themselves and let them see the game out a very good sign of trust and good on the Coach.

Well...what a great trip that was!

I think McGuire comes across very well in interviews

Yes he's a credit to the club; as forthe Cuthbertson no try very harsh IMO.