I think there is a massive amount of over-reaction on this thread. Obviously Senior is going to be the scapegoat for this season. People are blaming Senior for virtually every try that is scored down Leeds' left hand side, I've even seen him blamed for Hall not catching a high kick.

Whilst Saints had some players missing I think people are forgetting the amount we still have missing. Put Delaney, McGuire, Leuluai & Peacock back into that team it's a different game which we probably go on to win.

As usual Sal Paradise picks on Sinfield for some bizarre reason. I thought he was as good as could be expected behind pack missing Leuluai & Peacock. Yes he dropped the ball from the scrum, he also regained possession for us with a clever drop-out.

We've got to decide what we want from a Leeds team. Fans complained we were too boring over the last couple of years. It seems to me Brian McDermott is trying to address that. We've played more exciting rugby in the last 6 games than the whole of last season. Do we want an Australian, 5 drives & a kick approach or do we want the ball thrown around? If we want the ball thrown around we've got to accept that sometimes it won't come off and, crucially, that it will take time to adapt to that style. We are 6 games in to the season. We've won 3 & lost 3. The 3 we've lost are away at Warrington, at home to Saints and at home to Quins. Is it great? No. Is it appalling? No. Can it be fixed? Yes. Will it take time for a squad with more changes than in recent years to adapt to a new style of play and an entirely new coaching team? Yes. Do Leeds fans need to stop b[ii[/itching and moaning? Yes.

And right on time, the loony tunes express, full of happy clappy people arrives at its destination.

Keef was bagged for showing absolutely no interest in either competing for the high ball, covering an opponent, or simply getting in the way of onrushing players. A trick he has built his reputation on when it comes to high ball try line defence. He has also received criticism for his speed of thought and positional mistakes. A great RL career doesn't make any of these points any less salient.

The hypothetical inclusion of Delaney, McGuire etc is pointless. You can only field the team you have got and play what is put in front of you.

As for complaints about 2 years of boring rugby. What a load of bollox. We won the GF for the 3rd time in 2009 FFS!
We went downhill last year, and this season if we are going to play the stats game it's one win in the last 4 outings. I'll make a note of the "exciting rugby" and add it to the flamboyant, sensational and inventive accolades that have been voiced already this season



You're correct it's fixable, perhaps not under this coaching setup, and I reckon any of the rhinos onfield performances from 2007/8/9 would be more acceptable to most Southstanders than the current headless chicken approach.

True, as it would be if you put Eastmond, Pryce, LMS, Soliola and Wilkin in . . . . .

Agree with the above.

Don't know how someone can describe leeds play as exciting this year. Panic offloads, no goforward and headless chicken does not equate to excitement for me. A balance between the two approaches is needed. Offload and off the cuff rugby but on the back of solid play, and when the situation calls for it not trying to score off every play

Agree it is pointless saying who is missing, both teams had people missing you coped better

It's not an 'exciting' style of rugby that Leeds are playing but it is most definitely an 'entertaining' style...

... in a *ROFLMAO* kind of way.

True and a good side will do very soon.

Tactically Leeds were shocking, trying to score off every play at times - if they had kept it simple they would have had a real chance.

Defence wins games simple as that and to concede the amounts we have done so far this year rather alarming,It was not that long ago that our defence was something to be proud of, We will always score with the amount of ability in the side but the key is our own defence, Sorry to sound like an Aussie but I would rather see a tough 6-0 game victory than 30-16 loss. IMO of course

I know Hardaker's only 18 and it was only his first game at this level.....


he does need a bit of a bulk up a little....

and in those GF winning years, people were complaining just as strongly as they are now. And those with a more positive perspective were slammed in just the same way.

Have some patience.

Plenty of games to go yet, with plenty of different players, and plenty of things will happen, both good and bad.

Richie, how do you appraise the brand of football we are trying to play this year, where we do not set the platform before we start to play the fancy stuff?

Agree. I thought Cross was much better yesterday.

Unlike some on here I am not blind to poor stuff/errors Sinfield makes. It is not so much that he dropped the ball it was the circumstances under which he dropped the ball. We were behind, 30 metres from the Saints line and desperately needed a score to regain the momentum it was the worst possible time to make a simple unforced error. To suggest the regain at the kick off somehow compensated for the previous error is laughable.

Given the influence and the amount of ball Sinfield gets he has to take some of responsibility when the attack fails to function? he is a great player but he is hardly error-free - something most on here seem to unable to see.

I completely agree, and feel we're going much too far in the desire to offload, one player at right centre, in particular. We're playing risky rugby all over - the short drop out was a wild gamble that came off.

We might never get better at picking the right time and place to do it, and support lines. Then again, a bit more time with it, a bit more understanding from the team about who offloads, how, when, and where, and add in our best support player and the faster pitches the next few months and things might look a little different.
I'll give it a bit more time.

I know you asked Richie but thought I'd answer anyway.
I think our current "brand of football" is attempting to adapt to a different style from the last few years. That obviously isn't just going to miraculously appear immediately after pre-season. As the players and coaches have said, it will take a while to adjust. Things will go wrong. But I'd far rather we attempt to throw the ball around and at least try to be entertaining and lose, than keep the ball tight and straight up the middle and lose. Which is what we did last season.

Why is it laughable? Don't you think avoiding a repeat set of 6 on our own line is a good thing? A set of 6, given our defence, that Saints would in all probability have scored from?
Avoiding a repeat set on our own line?
Knocking on around the half way line?

I know which I'd say has the greater influence and the difference between the two incidents is still not "laughable". Only someone with an agenda would make that kind of exaggeration.


Of course he has to take some responsibility, so does Burrow, so does Webb, so do the forwards who didn't put enough/good enough support runs in, so do the rest of the players not running the right line, so do the players not making enough yards to give us the platform. Taking some responsibility is not the same as

I dont think the team has to either throw ball around or keep it tight straight up the middle. I think they need a blen of the two and know whn to throw it about and when to just take the tackle. But at the moment we are ofloading anywhere and tring to go wide too suun, without going forward first.
I personally think we need a good blend of the two.

Leeds are going to struggle if Kallum Watkins is meant to be the future at right centre. And people call Senior a liability...

He is a left centre being kept out by our insistance of playing senior there

What do you mean again?

agenda alert

I agree that a change to any new style will take time and the staff need to be given this time. Where I see a problem is that we are offloading against a defence that is still organised due to a slow ptb and poor metres made by the forwards. That leads me to believe that we are either not fulfilling the game plan (not getting quick ptb or metres forward) or that our plan is simply to try to run the opposition off their feet with the amount of ball movement, which we don't look fit enough or fast enough for.

This is pretty much epitomised by the handling we are seeing from Watkins at the moment.

We have too many experienced players who are not putting their brain into gear before throwing the ball, and as a result when you play this "high risk" football it leads to greater possession for the opposition than a safer "metres first" brand would.

We could have a whole conversation about defence, but I fear that my bandwidth isn't enough.....

Interesting, thanks. Can you excuse his defensive mistakes last night based on playing in the wrong centre? Looks exciting in attack apart from the occasional brainfart and playing a bit flashy though.

Both ways!!