Think he might have been advised in no uncertain terms that he must use his subs this time.......he certainly used them up pretty quickly in his effort to comply

He's right though.

It was an awful display. We did try to force rediculous offloads but many times the ball was just dropped. Rubbish passes from dummy half - again near our line. Just sloppy in all departments.

Thought the Bulls dominated every collision in the first half - they were getting over our tacklers and nearly every time they played the ball we had defenders having a lie down. When we had the ball our tackled players semed perfectly content to lay on their backs and patiently wait for the Bulls defenders to get off. Peacock gives 100% and the other players do rally around him but he rarely generates a quick PTB these days.

Again Webb was the main danger but he really does have to control himself, we were looking at a penalty and a yellow card in our favour until he decided to elbow the Bulls player in the face right infront of Hallibut (who really should be taken away and put out of our misery).

The best defence is not having to defend at all. Someone needs to explain this to McDermott, we have won all our GF's and big games by controlling the ball and with it field position. If he wants a better defensive display then he should start by sorting out what we do with the ball and get some sets completed and win some penalty counts.

i'm not sure BM is capable of sorting it.
the discipline is appalling. every week we concede penalties for ball stripping. at least 4 times in the first half yesterday. in that heat it was criminal

Think a couple of them were harsh calls to be honest.

Thought we were really poor at times. Don't know if it was down to tiredness with the heat and playing every week, or whether we really have gone that far backwards.

Whilst our line defence was good, our defence up the park was really poor. We seemed to be stood waiting all the time instead of getting in faces. We continually had a third man around the collission who was undecided whether to join the tackle or get back, and ended up doing neither, whilst the bulls would get a quick play the ball or worse still, offload the ball.

I say it each week, but our back row really does have no sting at all in threatening in attack. They seem to be wanting to get down in the tackle and play quickly rather than looking for an opportunity to offload when we have some opportunities. This is a key area we are mising from what we have had over last 8 years. JJB was always capable of offloading just like Ali was, but seems to have forgot this art. Delaney doesn't seem to have the thought to consider it. At least Hauraki gave a good go when he came on, and gave us some threat.

Another issue I have at the moment is the backs unwillingness to attack a ball. When kicks are put up, we don't really seem to be going for the ball and try and win it. Infact we seem to make more of an effort at trying to put off the catcher.

It did seem that all the Bulls player had to do was drop the ball in the tackle while Hallibut wasn't looking and he gave them a penalty. However, the high shots that gave them penalties (3-4) were lazy and completely avoidable.

On that question, just how many times does Hallibut manage to see things and award penalties when his back is turned?

Thought not using Griff was the right call. Moore put himself about and Hauraki looked competant where Clarkson has struggled to put any form together. Like Burrow off the bench, his zip was killer being brought into the fray (which we all know that).

Comical performance overall from Leeds. Error, penalty, error - seemed to be the call of the day. Lucky we were against a poor team who had issues as the game wore on.

I enjoyed seeing Pryce join the ever-growing ranks of Burrow's bitches.

Another poor performance rescued by some individual brilliance. To me the players look like they don't understand what the coaching team are asking them to do. We have the most plodding pack of all the "contenders" and have the worst discipline I can remember, and that's saying something as we have been terrible for years.

DHM has it spot on, if you don't give away dumb ass penalties and hold onto the ball rather than risking pointless offloads, you will have far less defending to do.

Despite the result and some flashes of excellence I thought we were almost embarrasingly bad for the majority of the game. We are clearly in a mid season form slump and it's a bad time to have to face Wigan and Warrington both teams are running very hot at the moment. IF they sustain the form they are in and IF we stay in our current form dip I think we are in for a very uncomfortable couple of weeks. This is sport however and who knows...that's what keeps it interesting.

On a side note I ended up sat amongst a bunch of Wigan fans yesterday. Boy what a bunch of arrogant numpties I must have just been unlucky because I usually enjoy banter with opposition fans. But this lot?! What a shower! Frankly I hope that whoever wins the league shield, challenge cup and championship Wigan don't feature. Horrible lot!

Don't forget we had a two day shorter turnaround than Bradford. I think that will have played a part, especially in that heat.

www.superleague.co.uk/match_report/7509 Individual and team stats here ^^^ Delaney's running stats well down on the norm

www.superleague.co.uk/match_report/7509 Individual and team stats here ^^^ Delaney's running stats well down on the norm

Watching the game I thought he was much quieter than normal, although I think he got brought off earlier as well.

i think its fair to assume, without even looking at delaneys stats, just by watching yesterdays game he is playing through the pain barrier at the moment

Delaney did play a lot less i believe than normal, Hauraki got more time than Clarkson usually does off the bench and then Lunt came back on and gave us a kind of Lunt/Sinfield/Burrow/McGuire mash-up at 6,7,9 & 13 which i think saw Ablett do some time at second row before switching to centre for the injured Watkins.

I think its a great time to have to play us. Worst case scenario we go into the game without Hock, Prescott, Tuson, Mossop, Fielden, Flower, Richards and Hansen. Thats some serious key personnel in the forwards missing and some serious size and talent. Leeds should win.......on paper !!

Three days wasn't it?

Bradford had eight days clear inbetween, Leeds had five days.

Countered (as bad luck would have it) by game ending injuries to Kopczak, Diskin and Walker V the one suffered by Watkins.




At least the penalty count now makes sense. At one point in the second half Sky gave it as 11 - 8 when the count ended at 9 - 5

How long as the much missed 'Margin Metre' been predicting penalty counts as well as scores?

Going on performances though i think Wigan will still be favorites, i'm expecting it to be close though unlike some who are suggesting a big defeat. Even though Wigan have won more of the games against us since the M.McGuire/Wane era they've usually been quite tight games. Quite similiar scenario going into the league game at Headingley last year and it ended up being a 22-22 draw which Leeds should of seen out.

have



I do think the team will raise their game for this....in the same way others used to raise their game to beat Leeds

Most disapointing for me are the backs, yes the forwards at times are barely holding their own but we don't have any shape at all. anyone who watched the salford game will think they were watching us from bygone days, nice angled lines coming at speed onto the ball. We bunch and are waiting for individuals to create nobody working for the team, well not many thank god for Sir Kev. Don't no what we would do without little Robbie and some are happy to see scrappy do sit on the bench.

It's the whole team. When I watch Wigan or Warrington at the moment, the speed and lines are amazing. They ask so many questions of an opposition defence. We look so plodding in comparison.

Lauaki will be our only senior prop, the rest will be youngsters. Think it'll require a massive effort from our young props to get on top of you. Think it'll be a close one mind you, as you said it always is when we play each other

Edit: Forgot about Jeff Lima

Our team will look something like this:

Sam Tomkins
Josh Charnley
Darrell Goulding
George Carmont
Anthony Gelling
Brett Finch
Thomas Leuluai
Gil Dudson
Mike McIlorum
Eric Lauaki
Liam Farrell
Jack Hughes
Sean O'Loughlin
--------------------------------------------------
Jeff Lima
Dom Crosby
Rhodri Lloyd
Greg Burke

Or possibly Gelling on the bench as another forward with Ryan King on the wing.

Is that the runt who who was making un-founded allegations against Mr Bailey after the CC final?

Hope he plays.

We've never played with that kind of systematic structure in our attack though, even under smith. A big part of our attack has just been instinct. Getting the ball to players like burrow, webb and mcguire in space and one on ones and playing off that.

The way wigan play remind me of saints under anderson, the way they stucture their attack.