Sinfield was brilliant, took some cheap shots and kept taking it in. But at 9 a major weakness for our team, due to just leaving McGuire for kicks, who is poor. The best two kicks of the night were two of only I think four Sinfield did.

If he is going to play 9, he needs to come away from dummy half after the first three tackles.

Perhaps now those that questioned the loss that Aiton will be will [unow[/u understand !!!

A great defensive effort and a return to the good old fashined ground out win ....but .....those lovely runs from dummy half with equally lovely go forward and off loads reached a peak against Warrington.

Credit to McDermott for his blind-sider, but it was close.

As others have already pointed out McGuire was trying to cover two half back roles....and he did do a good job, but going forward I think we have to really give Robbie Ward an opportunity against Hull (which I think will be done with the healthy lead and those extra 2 valuable points).

I too believe Sinfield is now our best dummy half option, but it does look now to be leaving too big a 'hole' in the halfbacks. I'm not sure Burrow is the answer: IMO he is still best coming off the bench.

Maybe Lilley might be tried at halfback against Hull too? Some tough decisions ahead....but one game before wembley how many more injury risks can Leeds afford to take?

Poor old Achurch....hope he makes a recovery to play against Hull

Put your feet up and relax next week, you have top place secured.

Biggest problem tonight as the match wore on was too many guys wanting to play the attractive stuff instead of the sensible wet weather rugby that was required. That's why Sinfield is so important and was rightly MOM, because he knows what's needed, whilst some guys made some poor decisions in the 2nd half. (Watkins trying to squeeze a ball over his shoulder on halfway with 5 mins left that lead to Wigan's last try an example)

Sinfield at 9 does create a HB problem but surely they could get someone to stand in for at least the last tackle at dummy half so Sinfield can be a kicking option. Given the weather I'm not sure you can totally write off this same lineup playing again as the wet conditions did shackle us a bit just as much (more) as the way we lined up.

Hardaker was quality again and Garbutt had a good game. A few players not at their best with getting dragged into giving penalties away like Cuthbertson and Ward, the latter I can see developing a bit of a heated rivalry over the next few years with Bateman.

Saints are going to have to buck up their ideas and straight away now looking at the table

3rd...Saints - 32pts
4th...Hudds - 30pts
5th...Cas - 30pts

Saints have played and lost to the two 'weakest' teams in the 8's in Hull and Catalans. That leaves them with 5 games on the trot against the 5 strongest other teams and when in horrible form.

Hudds (h)
Leeds (a)
Cas (a)
Wigan (h)
Wire (h)

Lose to Hudds next week and then face two away games then they could really be in trouble.

You would think Saints have to find some form again soon they have too much quality not to imo.Maybe the weeks rest for wembley will do them the world of good.I still think them and Wigan are an equal threat to us for the GF.

Sinfield excellent MOM performance. Garbutt, Ward and Ablett put in some big shifts. JP a bit below par and Watkins and Briscoe a bit sloppy. Moon really strong in the middle and Mags sharp.

We should rest key players next week as growing injury list is becoming a big worry. Saints could even drop out of the top 4. The GF could be played by 2 sets of reserves at this rate.

I think resting peacock, cuthbertson and trying to limit McGuire time by having lilley on the bench is a good idea. Same for R Ward starting at hooker

Would agree with all of this...Garbutt is proving to be another masterstroke signing. Moon is quietly going about his business as a quality centre in the shadow of all the accolades that his counterpart (justifiably) gets. He and Hall are less error prone than their right wing partnership.

Garbutt is a good signing.No frills just does his job of carting it up and solid in defence.Needs to get a pair of shorts that fit though

I don't think anyone questioned Aiton's value to the team the debate was whether we could find an equivalent replacement. If Ballin is coming he is every bit as good as Aiton if not better so the answer to the question is yes.

On a second look I was wrong to say JP was a bit under par. In fact he put in his usual massive effort with Cuthbertson not far behind. As it turned out Cuthbo did step up to acting half back on a few occasions and even made a dummy run. I wonder if Kylie took a knock

I think the game plan for the conditions was correct and Mac seemed unhappy that we moved from it in the second half which turned over cheap possession. After 3 big games on the trot do we rest up our key men next week as we can afford 2 losses and still take first spot. Or do we try and secure top spot against Hull to keep momentum for Wembley?

We should try to secure top spot.

But I would rest Cuthbertson, as that is too big a risk to lose him.

Hardly surprising that Leeds looked fatigued in the latter stages. Made themselves do an awful lot of goal-line defence with some sloppy handling and being a bench rotation down didn't help. I can only imagine Achurch has run over a black cat at some point. It's not a lack of durability or fragility that is causing him to pick up injuries, he just seems to have some freakish bad luck typified by slipping last night and ending up getting his head in the wrong place as a result.

There are key individuals that Leeds cannot do without at Wembley and who shouldn't be risked against Hull FC - Sinfield, Cuthbertson, Hardaker in particular. Time to see what the likes of Robbie Ward and Rob Mulhern have to offer, give Handley a game at full-back. A defeat to Hull FC while not ideal would hardly be fatal to ambitions of finishing top, given other results this weekend.

We were outstanding again tonight we did drop off in last 10 mins but can be forgiven in such a high intensity game fatigue is always going to happen. Well done mighty Rhinos the best time in the land!!!

Perhaps he could buy a pair from Nathan Hindmarsh ??

Fantastic defensive performance last night.
But it was typical Leeds to keep on trying to win a game we'd already won, resulting in unnecessary pressure & nerves in the crowd.
Re the video ref it now seems that the previous directive for the BoD to go to the attacking team is overlooked when so much time is being spent trying to show/prove that a try hasn't been scored.
IMV if a couple of views are inconclusive then award a try but ensure that it applies to both teams.
There should have been no need to spend what seemed like hours deliberating over the various tries last night.
It simply slows the game down.

Nice problem to have and I'm glad I'm not the one making the decision

My thoughts too. Momentum is so important, however I would perhaps give Sinfield & JP some bench rest if possible.

Just watched my recording of Friday nights match. The push on briscoe should have been penalised and the try disallowed.
Halls try also should have been chalked off, Sinfield clearly knocked on. So the end result stays the same.

Yes I think it's quite generous by the ref not to say Sinfield knocked on. The Briscoe push is annoying considering the same ref combo (Silverwood on pitch and Bentham as VR) ruled out Briscoe potential match winning try last year vs Hudds for that brush of shoulders with Brough when racing for the ball.

I disagree on both. The hands were on Briscoe but no pressure was on him. For me it had no affect on the ball being spilled.

As for the Sinfield knock on both ref and touch judge ruled it back in real time and no angle from the video replay suggested they were wrong

Indeed. Very generous to say that the ball was thrown or knocked in any direction other than towards his opponents’ dead ball line, when that's what happened.

A good tough hard earned and well deserved win imo.
Re-Sinfield in the build up to Halls try at worst the ball goes sideways so it's still not a knock on.
I can understand Mc'D's point re-the last 20 minutes the game was won and we just had to grind it out out but they'll learn from it.
Sinfield M.O.M but Hardaker must have been close as was JP imo ,i thought Stevie Ward had a very good hour considering he's been out a while & once again Garbutt was solid.
Onto teh cod-eads now and tbh i'd look at resting Cuthbo ,Hardaker Sinfield and Watkins yes i accept it would probably cost us the win but results have gone our way and now imo the focus has to be Wembley.