Well i hope we see sence and put lockers back to 13 starting next week

Smith has to play 7 with finch at 6.

If anyone thinks we lost yesterday because Locky was at 6 they watched a completely different game to me.

Yeah, it was O'Loughlin's fault that Sam made three bad errors and the ref missing a blatant knock-on!

Agree that Lockers at 6 did not cost us the game, but there was a lack of speed in the halves with Finch at 7 as well. Smith will surely be 7, Finch 6 and Lockers 13 for the next few games if fit.

MM didn't look 100% fit, but in all honesty most of the pack looked jaded/less ineffective and energised than usual. Lima/Mossop who were both subbed relatively early and Hansen were all disappointing along with Tuson. Looking back I can only remember Hock, Farrell and Flower doing much running with the ball.

It was our worst game of the season and I include the Widnes game in that. Nothing to do with lockers at 6 we just didn't play well. Even without sans errors and the knock on try, we were still beaten by a better team.

On the plus side, we now have all our eggs in one basket and a total focus on SL title!

I agree that the half backs were not as effective as usual and the forwards were disappointing but we still scored 28 points and could have had more. The reason we lost was because of mistakes and some bad ref decisions. In summary, we could have won that game having played well below par. Worryingly we have now lost two semi finals in a row! To give credit where it is due, Leeds and Saints are still able to raise their game for the big one off games when it matters. It will be no different in the SL play-offs when Wigan's good form all year will count for nothing. Hopefully yesterday's painful display will be a good lesson for the play-offs to come.

On the half back situation, Matty Smith will soon establish himself there allowing Lockers to revert to 13.

I never mentioned yesterday, stop flying off the handle.

I just think lockers is far more effective at 13, i didnt say we lost yesterday because lockers played at 6.

I think we will be a far better side with finch at 6, smith at 7 and allow one of the worlds best loose forwards to play in hios best position.

If you think my response was flying off the handle you need to get out more.

The day after a poor semi final loss and you're suggesting people see sense and move Locky back. In that case if you weren't referring to yesterday then we looked pretty good in the last game with Locky at 6 and Smith at 9.

The one thing we can take is that, we played our worst game of the year and it was no walk over. They're gonna get their bootys handed to them well and truly in the final.

Lockers did not lose us the game, Super Sam did, but the lack of creativity in the halfs (due to Lockers) did not help

Rubbish, no one player lost us the game, the team lost, Sam made individual errors but so did others, Leeds were excellent yesterday, we didn't play well, that's sport, it happens.

I got a text at 16-0 down saying Finch is having a shocker and thought at the time 'he can't do anything without the ball'. We've definitely lost something with Leuluai being out but there's very few halfbacks in the world who we could have stuck in and it not be a step down.

Our attitude in the first 15 minutes cost us that match yesterday not the choice of halfbacks or referee. A couple of players looking short of full fitness didn't help either.

We made 5 errors in the first half that were converted in to 5 tries by Leeds (the 5th courtesy of a poor penalty decision). We let the game get away from ourselves and had too much to do to claw it back.

Locker's error for their fourth try was an important one IMO. We had just scored 2 quick tries and had got back within 4 points. Sean takes in a drive and loses the ball and Hall goes in at the corner the next set, completely stopping any momentum we were building.

Sorry, i thought we lost by 2 tries, oh wait a minute we did, well 11 points to be exact, now i wonder which player gifted the opposition 2 tries, who was this player? i just can't remember

You really have not got a clue have you, that's not how it works, what about the other points Leeds scored, who's was at 'fault' for those, other players missed tackles, gave away penalties, dropped passes, did Gelling 'gift' a try by missing that cross field kick or was the player responsible for closing down the kicker at fault for not doing his job, when Bailey reached over to ground the ball who didn't clamp the ball carrying arm, as I said before, its a team game, we win as a team, we lose as a team, no individual was responsible for the defeat.

We conceded 39 points, the most this season. Due no doubt to the worst performance of the season. The number of players who played well for the whole game can be counted on a few fingers. Most played well at some time and poorly at others.
As for the OP's comment about half backs. The Finch at 7 and Lockers at 6 is something we may well not see again as Matty Smith is in the squad for the rest of the season. Should he cop a knock then will Wane go back to yesterday's 6 & 7 or bring back Mellor, maybe alternatively play Williams there as suggested some weeks ago?
Whilst Tommy is out I think we need a regualar 7 with Finch at 6 and Lockers to remain at 13 no mattter what.
Agree that the loss wasn't down to half backs or any individual but a very poor team performance.

My point exactly.

Correct.

Sinfield did ok at 6 didn't he.

We need to stop giving this excuse.
Lockers is a better player than the one who never smiles.

Lockers was playing like a 13 yesterday, I'd like to see how many hit ups he made.

You win as a team and you lose as a team. Yesterday there were far too many errors from a lot of different players.
Wane will be furious about some of the team defence, particularly the soft Bailey try.

Leeds deserved their win.

Only happens every few years ....but I agree with Rogues, win and lose is a team effort .....trouble is you lot thought it was a shoe-in to the CCF and you got caught out by the tykes

I understand some people's criticisms of having O'Loughlin at 6.

For the past 5 years we've had a scrum half who has consistently been a major influence in our side and this year, with his injury, we are lacking cover in the halves and the hooking position. This has been a huge point made throughout the season by a lot of fans.

By losing Leuluai, moving the on-form 6 in the league 10 yards further inside to play at 7 (if you watch our structured attacks) and then to cover him - we move the on-form 13 in the league to 6, we are always going to have problems.

Now we have signed Smith, who can slot in at 7 or 9 (ala Leuluai) we should be OK for the rest of the season but obviously, we were going to struggle in the cup with the constant pressure we put ourselves under due to some basic and woeful errors.

You can't lost the ball 5 times in your own half in the first 20 minutes of the game against anyone in Super League. Also mentioning our defence, which was a shamble. I think in the entire game, if Leeds started a set within 30 years of our line, we stopped them from scoring only twice.

Poor defence, too many errors in attack and a lack of creativity from the spine of the team. It just wasn't our day. If (and it's only an if) Smith hadn't been cup-tied or TL hadn't broken his leg, I'd be pretty sure we'd be on the way to Wembley come August.

I'm now looking forward to the rest of the season, with the likes of Richards, Leuluai, Fielden & Prescott all to fully return (hopefully).

Just hope you lot are not pinning all your hopes on Smith....or maybe I am

I just think it was a mental loss rather than it being about players out of position. They just were not on the ball in the opening half. What we did actually produce in attack was brilliant I thought. Just that I think we had 35% possession overall.