Showed more go forward than he did with ball in hand then, when he usually ended up driven backwards. Still a waste of a jersey.

The main problem in the first 65 minutes was a lack of composure and at times, simple indiscipline. This was a collective problem for the team, so no point in blaming individuals yet.

The big question for me is - have Leeds really changed at all from last season? Apart from flinging the ball around with little conception of when to do it they were very similar. Defence and discipline still needs much work.

Of course we don't want to be in our top form quite yet, but the silly mistakes and low percentage plays just made it too easy for Bradford. Also, certain players still need to learn to stop talking to the referee - Senior for example. The first try was well worked but after that Leeds were reminiscent of 2006 - trying to score off every play instead of building some pressure first. The end result was obviously pleasing and shows that Leeds still have the steel to come back, but this is not something we want to be making a habit of. To be quite frank we were lucky to come away with the win. It is nice to see the team throw the ball around but this is RL, not basketball.

On the positive side I was impressed with several individual performances. As has been mentioned, Webb and Lauitiiti looked a lot sharper. I think starting with Lauitiiti might be a good way of getting more out of him, although he still needs careful spelling later in the game. Burgess and Pitts looked better for another pre-season, although both still have a lot of work to do. It was good to see Burrow get more involved and his passing seems to have improved too. I don't think we missed Diskin, but it would have been nice to have McGuire out there to call some of the attacking plays. Still not convinced with Sinfield at stand-off, but it looks like this will be a permanent role until McGuire returns.

BJB and Watkins looked very good together and have convinced me that Delaney should be used elsewhere (I still maintain that he did OK for us at centre last year, considering there wasn't much alternative). Dunno why Smith didn't appear in the squad but as far as I'm concerned he's now below BJB in the pecking order. Smith would, however, make a good utility player from the bench if there is space for him there.

As a final note, Phil Clarke's comments re: the Raynor incident were interesting. Shouldn't he have deserved an injury for the deliberate foul?

No, because Raynor didn't commit a deliberate foul. It was a "perfectly legitimate tackle". Weren't you watching???

Got to agree with you on both counts BB

I can hear the surprise in your voice Juan!

There seems to be a lot of comments about Leeds defensive frailties, presumably based on conceding five tries yesterday.

The first three tries came from Brent Webb f*ck ups - caught in the defensive line twice late in the tackle count (something he made a habit of doing last year as well, with the size of the in goals at Cardiff it's a no brainer that you can't be caught in that position) and one poorly executed long pass.

The Diskin try sits on Jay Pitts's shoulders IMO (despite what those with agendas against Senior and Kirke would have you believe). You do not turn your back on the play when you're retreating into the defensive line. If he stays face on to the play then he can at least get himself in Diskin's way and maybe concede the penalty.

So three tries from kicks, two from individual errors (the Ah Van and Diskin tries). No tries conceded from being split open by the opposition moving the ball around, despite having to do a fair bit of defending on our own line.

Agreed. Not to mention 2 of the 3 "team's fault" tries were scored against 12 men.

To be fair, I was watching it and thinking at the time that they couldn't find a way through. As stupid as this sounds (conceding 5 tries) we looked pretty solid for the most part. They were camped on our line and didn't find any gaps too easily.

Got to confess I had to take a deep breath first and still had to cough a bit.



Biffa had the best metre per carry for the props at 8m (Kylie 6.9m, Cross 6.5m & Kirke 4.5m) and he took the ball up with some good aggression.

With regard to Cross his go forward was a bit disappointing but he did put in 31 tackles.

Ali had the best back row stats with 9.5m per carry and 19 tackles with Pitts probably the worst with 4.5m and 12 tackles.

Although I do not rate Delaney as a centre it has to be said he put in a good effort in the 2nd row. I guess most of his 37 tackles and yardage were made in the pack.

As a general reflection on the match Leeds not only won the game but made more metres, carries, offloads, tackle busts and clean breaks than Bradford. While Bradford made more tackles (+46), missed tackles. On these stats you would say we were easy winners.

However despite the above stats, Bradford almost won the game because they were well ahead in the crusial attacking kicks, kicks in general play and runs from dummy half. This game highlighted for Leeds a weakness in both marker defence and a woeful defence against attacking kicks (high and grubber)

It baffles me why the experienced Senior, who is a big unit, seems all at sea when a bomb goes anywhere near him. He always seems to position himself so the ball goes over his head. So not only does he then have no chance of catching it but then is in the wrong place to defend his line. His positional play in normal defence is also a worry as he often does not slide out leaving his outside men exposed or he comes out of the line totally and leaves a hole.

Considering our key man Sinfield was below his normal par (he was closely marked) and we were missing key men, plus up against a resurgent Bradford it
was not a bad effort over the whole 80 minutes.

I've never papered a fish before!

So you prefer on a plate than out of paper?

I know it's probably not that in depth an assessment, but truthfully we won against a team that probably targetted this fixture big style. First games of the season are seldom the scene for the best rugby you will see all year (in previous years not helped by record penalty counts as the refs try out some new interpretation of the PTB laws). Some of the guys looked sharp, some need to get into their stride yet. It's a bonus if guys look sharp and not too unusual if some don't at this time.
Watkins and BJB are a breath of fresh air, and it will be great to see Clarkson back soon as well. They are going to be a joy to watch this year.

Half the time Bradford were confused with what positions they were playing. On occasions forming scrums with about four forwards and no scrum half.

I think we caught them at just the right time.

Leeds continually invited Bradford into the game with penalties and passes mis-directed into player's backs or with big red crosses on.

Thank gawd it was only a first hit out. Next up Hull who somehow managed to run out of gas in the first twenty after looking totally in charge.

The glass remains half empty still in 2011 I see

teams that make loads of changes rarely do well as it takes a while to gel and bradford might be a genuine force come the play offs
we are lucky that when we get everyone fit very few players are automatic choices to start, with delaney and senior able to double up in the pack we now have genuine options for probably 10 of the 13 spots should anyone suffer a dip in form

It was half empty in 2009, a quarter empty in 2010.

Half empty would be a good sign from me.

Kirke being asked to do a job he's totally unsuited for (and his comments showing he is totally half-hearted towards doing it) is not a promising start.

I thought it was great to see Chev out on the pitch looking none the worse for his potentially career threatening injury.
Can only be good for the game as a whole & for England.

What job is Kirke not suited for, playing in a super league pack? Agreed.

What were the softcock's coments, I'm working away in the West Country and haven't seen much post match commetary.

Quote ="G1" What were the softcock's coments, I'm working away in the West Country and haven't seen much post match commetary.'" They were pre-season comments rather than post match ones. To paraphrase them 'I've been asked to play prop and f**k that for a game of soldiers.' That may be unfair but you can judge for yourself here: www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/l ... 6707809.jp

Quote ="G1" What were the softcock's coments, I'm working away in the West Country and haven't seen much post match commetary.'" They were pre-season comments rather than post match ones. To paraphrase them 'I've been asked to play prop and f**k that for a game of soldiers.' That may be unfair but you can judge for yourself here: www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/l ... 6707809.jp

I agree with tvoc, that article (I saw it at the time) seemed to state quite categorically to me, that Kirke had been told he was playing prop, and was very unimpressed with the prospect. I got the impression it was an "I'd rather crawl over broken glass with my flies undone" comment, but on reflection I don't think he'd have the bottle...

I'm not sure about that. Even when Hull were going into the lead, Hull KR stuck to their game plan and refused to panic. I think it's unfair to say Hull ran out of gas, I didn't think they were playing that well.

Better than holding on to a -pot half full.

Quote ="tvoc"They were pre-season comments rather than post match ones. To paraphrase them 'I've been asked to play prop and f**k that for a game of soldiers.' That may be unfair but you can judge for yourself here: www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/l ... 6707809.jp'" I'm not entirely certain what part of his high speed, wide running, high workrate and offloading game would be lost if he moved from second row to prop?

Quote ="tvoc"They were pre-season comments rather than post match ones. To paraphrase them 'I've been asked to play prop and f**k that for a game of soldiers.' That may be unfair but you can judge for yourself here: www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/l ... 6707809.jp'" I'm not entirely certain what part of his high speed, wide running, high workrate and offloading game would be lost if he moved from second row to prop?

Can you still buy XXXX?

The game changed when O'Meley went off.

Kirke is very poor and is a waste of a bench space IMO. I think at times we were just rusty and in a few months some of the loose passes and balls going to ground will stick. One major positive I thought was ALI. He looked very fit, don't remember him being as fast running as he did against Bradford