He is just a liability in my eyes. Makes too many knock ons and gives a fair few penalties away. I wouldnt blame him for tonight but struggle to see what he brings to the side.

A game is a game is a game is a game, labelling it as 'x' and giving it more importance than any other has negative consequences, a semi final, a final should be no different to the first game of the season, trying to say having a big team mentality just because you have been to a final before (or half a dozen finals) doesn't equate to not cracking under the pressure/performing well because invariably that isn't how we deal with things.
Ask any of the top sports coaches/sports psychologists.'"

Straight back on the coaches back, how transparent.
Rugby league is too high impact/octane to perform at a high level week in, week out. You have to target certain games/stages of the season. It's about peaks and troughs. Teams that try to hit the ground running and sustain it all season ALWAYS come unstuck (see Huddersfield over last few seasons). The best teams still win when in a trough as they build to the next peak (see Leeds most years, Wigan and us this season).
We've managed it well this year up until last 2 weeks, but could have won both. I wouldn't put a full team out this week either. Anyone with a niggle or looking tired in training, give em a week off. We've got bigger fish to fry and the guys deputising aren't mugs and could play themselves into the cup semi team

Fonua was poor, he is a rock and diamonds player, but for me he has to many errors on him to play centre. I also yet to be convinced by Manu, thought he started the season well, but for me has disappointed since, I actually prefer Hadley as he offers more.

All the rest has been said, we need to win on Thursday as our season is in slight danger of slipping away.

I though Leeds were excellent and will win the 8's without breaking sweat.

Well sorry for having a opinion,I just don't rate Hadley,he is a honest grafter but no more.know nowt?....after being a fan for 40 yrs I think I have earned the right for a opinion....as for Rovers dig....grow up daft lad....i couldn't give a toss about them.

Stats back up what I though, bullied in the forwards, poor stats apart from Taylor on the go forward.

Last two games we have conceded 4 try's from kicks, need to learn to deal with kicks better, luckily Sneyd kicking was outstanding last night and kept us in the game.

There was no pressure applied to Burrows at all for the 2 cross field kicks. Just think we were too soft in the last quarter and really should have closed that out. I'm undecided on Manu and Fonua,most of the time either do anything really noticable is by giving a stupid penalty away.
We need to move on and beat Rovers and get the train rolling again. It seems though that as soon as we come up against a team who stands their ground for the full 80 we struggle. It's not time for over reactions it's just hopefully a hiccup that Radders can fix and in a months time we'll have forgotten all about it similar to the little patch earlier in the season. We can't win every game but it sure is frustrating to lose one like that.
As an aside Sneyd didn't deserve to be on the losing side,nor Taylor.

Yeh sneyd was outstanding, didnt deserve to be on the losing team, couldnt do anymore to give us a chance of winning that game, shame not everyone was on the same script. Biggest concern is looking pretty average without ellis, someone needs to really step up when hes not playing. Not to concerned right now, radford is not risking anyone with slight knocks at the minute, taking a few risks, but I guess thats what having a strong squad is for. Get the tank and ellis back and I think we'll be fine

Yeh agree with most of that, not quite hit the poor style of play from last year yet! Dont think we was smart enough, needed to get the ball outwide quicker , especially that first half, leeds was so compressed, we often had 3, 4 men outside them, maybe pryce would of been a better option tonight?

There are several reasons for last nights loss. That face we are in a semi final in 3 weeks time is NOT one of them.

We are a different team when Ellis plays.

We are an awesome team when Ellis and Mini are on the pitch.

We made like a an unstoppable force when Ellis, Mini and Frank are all on.

Personally I thought Sneyd was magnificent last night. However he had far to much to do again after Carlos went off injured. I know injuries are part of the game but this is the forth game that Carlos has gone off the field early on, not to return when he started at 6. Losing one of your halves like this serveraly damages the game plan. We are not in a position to bully their pack and Sneyd had far too much to do. It was his kicking which gave up many repeat sets from drop outs in The second half yet we didn't find a way over the line. If we played with 2 halves during that period, we score on at least 2 more occasions IMO.

I didn't really want to single out a player and I am not blaming the defeat on one player, BUT. Talanoas decision making needs to improve. The kick which lead to Leeds third try was not accurate. It should not have been contested in the air which would have allowed a defender to wrap up the Leeds catcher with ease. Instead he had to stretch to reach the ball in the air, fluffed it and Leeds score. I can forgive him the knock on which lead to Leeds winning try. No player will deliberately knock on. That was just one of those things.

For next Thursday, I'd like to see Pryce at 6.

Why? Oh yes, so he can play against us in the semi as the RFL, all referees, Boris Johnson, Sky TV, the robot of the car insurance ads and the entire population of the English speaking world hate us...grow up.

Yeh, that makes sense. 2 games against teams in the middle eights and we give them a decent shot. Everybody with knocks....cliched clap trap. The next two games give us an ideal opportunity to cement a top four position going in to the Super 8's.

..... so did the last 2.

80 minutes from Wembley against Wakefield or Warrington. I'd prioritise this. We're already Top 4 going into the Super 8s.

Quite.

I never understand why people are so pessimistic on here.

A couple of defeats and we're back to being dire and doom in upon us. And all this from those that in the dark days used to slag people off for being doom and gloom.
We've lost a couple of close games, so what! We came back from worse after the Widnes debacle and went on a stellar run.
The team needs to dust themselves down, work intensely on execution and focus on the next game at hand.
All this talk of sacking games off and concentrating on the semi will only lead to us falling down the table and choking on the big stage leaving us with another season empty handed.

I suppose some fans overreact to a couple of defeats and some just see it differently. After a good night's sleep Imo we have hit a blip . All teams have them this is ours. Imo next week's a big game. Still happy with the bigger picture 2 nd and in the semi ain't bad going. COYH

Resting players with knocks is all good and well when you're picking up the points but we just threw away four and were knocked off the top spot. We need to play our best team for the next two games and finish strong and confident before the split. The cup game will take care of itself if we go into it on the back of a couple of good wins and full of confidence and hopefully form. If we try any nurse ourselves to the semi it will bite us.

What is the strongest team though...the pack picks its self and so do the subs....for me its the backs that are the weakest link,we only have 1 back with outright pace in Shaul......Micheals is wasted on the wing,needs to be centre but then again,he isn't a strike centre,Fonoua came as a winger and was very iffy in defence and worst as a centre,yeaman is yeaman,Talaona prone to mistakes,but warrants his place...then we come to our stand offs......arguably we seem to have lost the spark and flair now Carlos is our 6.....we look more structerd with Pryce at 6......going on in id have a bk line of Shaul,Micheals,Carlos,Yeamo,Binman,Pryce,Sneyd....carlos and Micheals would tiggten up that side......Fonoua to work on his defence and to come in when injuries hit but id have Naughton before him and have Lancaster breathing down his neck

whatever happens this season,we need to sort the number 6 position for next season,i also think as well as we have done so far,our threequarter line up lacks speed and class to win the big finals.

Good to see you back. 10 weeks is a long long time.

Personally I'm not doom and gloom at all. This squad's already delivered the best run in a decade, sat in 2nd and in the cup SF. Massively surpassed my expectations for the year already.

Be nice to have some pace amongst our backs apart from shall.we don't have a lot

Dont think we have any other option but to play Pryce at 6

Its what i keep saying we need a 6 for next season.
Why waste money signing another utility player like Connor?
I hope he isnt coming now and we use the money trying to find the 6 that is needed

Disappointed to lose, as it always is to lose any game. Thought the game was won and lost during the spell of pressure we exerted mid second half. Failure to convert pressure into points ultimately cost us as Leeds clearly were boosted by keeping us at bay and seemed to grow in strength from that point onwards. A lack of guile and subtlety proving the difference, losing Carlos certainly disrupted us to a significant degree although Syned had probably his best game for us so far.

For the first time in 2016, Leeds looked something like their old selves and were deserving winners on the night. It was noticeable that a number of their big names players (Burrow, Hall, Moon, Watkins) all made decisive contributions to their performance.

For all that i enjoyed the game, if not the actual result. In 2016 we are still well into the credit column, although defeat next Thursday against what is sure to be a fired up rovers side may potentially turn this into a full blown wobble.

Either way, this sure as hell is a damn sight better than scrabbling around in 7th/8th/9th place which is where we have spent the bulk of the last ten years. A defeat is always disappointing no matter what the scenario, but I don't think anyone needs to reach for the cyanide tablets just yet



Onwards and upwards people, there was always going to be the odd bump in the road during the remainder of 2016, but we are still at the right end of the table and we still have so much to look forward to (fingers crossed

).

Interesting were the comments post match by Ryan Hall at the Touch Screen interview. Said Leeds had targeted Fonua from videos as a defensive weakness and tries came for them as a result of exploiting this.