Was singleton injured I don't remember him coming back on.

Not the best performance but with the injuries a decent win, well done to Sutcliffe on the kick.

I echo the earlier calls for Watkins to get better ball still under used.

Defensively we were awful poor contact ,poor markers and gifted them trys with holes you could drive 2 buses through.
Bjb scored a cracking try but was poor again no real intent on kick returns pathetic for their first try as were Watkins and Singleton.
Ablett took a heavy bang on his shoulder after about 15mins but was kept out there and was carrying the injury clearly but scored a vital try.
There were also times when Aiton was blowing as expected but again was kept on the field.
Moon was M.O.M for me followed by Hall/JP.
I also think we seriously need another F/T Coach on the staff to freshen us up and hopefully add some spark we were so 1 dimensional in their 20m.
I thought we looked very tired at times which reflected in some of the poor defensive efforts.
The less said about Hicks the better completely useless!

Singleton did come back on but with pretty much only 90 seconds left for Ablett....like Rhinoms said, think Ablett was struggling with a knock.

As for Watkins. Because he's a favourite on here, any game he doesn't shine is usually excused as "we aren't using him enough". When actually on some occasions, like today, he was just quiet when he was involved and wasn't at his best in defence either.

Agree with most that has been put on here. I think we missed Kylie more than we did Sinfield to be honest, though Sinfield may well have steadied us a bit more at certain points.

Hicks was very poor in my opinion. There were some dodgy calls either way, but the repeated Catalans offside was frustrating and it's something that has annoyed me with other refs this season too. It appears that the refs as a whole are happy to allow teams to hold down quite a while and be a few steps offside this season. Which is annoying as it doesn't help the quicker teams and the teams who don't hold down.
I also get annoyed at incidents where the ref just plainly ignores the rules. The incident where Pryce kicked the ball back in-field was a clear 10 minutes and should have been punished. I don't know why he decided not to punish a deliberate attempt to slow the game.

Fair dos it just seems that he doesn't get enough ball but as you say he wasn't at his best today.

On your points G1, it seems that Achurch is a player who needs the momentum. He was playing more minutes, running into some form and putting his stamp on things. The niggly injury seems to have disrupted that. hopefully he gets back up to speed quick.

Sutcliffe for me disappointed in a few defensive reads and was soft in the tackle. Needs to sort that quick or opposition will be running in his direction all the time.

Walters is brilliant. Reminds me of Clarkson with how he burst onto the scene on merit with some eye catching contributions. Which lead to another point in how Clarksons development hasn't really happened. Which opens it up to Walters. Kylie was injured in warm up so Stevie Ward who was 18th man stepped in. So Walters is currently higher in pecking order that Ward and Clarkson on form. Rightly so, Mac here picking on form. Wish that would filter through to a certain other passenger.....

Gerrum on siiiiiide

I thought Achurch did great in defence for the time he was on. Not sure how many tackles, but wouldn't be surprised to see him in top 3 at all.

I also said yesterday that Walters gets better each week, but thought Ward had a much better game, and really did look the part. Ward for me should be in the team each week on merit.

Aiton 45 tackles 2 misses
Bailey 38, 1miss
Peacock 34, 2 misses
Achurch 33, 1 miss

Catalan were mugged of 2 points yesterday afternoon, for sure. Very fortunate. If it wasn't for Pryce being a tool, I'd feel sorry for him having it taken away after the end of the game. It's a shame he lost movement in his neck after the kick went over, which meant he didn't turn to look at the South Stand at all...

Ok, so a couple of thoughts / reflections...

I was quite frustrated with a few of the tries we scored being right in the corner, when the scorers could probably have got closer to the sticks. It was clear from early on that Sutcliffe was going to miss any kicks from wide but thankfully enough we got out of it in the end. I guess I am thinking mainly of BJB's long run - could he have grounded closer to the posts? I think there was maybe another one as well.

Secondly, does anyone know what happened with the lack of Catalan 'polka jerseys'? I was looking forward to it. In the end it was like a fancy dress party was advertised, but only half of the people then turned up in fancy dress! It would have been really cool to have seen both engaging with (and celebrating) the TdF. Shame.

Not sure if it was ref-related; (ie. they weren't contrasting enough) or if they just didn't play ball; (ie. 'Yeah sure, we will wear the polka jerseys...' [marketing bloke leaves room... Ok lads; there is the bin - fill it with these tops quick!')

Maybe the next time the TdF starts in Leeds, they will wear the polkas then!

Agree wholeheartedly! Bailey should be nowhere near starting once all members of the squad are fit. Yet again the lump wood was presented with an opportunity to show he can play the part as a prop forward and failed.

You're obsessed. What part did he fail? nearly 40 tackles, what a failure.

Bailey's putting a run together now. No nonsense, just getting on with it. Put a solid shift in, no silly penalties, tackled all over the field and overall over last few weeks has been bumping them off in the drive. There on merit.

Pot calling kettle black re obsession! See you're avatar and stupid comments at the bottom of every post and your continual posts re the ability or lack of it of Kirke(yet again implied in the last line of your previous post)

He made 34 tackles not 40! How many of those were his usual soft cock 3rd in.
No silly penalties. So we should treat that as exceptional should we, that he's not his usual d1ck head self?
Bumping them off in the drive....when? God forbid if he every runs at pace into a defensive line.

There because we're desperate!

Quote ="rhinobucs"Pot calling kettle black re obsession! See you're avatar and stupid comments at the bottom of every post and your continual posts re the ability or lack of it of Kirke(yet again implied in the last line of your previous post) He made 34 tackles not 40! How many of those were his usual soft cock 3rd in. No silly penalties. So we should treat that as exceptional should we, that he's not his usual d1ck head self? Bumping them off in the drive....when? God forbid if he every runs at pace into a defensive line. There because we're desperate!'" Apparently he made 38 tackles, so yes 'nearly 40' superleague.co.uk/report/10019 The 2nd highest tackler. I like him steaming in as 3rd man and rattling someone. It's called rugby. also made 2 tackle busts as well, so must be hitting the line at decent speed. But they probably slipped or something, to suit your agenda. Post about something that's not related to Bailey, it's yet to be seen. Did the big nasty man twist your nipple at some point?

Quote ="rhinobucs"Pot calling kettle black re obsession! See you're avatar and stupid comments at the bottom of every post and your continual posts re the ability or lack of it of Kirke(yet again implied in the last line of your previous post) He made 34 tackles not 40! How many of those were his usual soft cock 3rd in. No silly penalties. So we should treat that as exceptional should we, that he's not his usual d1ck head self? Bumping them off in the drive....when? God forbid if he every runs at pace into a defensive line. There because we're desperate!'" Apparently he made 38 tackles, so yes 'nearly 40' superleague.co.uk/report/10019 The 2nd highest tackler. I like him steaming in as 3rd man and rattling someone. It's called rugby. also made 2 tackle busts as well, so must be hitting the line at decent speed. But they probably slipped or something, to suit your agenda. Post about something that's not related to Bailey, it's yet to be seen. Did the big nasty man twist your nipple at some point?

I thought he fell off at least two simple tackles for two of their tries.

Glad I only bought the kids that yellow top now because some players looked quite big in it to say the least

I think he was the player wasn't he that slipped off the players legs for the try at the start of the second half? but the other two in front should still have stopped that, so I would put their efforts as worse.

Quote ="thebloodbath"Apparently he made 38 tackles, so yes 'nearly 40' superleague.co.uk/report/10019 The 2nd highest tackler. I like him steaming in as 3rd man and rattling someone. It's called rugby. also made 2 tackle busts as well, so must be hitting the line at decent speed. But they probably slipped or something, to suit your agenda. Post about something that's not related to Bailey, it's yet to be seen. Did the big nasty man twist your nipple at some point?'" You may recall Kirke made 37 tackles against Warrington and who was then called by some a shirker and who is now called a passenger by you. The phrases "steaming in" and "hitting the line at speed" are not ones that come readily to mind when assessing Bailey, but I guess that anyone who has such a camp avitar of Mr B has to have a sense of humour. Bailey and Kirke fullfill similar roles at Leeds and are picked for their defence and experience and not for their carries. Both are past their prime but replacements like Singleton who despite showing the early promise have not progressed enough yet to replace either in the first team on a regular basis just yet.

Quote ="thebloodbath"Apparently he made 38 tackles, so yes 'nearly 40' superleague.co.uk/report/10019 The 2nd highest tackler. I like him steaming in as 3rd man and rattling someone. It's called rugby. also made 2 tackle busts as well, so must be hitting the line at decent speed. But they probably slipped or something, to suit your agenda. Post about something that's not related to Bailey, it's yet to be seen. Did the big nasty man twist your nipple at some point?'" You may recall Kirke made 37 tackles against Warrington and who was then called by some a shirker and who is now called a passenger by you. The phrases "steaming in" and "hitting the line at speed" are not ones that come readily to mind when assessing Bailey, but I guess that anyone who has such a camp avitar of Mr B has to have a sense of humour. Bailey and Kirke fullfill similar roles at Leeds and are picked for their defence and experience and not for their carries. Both are past their prime but replacements like Singleton who despite showing the early promise have not progressed enough yet to replace either in the first team on a regular basis just yet.

Yes, that was a bad miss. It was his tackle to make. There was also some lazy work on an inside ball for a try in the 1st half and the try Pryce created after getting it from the Southstand was built on a quick play the ball where he laid on the floor after being dominated by the runner.

The guy's coming back from injury and like bloodbath says he's better with more game time but I wouldn't call what he did yesterday as great defence, not that he was alone in that category.

A lot fewer missed tackles than usual recorded by Opts despite us appearing to miss more tackles than usual. It seems different stat compilers have different definitions of what constitutes a missed tackle. As usual, the stats can either be taken with a pinch of salt or according to agenda.

You may recall Kirke and Kirke alone put us in a 12 point deficit in that game. Bailey didn't do that.

Baliey aint no great shakes but he is a million miles better player than Kirke.

They both have their bad days equally IMO and I cannot see clear water between them let alone a million miles. Like I said they are both past their prime and neither are as reliable on defence as they once were. They are both benchmen fighting for the same spot in my view but no one has shown enough yet to take that place from them. Yates could be fit soon and he should get a chance.

He put us 12-0 down in that game by making 2 vital errors. His overall tackle count is irrelevant. There was no coming back from that, in that game.



But his improved metre making and tackle busts suggest that it does.....



I know who is better value.
As for Bailey against Catalans was defending smarter than the average Leeds player (i dont mean stat wise, i mean in context). He was only one of a few who when tackling was getting the ball carrier on his back. Catalans tactic was for their ball carrier to land on their belly to achieve a quick play the ball and win the ruck. Which they did overall.

That's fine. Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

Clutching at straws BB

Bailey being "smarter" is another description that appeals to my sense of humour

You regard 48 metres as making an improvement but all it does is highlight Bailey's limitations.