Tough game tonight - especially without Burrow, Senior, Sinfield and Webb and Ali who looked like he had pulled a hamstring after 20 minutes.

The game was ruined by Ganson who gave more penalties in the first 20 than Thaler did the whole game last week.

Defence was excellent again tonight 4 halves of rugby three without conceeding a try - pretty impressive.

Leeds were far from their best and a number of players looked out on their feet after 60 minutes - Smith was switched to wing to give him a rest and Donald played FB for the rest of the game.

Peacock, Smith, Kirke, Diskin and especially JJB had big games with good performances from Hall, Donald and Buderus who looked pretty lively to say he had played for 6 months.

Allan defended really well and should have scored from his break - his throwing up in front of us we could have done without but shows testiment to his spirit that he played the whole game when obviously not very well

Whilst the second try was a bit fortunate Leeds never looked like losing - Wakefield gave it everything with Drew and Atkins their best players.

Good game to win in difficult circumstances

I agree that Smith was excellent again.
His kicks-off (kick-offs if you prefer) were I thought very good. Variety and caused chaos with the kick after they took their 1st penalty.
I said at the time that was a mistake but didn't imagine quite how bad it would turn out to be.
The mounting injuries are a major concern, defensivley we looked better than last week. Unsurprisingly the attack lacked direction at times without Sinfield & Burrow.
Ganson MOM for all the wrong reasons. The frustration was that for the most part he gets the decisions right but we want the game to flow not constant stop start. But he waited until 71st minute to penalise them for not standing square when they'd been doing it throughout the game. Seems he decides at the start what he's going to blow for this week and ignores everything else.

I think Ganson wants to be rememberd for most penalties EVER in a 10 minute spell. It wasnt rugby after Lauitiiti's try it was like a rave the ammount of times he blew his whistle!

Bit worried about Wigan conserving all their energy for Leeds again.

Brian Noble will get the sack after a victory against leeds! They will keep him employed until that vital win!

I hope the players missing is a result of a policy of not risking anyone for any game, rather than actual injuries. I would hope that if it was a key game, that we'd have seen a stronger side this evening. Luckily we have4 or 5 youngsters who are able to come in and fill in when required.

If this is the case it will mean more game time for the youngsters, which has the short term benefit, of increased competition, and keeping players fresh throughout the season, and the long term benefits of giving young players a chance to shine, and prove their worth.

Wasn't at the match, but it is more satisfying to win with an understrength team, than score 60 points with a full line-up

I had to listen to the game on Radio Leeds, laid up in the country with a house that looks akin to the open episode of 'Survivors', you could tell which way the game was going ... Despite Radio Leeds making it sound that Wakey were making a game of it (they had to change their tune in the last 5 mins, when it was obvious they weren't going to get back in it)

We sounded well in control, despite having to deal with Ganson (who was clearly on one again) and no matter what Wakey did, they couldn't get through.

Didn't you know its in his contract?

I thought the size of the crowd was disappointing tonight, considering we got nearly 15K last week for the Crusaders in freezing conditions and Wakefield got their season off to a storming start at Wigan. To get less than 1000 more is poor.
A sign of the times maybe, credit crunch and all that?

seemed a lot bigger crowd announced. south stand was just as packed, north & carnegie seemed to be same as last week

Spot on analysis.

My twopenneth.

Smith look very accomplished at full back again.
Hall looked dangerous with ball in hand and made a lot of metres. There were few chances for the centres but Ablett defended well and Watkins just oozes danger whenever he's got the ball.
Donald saw little ball and fluffed the only kick he had to field during his short stint at full back.
McGuire played manfully and had an awful lot on his shoulders. Will be better when Burrow and Sinfield are back to take some of the pressure off.
Allan had a good game whilst not getting involved enough with the ball he tackled everything that ran at him. He went OK for a lad so shamefully written off by a few fekkwitts last week.
Ali looked a handful before his injury and I thought Kirke played very well.
I am going to start a separate thread about Buderus and Diskin.

Why on earth would they ban a Leeds player?????As if?

TBF re Baileys elbow into the face/possible suspension...

If we get Eastwood by then I would say Kirke is ahead of Bailey on form anyway so a suspension may not make any difference.

I am told Atkins was guilty of a stamp when he was in binned though I didn't see that incident myself.

Any comment Mr Chip on Shoulder?

Which shoulder?

Well summed up although im going to defend Donald here... He was looking up towards the floodlights when the ball was coming down. Have you looked at those floodlights since they "HD'd" them? Sends you blind for a good 15/20 seconds and then you still have the image there for a min or so



Also Gibson seemed to grow in confidence with every touch he received. Made some good yards in the last 10 down the blind side.

Not sure but won't you Wakey fans have a conspiracy theory anyway?

By the way how's the ground coming along>

there was at least 2k more than last week

Think you are right about McGuire with an awful lot on his shoulders. But IMO I dont recall the lad having a worse game in a Leeds shirt. He has the excuses though, so he should be forgiven. But his tackling was woefull and he seemed to be the one taking the wrong option every time when a break was on.

Also I would be interested to see those metres Hall made, because I must have missed him there and done him an injustice. He seemed In my eyes to do very little and make very small yardage. But he had a very good game the week before.

i have to say i thought gibson played very well. not as good going forward as watkins he was far better defensively. blanch, who i thought played very well, was a threat all night but ash really kept him in check. hopefully he can stay injury free and have a big season

Fekwits report....



The lad did OK. Nice early touch with a little chip kick into the in-goal that forced the position for Ali's try.

Busy defensively and with a bit more experiece would have made more of the break.

Took a big knock in the second half but stood his ground.

Not helped being played out of position IMO..............

6/10

I agree with all that.

I thought Allan played well especially in defence.At on stage in the seconded half he was completely out on his feet and then a few minutes later he first man in the tackle Ala Peacock style.

Yes had just taken a real heavy knock. Cant fault the lad for heart and effort.