I was very careful in not using the royal "we"

Some good points some bad.

Thought Vickery looked decent, Achurch was solid but didn't see enough of Moon to make a judgement.

Hardaker was a mile off - nearly spilled 2 kick-offs and coughed the ball up a couple of time in the tackle.

Worst performance of the day by a country mile goes to Hicks - baffling, truly baffling.

Who was the last player to get a knighthood 'these days' for beating the Aussies? You think Sinfield got the Golden Boot for winning WCC last year?

You are contradicting yourself also. Do pre-season games count or not? Or only when judging Sinfield and not Aussies?

A bit chilly to say the least - but worth the trip

Typical pre-season game - I lost count at the number of times both sides threw the ball straight into touch. Some nice tries Bradford's third was a gem and a couple of the Rhinos' were well worked.

Good to see McGuire get in for try - Ablett was superb today, Hardaker was not!! Achurch looks pretty useful as does Vickery although let's see them in a proper game.

Rightful recognition of a great player - he may not be to everyone's taste WE - but his contribution to the success of the Rhinos since 2004 should not be overlooked.

Very poor first half from both teams and it took 30 mins for the game to really get going. It coincided with the addition of Clarkson and Achurch IMO. Achurch looked very good today though, running nice angles and offloading the ball at will. If he's half the player Ali was (no jokes please

) then we will have a decent signing. The best player for me though was Clarkson. He's bulked up some this year and run some great lines setting up a couple of good tries.

Apart from that there was nothing much to see really. A good preseason hit out that should put us in good stead for the visit of Hull in just under 2 weeks.

Oh, and Kallum looked good when he got the ball but doesn't he always?

According to you the NRL is so superior these guys need only turn up and the game will be a non-contest!! Can't understand how the Rhinos have managed to beat both Melbourne and Manly?

I am sure you will have suitably skewed data to justify your view point

What was the error rate like with the much-loathed new balls?

According to my mate who is a ballboy " Them balls are terrible they go no grip on them they're proper pointy and $h!t haha they're focking terrible need to get steeden back can't play the super league with em"

I'm assuming the ballboy interview doesn't involve psychometric testing?

No more than normal for a pre-season friendly IMO

I can't understand how Melbourne and Manly ever managed to beat Leeds either, especially given how everything is stacked against the NRL sides. At least we've shifted the venue to Headingley these days in order to stack those odds even further in our favour. Elland Road clearly became too far a journey for the Leeds players to make

So Manly didn't play Cronulla before coming to England last year???
Looks like Melbourne have a match lined-up against Canberra before coming to England.
How about Smith, Cronk and Slater all being selected for the All-Stars game???



What's waiting about it? It's happened.

Sinfield had an off day with the boot but......

2012 SL GF - SINFIELD 5/5
2012 NRL GF - SMITH 1/5

Manly were awesome for 60 minutes that day - superb to watch, Silverwood just let Cameron Smith ref the game, his way of levelling the playing field. Can't understand how come Silverwood refs all the Aussie games!!!

Although not sure why Melbourne needed it given the theoretical gulf in ability!!

I thought the Bulls started with far more intent and capitilised on our errors.
For us i thought Ablett was M.O.M ,JP had a strong game and Griffin ,Achurch and Clarkson all added impact from the bench.
I also thought the tries by Hall and Mags were very good and the kick through on the break for Vickerys 1st wee well worked and the bradford 3rd cut us apart with great line speed from Disko and Scruton.
I agree Hardaker had a mare and Hicks really wanted it to be his testimonial but loads for both teams to work on especially us with some of our passing and off loads.

[url=http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/controversial-recruit-todd-carney-scores-twice-as-cronulla-crush-reigning-premiers-manly-in-trial-match/story-e6frf3ou-1226262272375#.UPw56Sc3bkcDoes a gentle 2nd half appearance session for the Manly first graders count?[/url




Will it be half a team or half an appearance or both?




Exhibition game for 3 of Melbourne's twenty-something squad of players. WOW! Be afraid Leeds, be very afraid on the 22nd February




But not in 2008 and certainly not in 2009 as planned




Martyn Sadler couldn't have justified it better himself... bwahahahaha

Not convinced we ever learn a right lot from these games. Players get a hit out and blow away some cobwebs. Players on both sides at different stages in their preparations no doubt. I'm sure there's some value to players and coaches, plus the testimonial (like it or not), but not much point over analysing the match IMO.

Were there any injuries?

Moon went off after a cash of heads but Achurch has just said he's fine on twitter just afew stitches which is a relief but saying that Abbo destroyed their right side defence out wide.

Moon came off after about 30 minutes with a head injury and didn`t return.
Hope he will be fit for Hull.
Having said that Ablett played well at centre again.
JP had a good game as did Achurch.
MOM Clarkson for me very solid and tackled well.
McShane had his usual 15 or 20 minutes and did ok!
Hardaker was poor.
Watkins best player in the first half for me.
Bulls played well especially in the halves and their forwards took it to Leeds in the first half.
Hicks gave too many penalties.
Great try by Mags at the end.
Worth the £15.

Who knows, but clearly not Melbourne's only run as you incorrectly stated before.



Yes, when the claim was.....





So then the WCC isn't their first game of pre-season.

I see the anti semite is back with a new user name William eve this time is it

Exactly, who knows. It remains to be seen how many Melbourne first graders get a game before the WCC




Clearly the WCC was their first game of the pre-season unless you count a game which involved the reserve grade throughout the 1st half as serious preparation for a WCC. Pssst: it isn't BTW.

I see the islamophobic (Asians crash cars for cash) Morpeth Rhino is back with a new user name rhino phil this time is it?

So because I pointed out that you were wrong you're now shifting the goalposts to include seriousness of games to rescue yourself? As you keep telling us Leeds don't take the regular season seriously so surely no difference in 'serious' games played by the time of the WCC.