Hopefully JJB will have a better game than his attempt at a performance at the Galpharm against Wigan where he almost singlehandedly gave Wigan the game.

Try apart, not really

The distribution at dummy half from Rob Burrow last night was very poor in my opinion add to that the constant brain explosions we see from Jamie Jones-Buchanan week in week out and there's still lots to work on, I'm still not impressed by Joe Vickery and that was probably as poor a performance that i've seen from Kevin Sinfield, Kallum Watkins is quickly moulding into a turnstile.

I dont think Watkins defence is as bad as is sometimes made out. He does miss the odd glaring tackle every few weeks but he comes up with so very important tackles week in, week out. It's just the bad ones that get noticed. As far as his full back play goes, it was frustrating me last night. He managed to watch nearly every ball pass a few metres over his head! Was it that much of an effort to drop back 5 metres or so further? If he had the positional sense of Hardaker he would be a devistating FB. As it is, I cant wait for Zak to get back and Kallum to move back to 3. I just hope, after the ease he has shown he can beat defenders from FB, we decide to give him more than 3 passes a game.

Also in the game, Peacock as ever was a workhorse and made metres for fun but my MoM would have gone to Brett Delaney. He was immense in attack and defence. The amount of times he carried the ball 5-10 metres with 2 or 3 guys on his back! He kept us on the front foot early and rightly looked dead on his feet in the last 10.

In contrast though I thought JJB was awful and his place in the team should be up for grabs. He continually ran sideways and struggled to make metres. Yes, he scored that try, but the miss on him was awful and a very soft attempt. He looked a liability too when we were on top, giving away the 2 penalties for a swinging arm that changed the momentum of the game at the time.

As for Leeds in general, I dont think there was much difference to last week. Our defensive line was just as good. Wigan didnt have a kicker to capitalise on Watkins poor positional play like Huddersfield though. The big difference to me was where we made our errors. The majority last week were in our own half with most deep in it. This week they all seemed to be in the "right" areas to make errors, the attacking zones.

As good as we are in defence though, we are equally as poor in attack this year. There's only been McGuire and Moon able to break other teams down so far (since Sinfield in week 1) and we continually make the wrong options when we get the opportunities. I didnt think it was a 4 point game last night. As well as Wigan defended, I thought we should have been at least 12-18 points ahead with all the ball and the amount of chances that went our way.

Not to worry though. A win is a win and it keeps us near the top with that game in hand. Its very compact up there at the moment. It'll be interesting to see how long it is before any of the teams begin to make a gap or if everyone will continue to beat everyone. If Leeds can up their completion rate to around the 70% mark though they will take some beating with the defense they have shown this season so far.

Disagree with yer comparison to last week H i thought we recovred much better from errors and cheap penalties and our interest never dropped in this game whereas last week i thought many were gone Physically and mentally with 30 minutes left.
Some good points though mate and agree 100% re-Delaney.

I get what you are saying but it comes back to errors. I thought our defensive line speed was very good throughout last week. We just kept dropping the ball in our own half which sapped our energy quicker. That's why I tried to highlight the difference being where we made the errors this week. If we make the same amount of errors last night in our own half, we are looking at another big loss. The game is about field position and territory. The team who wins that battle will, 9 times out of 10, win the game.

True but again i thought we reacted better Physically in that we upped our line speed and maintained our defensive intensity and were more determined to chase back etc etc.
Also we didn't panic when we bombed clear chances either.

IMO our line speed never dropped off last week. We continued hitting them hard until the last minute. They scored 2 tries through the hands, just as Wigan did last night, both late on too. It's impossible to say how anything could have gone, but had we managed to get out of our own half last week, there would have been nothing in the 2 teams. We had a legitimate try ruled out at about the 60 minute mark (?) which would have brought us back within a couple of points and who knows what would have happened. As it was, it was disallowed and we made another error in our next set which they scored from.

Don't get me wrong, im not saying there wasnt any difference between the 2 games. There obviously was. What im saying is the difference wasn't much and thats the difference between a win and a loss. I dont think positionally Watkins was any better. I dont think defensively Vickery was any better. Wigan couldnt take advantage the same way that Hudds did.

As for Vickery too, He was very flat footed last night. I think I am going to call him Moses, because when he is defending, it's like watching the red sea part.

Watkins's cover defence was very good, and it needed to be because, sad to say, we may as well not have been playing anyone at all on the right wing. Haven't seen it twice, but for the Farrell try something must have gone very wrong with the rest of our defensive organization in the middle for Watkins to have been left covering so much space in the middle of the line. But, yes, his problems under the high ball, as well as what he adds to the 3/4s mean we could do with Hardaker getting back asap.

Explains why you tipped Leeds to lose by 12

Leeds and Wigan's respective form going in to this game (and Wigan's recent record at Headingley) produced that prediction.

The team I would have selected much earlier in the week had less of an input as did the eventual absence of Sam Tomkins.

__________

Is it easier to mock other poster's predictions now you're not taking part? Are you ready to see those head to head prediction results from last season yet?

I fully agree with you regarding Delaney who has been such a consistent big performer since moving to the back row. I also usually agree with your intelligent and thoughful comments. However I have to disagree regarding JJB. True he had a silly rush of blood and gave away 2 points and a couple of penalties (one of which hit the shoulder) but that said he was huge in defence and is a key forward in giving us the quick line speed you mentioined and was always one of the first in on a kick chase. He like Delaney and JP make the hard yards too and in doing that he takes some stopping even if not always making huge metres. He once again scored an important try because he is also a natural rugby footballer with the instinct and ability to know what line to run. His speed, strength and angle of run made the defence look poor as he caught the wrong footed and I give him the credit for that. So in fact had in not blown a fuse he was in the running for MOM IMO. Will be interesting to see his stats.

Watkins too has had some unfair comment from a few on here. He has shown he is not naturally used to being in the right position for a FB. However he is learning fast and was a big threat to Wigan with ball in hand and showed great defensive skill in saving what looked a certain Wigan try.

Hall, Moon and Maguire looked sharp and JP put in his usual big effort. Sinfield made some superb kicks but unusually for him was under par with his handling.

IMO we were the best side making many more scoring chances and had we not had such a high error count we could have won by 30 points. How many time do you see Hall fail to score so many times?

I enjoyed what turned out to be a hard fought game that was tense until the very end. But I have to say referee Silverwood seemed to try his best to influence the result. He is consistent in his inconsitencies! The unfairness of pulling JP for not playing the ball correctly was highlighted for me moments later when O'Loughlan, I think it was, flung the ball at speed under his foot at a PTB which led to Wigan's next score. Silverwood also had a different interpretation for each side for the high tackle and allowed Wigan to much rope to hold down and mess around after the tackle. His one eyed decisions in a key part of the game disrupted the Leeds momentum and clearly upset several players notably JJB. This doesn't excuse JJB but the poor standard of refereeing is becoming a real problem for our game.

I thought the first 25 minutes was the best we've played so far this year and we really should have been 2 or 3 scores up, and had we had Hardaker at FB and Watkins in the centres we probably would've been. Next week I'd give Watson a go at full back and get Watkins back at centre, and with Ablett going off I wouldn't be surprised to see that happen. Also as mentioned I'm still not convinced what Vickery brings to the side that Chisholm or Keinhorst couldn't, although he isn't being helped by some of the poor decsions being made by McGuire and Ablett defensivly. Defensivly we're as good as we've been in a long time IMO, our line speed and aggresion is fantastic and I thought we battered Wigan in the forwards, Delaney, JP and Kylie were immense.

Jones-Buchanan had a poor five minute spell either side of the thirty minute mark - Achurch and Ward were particularly outstanding during this period.

Other than that Jones-Buchanan had a highly involved and productive game. It will be interesting to see if Peacock get's awarded an 'assist' for that wayward pass to no-one.

Agree with ALL of this....maybe Vickery [uis[/u not been helped, but (sorry) I really cannot fathom why he continues to be selected. Maybe he has gained access to Kirke's alleged now shared incriminating photos on GH

I was not mocking. But had our coach gone with your team selection I am sure you would have a been able to boast again about your skills in backing favourites

Granted his effort for Farrell's try was very poor, but also his effort on Farrell in the 2nd half when he was faced with 2 Wigan attackers was very good.

Juan, I simply back who I think will win - I guess that will on occasion be the perceived favorites but as I don't check the odds before-hand I wouldn't know if and when that is the case.

It's good for the sport that the pre-match favourites are turned over on a regular basis. Rather that than a series of exhibition matches even if that means I'm a terrible tipster.

As for anyone other than the coach making team selections they remain purely hypothetical discussion points.

I think you'll find that Delaney had a major role to play in allowing Farrell to build up the speed that enabled him to brush Watkins off so easily.
Watch Delaney's reaction after the try was scored to verify that.

He's just beginning to frustrate me how indirect he is when taking the ball up. What happened to the JJB who ran head on in. He was like Delaney is now, just with an offload game on top of it. Can you imagine them both playing like that? They'd be the best 2nd row partnership in the league. Before the WCC last year he was one of the best forwards in the league. Since that injury, he hasnt been the same player IMO. Tthe reason im maybe being overly critical of him is probably because I know what player he can be.

What are your thoughts on Liam Farrell.
Up until Friday he had made 676 metres, 182 tackles and not missed any.
It'll be interesting to see (and add) Fridays stats.

My opinion, for what its worth, is that Farrell looks a damn good player. He seems to punch well above his weight, is hard to put down, runs good lines and is never found wanting in defence. Your stats back up what I already thought.

Phil Clarke's latest love-child.

Farrell - wasn't he the guy that reluctantly committed the offence that took Leeds to Old Trafford last season?

Playing very solidly this season on Wigan's left. Very much in the Carl Ablett, Brett Ferres mould - good efficient club players but unlikely (IMO) to trouble major opposition at International level. Sadly for England SL is full of that type of player.

I should have added that to the end of my comment. Spot on.

As I said on the Wigan board, which a number of your fellow posters took offence to & led to me getting banned, he is a great club player but not big enough to be an international class back row player. However I do think he has the potential to develop into an Andy Platt type prop forward & the time to progress to the next level.