I wasn't! It was obvious he was going to get it. What Stevo does is pick his MoM in the first 20 minutes, then talks them up all game, pointing out anything remotely good they do. If you've ever watched a match knowing who the MoM is you'll REALLY notice how much he does it.

Don't get me wrong, the kid had a good game, as most of the Wire team.

Me & the Mrs now play a game, "Spot Stevo's MoM", it's a good laugh actually... you have to declare your "locked in answer" and you get however many minutes left on the clock in points. You'll normally find you can get it right only 20 minutes in! (That's a 60 pointer!!

)

Forget about the score as it does not represent the game due to the blow out in our favour at the end when Warrington had already won comfortably and put the cue on the rack.

Focus on the performance and tell me if you are happy with that, or the other games already this season. We have some very fundamental problems at the moment, and whilst they can be fixed, I question if we can fix it by continuing playing in the same vein.

Oh I agree! We can fix it. But as you say we need to change the way we are playing. We are trying to do the fancy before we have earned the right by dominating other teams with the tough stuff and graft first!

Firstly, I don't fall for this... "The score doesn't represent the game" mumbo jumbo. Of course the score represents the game. The scores sole purpose of existing is as a means by which to graphically, statistically, and historically represent a game.

I'm not what you'd call "Happy" with the performance but I'm certainly not writing us off yet.

We were outplayed by a better team on Friday. It happens. Are Manchester United rubbish because they've lost to Chelsea & Liverpool?! No, they're still one of the best teams in the league, and will also probably still win the league.

Statistically we were beaten by 16 points in a game that we never looked like winning (even at 8-0 we had scored from our only opportunity when the Wolves had plenty of chances).

Why do you think that coaches go on about performance instead of score?

At work do you have a Performance review or a Score review once a year?

Performance is everything, get that right and you will win. At the moment our Performance leaves a lot to be desired.

You're begining to rival Rhinoms for his unwavering optimism and loyalty..... Leeds still have plenty of quality players but the fundamentals of good ball retention, completing sets and tackling seem to have deserted the team. How do you excuse that ?

you were poor on saturday for most of the match. i think that we did let our foot off the gas to let you get that high of score but there was little glimpses of what could be and this is the best time to play poor a lot of time to make up for it. good support at the hj as always and good luck! (not too much though)

At work they look at my billiing. If the billing is high enough they are happy. How hard or well I worked to get there isn't that important.

I'd imagine it's the same with you for sales.

In all jobs you're measured by results.

If your performance was not acceptable, do you think that the billing would remain at acceptable levels? If I didn't work hard enough to ensure that I have enough leads that convert into sales would I meet my budget?

Score (or results), regardless of how you measure it, is a function of performance.

You know me and I know you. Somehow we manage results with the least possible effort.

You can't excuse it. But BMc has nothing to do with Ali knocking on from the kick off does he?! That isn't 'Bad Coaching'. Nor is the poor completion rate, or error rate.

(This isn't singled out at you NE, I know you've said nothing specific against BMc, that I've read anyway).

It's not unwavering optimism, it's just that I believe my job as a SUPPORTER is to SUPPORT my team, not abandon them at a time when they most need the support. Everybody is quick to criticise Kirke (etc.) for 'not doing his job properly' but IMO the people constantly criticising, berating, and moaning about their team are just as much at fault for 'not doing their job properly' as the people they're moaning about are.

That's just the way I believe it should be. I'm not asking anybody else to subscribe to that.

I do, and I also find it somewhat ironic that you and I particularly are discussing the merits of performance and results on a thread titled "There's JUST about enough...."

All top performers make it look effortless

Agreed. I think having only 2 props has a greater effect on a team than missing 2 or 3 in the back line...

Why thank you David. You have seem me play



I hope Batley is now focusing on his performance as opposed to wasting his mnorning on here.

How did Lee Smith do for you this week?




And that was in a training session V an under 11's team from St Winifreds.

Same as always tvoc, average.

Don't know if this has been mentioned, but Leeds currently have the third worst defence in SL. Sort that out and we will be in a much better position! Easier said than done though.

Using the same stats... we also have the best attack!

I think we should not panic and be so quick to judge this early in the season. We have a new coach, some new players to fit in, some key players on long the long term injury list. Also we should not forget that we had a disappointing season last year with a lot of one up rugby with little flair. In fact it was the flair of McGuire that kept us from being a middle of the table side.

IMO this season our main problems are too many errors and missed tackles and several below par individual performances. To blame a change in playing style is too simplistic. Knocking on, losing the ball in the tackle are nothing to do with the style of play they are basic individual errors.

The best recent rugby we have played was a couple of seasons ago when we had a good offload game. We would not have beaten Bradford had we not had a go with some flair and some of the tries against Hull and Warrington would not have been scored either.

We need to sort out our marker and try line defence. We need to have some back row cover for our centres, particularly the hand right side. We should be playing Clarkson for longer and Ali as an impact player. We should drop Kirke and give a youngster a go.

Meanwhile keep attacking with flair and a bit more skill.

It is simplistic to pin point the style play for the whole problem but, it is a large factor none the less. This year we have been playing a very tight off the shoulder passing game, with plays made very close to the defensive line. However, the problem with that style of play is that timing has to be perfect and on Saturday we lost possession on several occassions because the passes were a fraction of a second too late. If we can rectify those slight errors in execution, we will improve greatly. In short, I can see what they are trying to do but, they are yet to be wholly successful in doing it.

My impression on Saturday was that we had made enough breaks to win the game and demonstrated that we could beat them, if our defensive game was up to scratch. The stats seem to suggest that impression was right. However, as things stabnd is our defence is terrible. O'Meley's two tries plus a dive from dummy half and simple step inside on Saturday suggest that our work around the ruck, ability to dominate the tackle and line speed are poor. In my view, the coaching shows up when a team doesn't have the ball.

Things have a Dean Lance feel about them.



Still, it is early days and I see little point in sacking McD right now.

I don't think anyone is actually calling for BMD to go, moreover they are expressing some concerns regarding the style of play. If we continue to play this way, where every ball is a try scorer for one team or the other, it's going to be heart attack stuff all the way this year. We need to temper our style a bit and play the footie when we have built the platform to do it from.

It's going to have to get a lot worse for me to call for the coach's head part way through the season.

McDermott isn't the problem for me - what we are seeing now is no different from what we saw last season. Unfortunately the side doesn't have McGuire to get them out of the crap each week. This is a side in need of some major surgery - too many over the hill/journeyman players.

Having Lowes as the assistant is also a mistake for me - great player but a failed coach should not be anywhere near a group of pro players.

That would make him one of Leeds' better performers on Saturday then.

I agree, it's difficult not to like him.

Just a small point, but I'd argue that things like dropping the ball from the kick off are actually symptomatic of a lack of intensity if they happen often enough - just as much as individual missed tackles or dropped passes. The impression I get is that Leeds have a disturbing lack of both intensity and structure at the moment - something they showed at times last year as well.