first half we drew you into an arm wrestle but 2nd half you used the width really well and had to much pace for us.
it was great to see so many away fans for a change too.

shockingly, playing a hooker at hooker means we play better.

RB is a great player, but he needs to be coming on against a tired defense to exploit his pace and agility. Aiton gives us solidity and structure, which is what we need early doors.

Also good to see Singo start and Kylie come off the bench - as it should be.

I fort Paul aiton changed the game when he came on for you today direct and organised picked the right options and always there looking for the off load

bring on wire.....they looked clueless without Briers the other night

I really like your new away shirt, think Welham prefers the back of it tbf..

It was great not to be stuck behind the grassy knoll, waiting for the light from the game to reach us.

Nice new stand though. Sort out that open end, and you've got a cracking ground now.

Brian McD said that Paul Aiton had taken a knock to his ankle hence the lack of game time today but should be ok for next week.

he left the ground in a protective boot

why play him at all then

I believe he means Aiton suffered the knock in the actual game.

Yet another casualty of McDermott overplaying players. When will he learn.

Now now!!! You know you aren't allowed to mock/criticise/challenge those who dislike McDermott.

Damn him for starting with Leuluai and Bailey whilst Singleton and Clarkson started on the bench, bloody caving into player power again.

So I was just checking out the stats for our "weaker pack"

Singleton - 18 carries - 120 metres - 6.67 mpc
Peacock - 17 carries - 105 metres - 6.18 mpc
Delaney - 14 carries - 78 metres - 5.57 mpc
Ablett - 16 carries - 87 metres - 5.45 mpc
Clarkson - 10 carries - 47 metres - 4.7 mpc
Bailey - 7 carries - 57 metres - 8.14 mpc
Leuluai - carries - 57metres - 8.14mpc

7 players - 551 metres (78.7 metres per forward)

Weyman - 13 carries - 92 metres - 7.08 mpc
Poore - 7 carries - 67 metres - 9.57 mpc
Langley - 14 carries - 100 metres - 7.14 mpc
Larroyer - 11 carries - 64 metres - 5.81 mpc
Costigan - 7 carries - 47 metres - 6.71 mpc
A. Walker - 7 carries - 62 metres - 8.86 mpc
J. Green - 11 carries - 74 metres - 6.73 mpc
J. Walker - 6 carries - 33 metres - 5.5 mpc

8 players - 539 metres (67.4 metres per player)

To say that's where most Rovers fans thought they would beat us they surely have to walk away pretty dissapointed.

Highlights how stats can be misleading, without seeing the actual game to back it up.

I am a huge fan of Singleton and the need for him involved as much as possible. But Peacock was head and shoulders the best forward on the park by some distance. The next best forward IMO was the Rovers 24, I think was Green? A youngster. I don't need the stats to tell me that.

Those stats also don't show you some of those metres for certain players were as a result of being put clean through a gap for a break. Or in the cases of Bailey and Kylie, the return of many kick offs.

It would have also being more interesting to see defensive stats too. The Rovers pack seemed to do a much better job in this department than the score suggested, as it was the backs leaking the scores.

Stats are historical reviews and shouldn't be used in isolation for projecting arguments. They can be a useful tool for motivations and structuring training or maybe tactics.

Well, I've only seen the highlights and heard the radio coverage. So I'm terribly ill-equipped and ill-qualified to comment.

But what the jolly heck. Welcome to the internet.

My favourite thing about the game, because it is something you don't need to see the whole game to know, is that when you have a new centre/wing pairing it is never going to be a bad thing for the centre to put the winger over 3 times. Partnerships take time, but that's a pretty good start.

Secondly, there were times on the radio commentary (and it showed in some of the tries) that Leeds were able to pick up a lot of metres either straight out of dummy half or for a first receiver running back at the ruck. This seemed especially so in the 2nd half, but it was hard to tell how much of it was down to Aiton. Our ruck speed seemed pretty good. Won collisions by the forwards? Good dummy half play? Both? Thoughts of those who saw the whole thing welcome.... Either way, Rovers will be pretty unhappy with that.

Even on the internet, I'm not going to try to infer more than that.

The season is one game old. I wouldn't panic overly if we were terrible at this stage, everyone's rusty in game 1 and some odd results happen, and similarly I'm not going to get over-excited after a win, but I'd rather have 2 points in the bag than not.

Not all the dummy half play was Aiton, especially in our own half of the field. The opinion you have formed is more or less correct. Our backs especially were really impressive at this.

The difference with Aiton is that when he was at dummy half, it was quick ball, it was a nice crisp pass, and he switched the plays.

In the first half, Burrow was nearly always the man at dummy half, the passes were lobbed at times and pretty poor, and others although wanting to get in at dummy half were pushed away by Burrow. The play was more predictable.

Compare and contrast to when Burrow came back on, and the Hull KR defence was broken and tired, and he had more success in 15 minutes than he had in 40. This is exactly where you use Burrow to the best.

Did Sutcliffe get on and if so where did he play?

An unusual alternative to the team bus.

I didn't notice Sutcliffe much, I think he was in the back row for 15 min spell. It was pretty scrappy with not much room when he was on.

Did Brian McDermott really say this and what on earth is he on about??

Come on Brian, do you expect him to finish or don't you?

Leeds coach Brian McDermott:
"When you bring someone in of Tom's calibre at this level, you don't expect him to finish those tries.
"But there is an expectation that he will do. The pleasing thing for me was the way he was involved in our sets coming away from our try line.
"He was hard to contain. He's a strong fellow and a very robust winger with speed.
"He punched holes in the KR defence in the first half and we value that as highly as the tries. His strength is his strength."

To be fair, and I am not defender of McDermott, but yes I know exactly what he is on about and he is spot on.

It was said on here by some of us, exactly why he is a big improvement on BJB. Briscoe has always being a good defender, but more importantly extremely good at bringing the ball away from his own line. That was one of the main attributes that Leeds saw in him, he is an extra forward when in your own 20. That is an area BJB can't help in.

Wingers are wingers, where your team inside is so damn good you are putting tries on a plate for the winger, it doesn't really matter what stage they are in their careers. But someone who does the hard work aswell and can win collissions coming away from the line, isn't quite so easy to replicate.

Interesting to hear the comparisons between the AHBs.

I do suspect that Aiton will provide the better option at starting position. I hope I am right.

On the Rhinos twitter account they used a recording of McDermott revealing his squad. There was a long pause when reading the subs out, he forgot his bench.

.............TA....TK....MT....TB....AT....C....M....AG....CB....DR....E....P
Burrow....1......9......1......4......1...15...79.....5......1.....12.....1....0
Aiton.......0......9......0......0......0....6.....8.....1......0......6......0....1


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