Smith looked to be carrying a knock as he didn't kick as much out of hand and have the goal kicking to Bowen after a couple of shots. He had a poor game overall but has been improved recently. I'd still love to see a Williams/Hampshire combo get a shot but that ships sailed.

As for the performance of Silverwood and the video ref I'm not surprised in the slightest because Headingley is the biggest 'homer' ground in Rugby League along with Catalans. The first try annoyed me the most! How can the ref on field give 'no try' and then somebody have 87 looks at it on a replay and yet say he's convinced there's enough evidence to turn the decision around?!! I watched it back on Sky last night after I got back and the commentators just kept mentioning McGuires feet being up and totally ignored the fact that his thigh/hip area were on the line as he out the ball down. It was just about simultaneously but when it's no try on the field surely that shouldn't be turned round?!!

Typical Headingley.

There were reasons to disallow all four of the first half tries. Thought the McGuire one was the only one that should have stood, and that not by much.

Silverwood was poor for both sides (letting them stand 3-4 yards offside all match but blowing his whistle a couple of times at vital points) but the balance of decisions in favour of Leeds were certainly no more than those in favour of Wigan at the DW match. If you're honest you'll know that both Leeds and Wigan tend to get a lot of "homer" decisions, but if you wanted to play us at home in Super 8s then you should have done better in the league...

I think we knew Wigan wouldn't get any decisions and yes there were a few poor performances and yes another match were the attack lacked fluidity. However the spirit was there in abundance. I'd sooner have that refereeing shocker now than in the final, and by that point I will think Leeds' bubble will have burst. Gelling on the wing for me, Josh is lacking in every department and I actually pity him at the moment because he is better than these last dozen performances.
I think that game has shown us which direction to take against Leeds, angled kicks to the corner - which cuts out Hardaker and the contains Ryan Hall. Good tactics but the loss of MMs kicking game ( I can't believe I'm saying that!) just lost us the edge, because without turning Leeds round early in our tackle counts means we have to rely on the props and at the moment they are struggling

Funnily enough I actually thought Silverwood sided on Wigan last night.
You were holding down in every tackle, forearms in the face, milking penalties . Yet we got penalised for holding down.
From where I was stood it did look like Sinfield knocked on but watching it again it looks to have gone backwards.
Probably one of your try's came from a push on Briscoe?
Was it really a trip? And would he have scored? Sin binning at worse for me.
Can SOL tackle below the shoulder? Maybe not.
Bowen as always played well against us. We missed Aiton big style last night.
Other than that I think the scoreline just about reflected the game.
As for Silverwood I really hope he does not get any more big games that Leeds are involved in.

The Sinfield knock on *might* not have gone forwards (it was hard to see a definitive view), but the fact is, fumbles like that, including ones where the ball goes much more obviously backwards than that, are ruled knock-ons nine times out of ten.

You've just repeated everything I was saying myself last night. Another cracker was Sinfield's knock on before the Moon try. He has to reach out and grasp the ball with his right hand as he had lost control with his left and the ref still doesn't give a knock on.

Many things in a game can be debatable... This was not one of them. Should have been a yellow.

I think Budgie/Manfredi should be our Wingers moving forward for the rest of the season. Josh looks a little bit lost at the moment, and his performances are nowhere near the potential we all know he has.

MM has a cracking kicking game, and I've mentioned before this is very underutilised. It seems this is being used more and more as the season goes on, and we're seeing the benefit of that.

We lost two of our props late into the week, so we started with a weakened pack. That being said, I thought Sutton defended well and Flower was good going forward, made some good metres. The Pearl was great again, but needs to cut out the kicks, his kicking game is poor, at best.

I find it amusing that all supporters think that the opposition are always holding down, lying offside etc but yet they don't see that their own team are doing it as well! Leeds were way offside most of the time, got away with lying on, forward passes (as usual) etc. I am not complaining as it is part of the game and up to the refs to manage.

For the Sinfield knock on the video ref had plenty of time to decide if it went backwards or not and so we have to accept the decision. What I did find amusing though was Stevo's commentary saying that it clearly went backwards! There was nothing clear about it at all other than it first appeared to be a blatant knock on. It took detailed analysis to decide that actually it didn't (as far as the video ref is concerned). The guy is just a biased Yorkshire idiot.

Yes it did look like a push on Briscoe but not deemed enough to disallow the try.

Definitely a trip. Whether it justified more than just a penalty I am not sure.

I think you are being harsh of SOL. He occasionally tackles below the shoulder demonstrating that he CAN do.



Aiton was a big loss for Leeds and I thought they coped better without him that I thought they would.

Few strange calls either way but that's life. Was the sinfield knock on any worse than the smith knock on at your place the other week.

Question marks over both Farrell tries and the hall and McGuire tries.

Leeds deserved the win. Our pack was tragically bad once again. What happened to the good old days when prop forwards would just run the ball in?

As for Silverwood, nine times out of ten that Sinfield knock on would be given on the field, it wasn't. That's life, you win some you lose some.

Also, if it wasn't for Silverwood being inept, we wouldn't have beat Leeds at home last month. Swings and roundabouts.

The Smith knock-on was different in that it was definitely a knock-on but was missed by the officials.

We all like to moan about 50:50 calls which go against our team, especially when we lose. Your balanced view does you and your team credit, I salute your sporting attitude



I think if we (all teams) assume at the start of a season, that some times we will win a tight match off the back or "errors" by the officials and some times we will lose the same way and also accept that over the season(s) it will even itself out. We won't be far wrong.

Still a good moan can help in the short term as well

Sometimes a hard-done-to moan can help to anaesthetise the pain of a disappointing defeat. Lol



I was more disappointed last night that the game didn't quite live up to the potential of it being a top two clash with all to play for. Perhaps they are saving a more intense and exciting game for the play-offs? Maybe the GF?

Spot on. I think it shows a lack of intelligence to see both sides. For a classic example look at the thread on the Whinos board about Wigan. I doubt the combined IQ of most Leeds fans on that thread would beat their score last night.

I thought the weather spoiled the game , so I would not read anything into last nights result. I do think Wigan along with us are the best two teams in the competition, now that saints seem to be imploding.
Maybe Huddersfield might surprise a few people.
What puzzles me is a top four team without a decent goal kicker is strange. Bearing in mind the past masters you have had. Richards, Botica etc. If smith had kicked his goals last night the outcome may have been different . Whilst Smith is a reasonable player i am not convinced he is up to Wigan standards.
Just think about us and you at old trafford, two minutes to go ,you have to kick a goal from the touch line to win the match. Would you rather have smith or sinfield.

I'd rather have my Grandma kicking it than Smith.

The Sinfield knock on was a joke. I think the RL have changed the rules without telling anyone!
A spirited performance last night but again our attack misfired on too many occasions and Leeds overall undoubtedly deserved their win.
Leeds are now I think pretty much assured of top spot and with that should be a shoe in for the final.

How many times did passes end up on the deck behind players? The only bright lights in attack were George Williams, and the fact that Bowen had another decent game.

When it happens early doors as it did last night you just know that it will continue for the remainder of the match

All last night proved was that Leeds can win at home in front of a partisan crowd and a dodgy ref. We've beaten them on a neutral ground already and will do so again come October. I thought we competed well with everything stacked against us.

Your are right with that , also it was a pity about the weather , it's the same for both teams but impossible to have the full on battle I was expecting , hopefully October with a decent ref !!!!!

When is a knock on not a knock on when Sinfield does it.

Thank you for restoring the overly biased cherry and white view to one of one of common sense

As someone mentioned on another thread, Matty Smith really isn't Wigan Cup / League winning standard, far too slow and kicking average.

Mossop seems scared....scared to run in hard...scared of the contact..is that due to all his injuries???

Charley just isn't the same player....Why..???

Attack and structure are terrible..No one taking charge...

>>>>>>

Williams is superb... Wane deserves a lot of credit for backing him with the 6 jersey shame he forgot to implement support runners into his gameplan.

Bateman is hard as nails and should be signed up long term on a big deal.

Overall we are still in the top tier but poor recruitment and poor retention of top players (Burgess not being signed up long term) are massive failures from the management team.

Crowds are dwindling and will continue, fans don't want us to be a selling club like we are now..