I thought Buderus passed sharper than Diskin but I was disappointed he didn't take the line on more.I agree with the rest especially about Burgess.That first penalty he gave on the six tackle was criminal.

I agree much better from Burrow.

In adversity some will always stand up - and the young players they stood up - this gives the squad some real depth. It gives McClennan some options; hopefully he will use them.

It also put pressure on the senior players to perform because the coach has alternatives - the likes of Diskin, Kylie, JJB, Senior etc need to justify their selection through performance.

A lot more positives than negatives last night IMO

Neither Hooker had a particularly good game but to criticize Buderus and not Diskin is a bit unfair IMO.
On a related theme we were back to the usual interchange times for the Hookers last night. Which appears to send out a message to McShane that the coach has no faith in him.

Which is a shame because I thought McShane showed promise and easily outplayed Diskin in the very short spell he was given against Hull KR.

Diskin has been poor imo for several weeks and even though I'm a Buderus fan I admit that even he has not delivered as I had hoped he would the last few weeks,especially on attack.That said I think Buderus has been much better than Diskin latley (not saying much I know)

Its a shame for McShane that he missed out last night given his performance against Hull KR but with loads of experienced leaders out last night there was no way that Bluey was ever/could ever leave out another experiened player to keep McShane in the 17.

On recent form alone though and if we had some/most of the missing players back i'd like to see McShane given more game time at the expense of one of Diskin or Buderus.

Unless the club are planning on buying in another 'top' hooker long term for when Buderus goes home at the end of the year or when Diskin hangs up his boots in a few years time then McShane is our future at hooker and I just hope he is the sort of lad who understands his time will come at Leeds and bide his time as opposed to becoming frustrated and looking to move elsewhere as if the latter were to happen I think it would be a massive error.

I think Buderus is coming in for a lot of unfair criticism at the moment. He is only 6 games back from a broken leg. I appreciate this could be his last season and he doesn't have age on his side but he should be given time to regain his form. Diskin took over a season after his injury to get back to anything like the player he was before the knee reconstruction.While Buderus' injury may not be as serious, he doesn't have that kind of time to regain his form but to criticize after only a handfull of games is unfair. Some of those giving the flak were singing his praises before the injury.
Regarding McShane. I have been impressed with the few games i have seen him play and last week was a perfect opportunity to give him a chance to shine.BM decision to only play him for 10 mins or so was a strange one.

Agree regarding the stick Buderus gets from lots on here who seem to wish that we'd never signed him and the whole 2 hooker debate which seems it will never go away.

He's one of my favourite players,just a shame that his short stay has been blighted through injuries.

As I said even though he has not been 'ripping it up' recently I still think he has offered more than Diskin in recent weeks.

I think if he can remain injury free the rest of the season and as the 17 on the paddock gets stronger we will get to see the best of him once more and lets hope he can see out his short Leeds career on a high and win over some of his doubters.

I also think/hope that Diskin will return to form.

Good points MR but the thing is before his injury he only performed at the top of his game 2/3 times.
When you spend money on a quality overseas player it's fair to expect the level of quality he's reputed for is it not?
Many fans have said he wasn't needed and up to now they are proven to correct imo.
I was chuffed when we signed him but i hope he and the team improve their gelling of one another otherwise it's gonna be remembered as a failed move by many.

He's out of form, but certainly offered more in both attack and defence than Diskin last night, IMO of course.

I disagree that he only performed at the top of his game a couple of times. He arrived with the bicep injury and it took him a few games to regain his form but he was one of, if not our best player until he broke his leg.

On the positive side our attitude was good last night and the youngsters did not let us down. So all credit to them. In the first half our defence was sound and we were in with a great chance at half time despite the missing players.

On the negative side some of the experienced players didn't step up enough. I thought Senior was not active enough and JJB's handling was not good enough. However my main concern is our lack of attacking ideas and once again our terrible kicking game which allowed Wigan easy yards with most of their attacks starting on the half way line.

When our missing players return we will be a force to be reckoned with once again. However there are warning signs and IMO our team is stronger on paper than on the field.

Firstly when Sinfield does not play our half back's shortcomings are exposed. What is obvious is that both our half backs have lost that blistering pace that was their main attacking weapon and both lack a kicking or controlling game. Loss of pace happens to all players as they grow older so some adapt and acquire new skills while other just fade away. The jury is out on which way our two will go. It must be said that McGuire has been one of our better players so far this year and has shown much greater involvement. Burrow had possibly his best game last night but has not really recovered from his injuries from a year ago. Neither has Web who is a shadow of his former self.

Buderus while showing us his class is not an impact player and so far we have not had value for money. I am not too worried about other players who are out of form as that will return.

Therefore the search should be on now for a new half back who has a good kicking game and has the ability to take control of a game. Not an easy task!

I don't disagree that Buderus looked better than Diskin. That is it though isn't it? Those are the only comments we can make about his performance.

My expectations for a player with his reputation, on his salary and taking up a quota spot are much, much higher and he simply is not living up to them.

Just my opinion other than Quinns(away),Giants(away)and up until he was injured against Wigan that's the only time he's showed his top form from my memory.
He was doing well in other games but far from his "peak" performance imo.

And yet when he got injured against Wigan and there was talk of ditching him you wrote;
All joking aside buderus has been quality this year and IIRC he has missed no more games than webb yet no-one mentions ditching him.
Not having a go at you but when he regained his fitness last season he looked the top quality player we know he can be. His time at Leeds has been spoilt to an extent by injuries, but given a clear run for the rest of this season he can prove his critics wrong IMO.

Whilst not wishing to intrude on the long running Buderus debate , is it acceptable to apply your above comment to Brent Webb , who frankly, using your criteria , has been hugely disappointing but appears to be Bombproof to criticism .

Is Webb on 'quota' ?

He probably needn't be, whereas Buderus, Delaney and Eastwood definitely are. Has Delaney been fit since the home game with Castleford? When will he be fully fit? (The latter is a question I'd be interested to know the answers to.)

Webb is contracted for next season and is under no pressure for his place this season as Jones-Bishop cannot be recalled because of the tightness of the salary cap according to Hetherington.

I thought Webb looked OK last night apart from the kick out on the full.

Perhaps he has not been receiving criticism because not many share your view that he has been hugely disappointing.

I know I don't.

Without wishing to find myself in agreement with TVOC on an issue I also doubt Webb is taking up a quota space.

Without wishing to agree further with TVOC I too am getting a growing sense of frustration with the oft injured Delaney. How soft must the NRL be?

He was ill but insisted on playing

I think the half backs have struggled to gell with the constantly changing combinations of second row-centre-winger that they work with on their respective sides, hopefully with a more settled side we will see some improvements.

It's been metioned before that getting fresh players back later in the season could be a bonus, I also think having a period of adversity after the last 3 years success is no bad thing in the long run. Hopefully it will knock any complacency out of us and renew the desire and hunger to win again.

True but he still only hit his "peak" in the games i mentioned and Webb had proved his worth more than once and i was reminded of that plus the need for signing him in the 1st place.
I WANT him to prove his critics wrong but it hasn't looked like happening yet hopefully when our players come back he'll show his SOO quality and go home with a medal or 2.

Really...????

I wonder how ill he was – when I’ve got man flu the world stops turning, there’s no way on this planet I’d be thinking about playing 80 minutes of professional rugby.

Yorkshire Post said he was chucking up before the game.

Who said it was man flu?

re kirke how much of the last few seasons has he missed to return for the grand finals?

Kirke & buderus aside we've been fairly fortunate injury wise last few years and i put ablett down as one of the greater losses for the way hes covered loose & centre in the past.

No doubt his decision (and it was his apparently, not the coaching staff) to play would have been influenced by the options in the 19 to play stand-off if he didn't take the field.