Once again - exceptional discipline, we were organised, structured and effective.

As long as our forwards can continue to lay a decent platform we have the skill in our 3/4 line to pick apart any defense.

Very organised and disciplined performance. Cats were not great, but Leeds did pretty much everything they needed to.
The wind and conditions in general looked challenging as well.

I know I'm going to regret saying this, but I've been relatively impressed with the refereeing I've seen so far this year. We seem to have escaped the usual early season PTB apocalypse as well. Keep it up lads.

DHM- Whilst its good to see the Refs not getting "whistle happy" i think some of the foul play calls have been shocking perfect example last night in the Cas v HKR game Finn gets a Yellow for an alleged CW tackle yet nowt happens to Welham for a blatant head-butt.

Didn't see that game so can't comment.
Scrapping "on report" would help refs make better decisions. I have seen at least one obvious red card where on report was used to effectively keep 13 against 13. I think they are doing what they have been told to do in these cases.

I still think, in the games I have seen, the refs have had minimal influence on the games outcome and (with the help of the players) controlled games well. I am perfectly aware there is plenty of opportunity for them to make me eat my words

Nice to see Bailey have a better show last night

My Man of the Match was Delaney for an excellent all round performance. He led the defence with 40 odd tackles was very strong around the ruck area, took the ball up well and scored a try. Not far behind him was Moon who on the night was even more impressive than the excellent Watkins. Sinfield was also in great form spreading the ball wide to the backs in moves that had a bit of Wigan type structure about them.

The opposition were below par but a good win none the less and Leeds are looking a very well prepared side - take a bow Brian McDermott.

I echo the points made earlier, good to see Aiton start let's hope that continues.
I'm particularly pleased to see that our attacking line-up seems to be deeper this year & we have more runners in motion, similar to the attacks of Saints & Wigan.
Plus at last we scored from a PTB on the opposition line.
But let's not get carried away, it's still early in the season but a promising start nonetheless.

Quick nod to Leuluai whose taken a bit of stick of late,

Leuluai - 16 carries for 135
Peacock - 17 carries for 117

Delaney - 15 carries for 127m (av 8.47m) & 44 tackles and a try

Peacock was very obviously not flogged last night. Hall and Briscoe did a good job as extra forwards. Two wingers who can make tough carries like that are a massive bonus.
Kyle did what he's been doing now for some time, takes the ball up and rarely loses a collision.

A thought on Briscoe, I thought last year he was a tremendous signing and he really has transformed our whole balance in the back line. I've always thought he was a terrific player, it's great to see him in a Leeds shirt. We have a long history of legendary wingers and I think we have potentially added another.
BJB is a great utility player, I could even see him playing centre if needed as well as FB and wing and it's great to be able to have both in the squad.

Got to say JC MC got yesterday spot on both with selection and in general how he is getting us to play left and right out wide.
Hardaker is chiming into the line and creating space with more fluency and we are less reliant thus far on an act of indiviual skill from Sinfield ,Mcguire or Burrow.
Early days as we all know but the signs are more promising across the park.

Does anyone think (hope) that starting with a recognised #9 at #9 will catch on?

Aiton looks a good signing but to be fair Burrow looked good at acting half back when he came on with some good distribution.

the Peacock-kylie stats can't be compared due to the position ball recieved and distance to opposition when receiving the ball . Thats why in general stats can be misleading

aiton targets where we play. he directs the team around the pitch. burrow doesn't do that. i think its a good combination but i really like aiton. good player

For Delaney's try Aiton did some very clever dummy half work to make one of the Catalans players think he was passing it to peacock(?) and therefore set up the 1 on 1 for Delaney

Aiton & Briscoe have been top signings so far.

When we get JJB, Kirke & Yates back with competition for places in the forwards I think we'll be almost unstoppable.

Really looking forward to the St Helens game now.

Did not see the game but if Aiton started that's spot on IMO, let's hope the penny has dropped with our coach, if it has it's been a long time coming.

Didn't Burrow do something similar for Ablett's try? Eyes out the back to the second runner, then a no look pass to the man coming short.

Not really, he dummied right, then passed left to Ablett.

Indeed McDermott (or whoever picked the team this week) should be congratulated for thinking 'inside the box' and following the general consensus of the layman coaches that frequent this board. Playing a genuine hooker at hooker while making the best use of Burrow's impact from the bench could be the future afterall.

Thought Aiton was average. Didn't offer much going forward beyond shipping the ball from acting half and got bumped off a lot of head on tackles. Needs to hit and stick better. I guess it's early days yet, playing dummy half needs a good understanding of where your teamates run etc. Hopefully it will come.

Thought he steered us around the park and he knew when to bring the forwards on and when to release quick ball to the links Sinfield and McGuire. He also made good short passes to Ablett and Moon IIRC.



An above average performance and is settling in well in only his 3rd game of the season. 7/10

It's like we've got a hooker or something.

Crazy world.

The halves moved the team around. Aiton gave them the ball when they told him to. You're right, it's a start.