^^^^ this
tricky away tie, check
key players missing,check
poor playing conditions, check
job well done, check
well done to the team, always in control
Who do we want in the semi, KR or LEIGH

Well done from me. No arguments about the result although it would have been closer if we could learn to catch.

I think awful conditions saw a lot of dropped ball by both sides, I thought we were just more clinical on the night.

I thought that the rumours about Westerman to Leeds was idle chatter until last night

Unlike Brian Mac who seems to have a 122 page thread about how sh*t he is.

Leeds did what was necessary - they defended strongly and managed the game better.

Sinfield was immense but Burrow inconspicuous, Watkins had a better game but both Singleton and Yates looked very lightweight in the collision.

Good win all round

You think? Thought Singleton ran hard. Yates doesn't look like he'll ever be a Super League player, but that was his spell for the club - put in some very good tackles. He has very limited go forward though. Burrow I thought kept it simple, which was right for the conditions and kept him from running round into blind alleys and draining his teammates' energy. His defence was good too.

One observation nobody's made was BMac standing on the sidelines telling Sinfield to go for 2 from the halfway line early in the second half. I thought he said he always leaves it to the players on the pitch? It was the wrong decision too. Sinfield is the one to know whether he has the legs to make that kick and if he doesn't it just gives the ball back to Hull, which is what happened.

Not saying you're wrong about Yates, but lack of go forward never stopped one Mr Bailey from 'making it' as a SL player.

In the Leeds Rhinos TV interview McDermott reckoned he always left it to Sinfield !!! It was the one wrong decision and despite his failings maybe, Burrow has made plenty of those potential try saving tackles owing to his pace and low down just stop the legs tackling technique.
Sinfield was masterful and not for the first time in such conditions....GF memories anybody?

At the risk of sounding like an acolyte again I have to say how impressive our incumbent FB is when it comes to that last ditch defence. ... and strength on attack too.

Except he clearly did have the legs for it, as evidenced by the one he hit from almost the same distance later on in the game.

Leeds played Grand Final rugby in June, very simple, mostly clinical stuff to just keep in the arm wrestle and back their ability to take chances when they came their way.

The goal-line defence is still a bit of a worry for me, which might sound odd after only conceding six points. Westerman blew two virtually certain tries by not being able to find the handle on the ball, while only a stray arm from Peacock knocking the ball down prevented another one. For a side that had very little ball inside our 20, Hull could and maybe should have posted four tries.

Like when he inconspicuously read the play and backed up at speed to take Keinhort's excellent offload and then inconspicuously offloaded himself to set up the Hardaker try.

No, he clearly didn't have the the legs for it at that particular time, with that particular wind, after that particular passage of play . As evidenced by the ball falling short.

What makes you think he missed (by about a foot) due to "not having the legs"? Poor contact, poor grip with the non-kicking foot on a sodden surface, momentary breakdown in technique could all have been responsible. Yet fifteen minutes later, when he would have been more fatigued, he "had the legs" to make the same kick comfortably.

I think cost/benefit analysis it was the wrong decision. Obviously you can't be 100% sure of getting or missing any kick, but the %age was low enough - with the ball pretty much guaranteed not to go dead if missed thus gifting Hull possession - that putting in a set of six in the Hull 20 would have been the more sensible play in the circumstances (beginning of half so no need for team breather, ten point lead so 2 points doesn't put us another score ahead). In my opinion.

Perhaps it was Sinfield's decision and McDermott was only offering advice from the sidelines. But he has previously said that he doesn't do that.

It was well within Sinfield's range and like the missed penalty resulting from the the excellent (and inconspicuous) kick from Burrow it was one of the small percent that got away. In the after match interview Mac said he sometimes gesticulates on the sidelines but Kevin does his own thing which is fine by him. However whoever made the decision it was the right one to keep taking opportunities to increase our lead in the wet weather conditions which keeps pressure on the side chasing the game.

If a kick from the halfway line is "well within Sinfield's range" then I'd love to know what you think the outer edge of that range is.

Longer than this one I would say.

I thought the Burrow/Sinfield combination worked very well considering how rarely we've gone with that over the past few seasons.
Burrow generally kept it simple until their forwards started really to tire & then had a few darts which gave our pack some respite too.
We were also very good at sparing our forwards by using the back 3 to bring the ball out of our 20 m zone.
Hardaker was as good as ever & handley's confidence does not seem to have been dented by his error vs Cas. Says much about his temperament & how the rest of the side & the coaches have supported him.
Thank goodness they don't listen to some of the posters on here.
But we were helped by Hull's generally dreadful handling near our line. I was though most impressed by Jordan Abdull, Westerman's replacement clearly in my view. Finally, again how anonymous was Pryce?

I'm laughing at the Hull board where Westerman is getting crucified after having hellish night with his hands (in the pouring rain) but always looking for the ball and putting himself in positions where he could do damage, as well as making 50 tackles, but there's not a whisper about the missing-in-action Pryce.

I can't remember Leon having a single good game against Leeds since he was at Bradford, bless him.

Hull's best player was Watts. He could be an international forward if he finds some consistency (or leaves Hull).

The Hull fans seemed to be very confused about who was who on the Leeds team, particularly mistaking nearly all of them for our number 14.

I think that's why they shouted 'For Ward!' every time we passed the ball.

You appear to be the doyen of over-exaggeration. And not too funny either.

Thought he went well in the playoff game last year, once the South Stand started getting on his back.

Much like his younger brother, he's got all the ability but none of the attitude.

Re-watched it. Our aggression in defense and line speed was very good, apart from a 20 minute spell in the 2nd half, we were in control.
I do think we could have killed the game off sooner by kicking a couple of those penalties to touch instead of going for goal, but over all we did enough to win, and played the conditions quite well.
Sinfield was MOM, but it was a good team performance, I do think we lose our width when Burrow plays in the halves because he doesn't have the passing range that McGuire does, but he does the basics well, and in those conditions it's what was needed.

well played, best team won

Coming from Cas I have been interested in Watts' career. 3 or 4 years ago he looked the best front row prospect around. He'd become anonymous until this season, guess you have to give Radford some credit for that, but he has the tools to be as good as any other current prop.

He's a puzzle for me. Inside the same game he can look like Morley, but next set run like Ian Kirke.

If he can put all his game together, you've got the raw ingredients of a very very good prop.

On Leeds, got the tactics spot on. Hull struggle to score points, keep them down in their own half and watch them struggle.

Leeds put them in a choke hold that they didn't have a reversal to.