You finished the smiley seminar then

Great point.

We all know how Smith analyses fine details. So he will note this pattern that has formed so far this season.

And how does he swing it the other way?

Wire have made great strides no doubt, but questions about their ability to win the big games and finish stuff off still remains.

They got the monkey off the back last year with the CC. They still have another one to shift later in the year.

Not so sure - Saints knocked out Leeds, Hudds knocked out Saints.

They will have to beat one or both in the playoffs - nobody is going to do that job for them.

Did he miss a penalty?

Oh and big wraps to Brian Mcclennan for managing his bench superbly last night.

I hear ya.

I made the same point at the time. But they did win a major trophy. Something they hadn't done for years. So it was a step in the right direction.

Now comes the difficult second album............

Could be bad news for Bridge: news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 767357.stm Played well again yesterday. We struggled to contain him.

Could be bad news for Bridge: news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 767357.stm Played well again yesterday. We struggled to contain him.

No but he kicked a penalty (the one right on half time), meaning he missed four conversions out of six.

[size=85I know the point has been addressed but it's not like I'm going to type the following and not bother to post it now, am I.[/size



Not sure what the Challenge Cup told us last season, in the grand scheme of things, set alongside fourteen years of SL.

For Warrington it was absolutely massive to win it but (and sorry to all my newly acquired internet Wire chums) it came on the back of a fairly fortuitous draw in the early rounds (York and Featherstone), a narrow escape V Hull KR (golden point was it? - I probably need to check these facts now that Oldham is on my case

), avoided St Helens in the semi draw (leaving Huddersfield to do what they, in all probability, wouldn't have been able to do for themselves) and faced a Huddersfield side that didn't really perform up to expectations on the day.

Good luck to them, Warrington earned the cup (for the first time in 35 years) and it wouldn't have mattered if they were facing St Winifred's School choir in the final either, they did what they had to do and deserved it. The class of the field last season were Leeds and Saints though and while it's possible (with a bit of luck) to avoid them in the cup it's less likely you can do so in the race to become Champions.

A step forward for Warrington, yes. Did it make them true contenders, the jury is still out.

IMO (and that's all it is) Warrington won't be successful until Tony Smith takes the brave and probably unpopular decision to move Lee Briers on.

When Briers plays, he has to be at the centre of everything. Key playmaker, tactical kicker, it all has to go through him. Now that was fine when he was in his prime, but personally I think he's lost a step in both thought and deed over the last 12-18 months and doesn't present the same threat he did.

Consequently, Warrington aren't getting the best out of those around him. Personally with everyone fit I'd be looking to go with Myler & Monaghan in the halves and Jon Clarke at hooker were I in Tony Smith's position.

That's correct.

Lee Briers kicked 3 from 7 yesterday, Kevin Sinfield kicked 6 from 6.

Re Sinfield's kicking - Including his two previous Leeds appearances (V Waklefield, V Crusaders) he's kicked his last 17 straight. Not sure how he did for England V France though, I have a feeling he wasn't quite 100% at Leigh.

Certainly seems to be back in the groove. Might be just me, and you may have some stats to back this up, but his kicking has seemed pretty indifferent this season compared to previous seasons.

Thank god you aint our coach



Have you seen Mona's in the halves? not even half the player he in at 9

I don't know so much about indifferent, he's had a couple of games where he's been down around 50% IIRC (Warrington at home?) but a few more like yesterday where he's been the difference between losing and winning.

Maybe a touch more inconsistent, but when he's been hot this season he's made a difficult skill look alarmingly easy.

Maybe inconsistent was the word I was looking for, but yeah, you've pretty much summed it up for me. As a place kicker I firmly believe he's one of the best in the world under pressure. Only Richards over here can rival him IMO. I don't see enough of the Aussie stuff at the moment to judge, but you'd be hard pressed to beat Thurston.

With hindsight, last year might turn out to be Warrington's version of our 1999 season (albeit with a run of lesser opponents to get to the cc final). For a while the future looked very rosy but the reality was still yet more years of waiting.

Ah right. I forgot about the penalty he kicked.

The team played very well as unit and watching it back on Sky+ changed my initial views on the day

Buderus was outstanding his running from dummy half exceptional - his best performance in a Rhinos shirt
Peacock - 80 minutes once again - incredible in that heat
Sinfield - captain's knock magnificent
Senior/Bailey - they did some tackling in the first 20 minutes
Eastwood - if he continues like this could be the import of the season

To play a top 2 side without: Webb, Ali, Kylie, Burrows, Diskin, Burgess and Hall and Smith unable to run says much about the quality, desire and team spirit in the side

Quote ="GCM1980"Certainly seems to be back in the groove. Might be just me, and you may have some stats to back this up, but his kicking has seemed pretty indifferent this season compared to previous seasons.'" We did this on here fairly recently: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=455800&p=15189944&hilit=stats#p15189944 Quote ="tvoc"Sinfield's percentage of successful place kicks: 2004 - 80% 2005 - 79% 2006 - 84% 2007 - 82% 2008 - 76% 2009 - 77% 2010 - 80%'" After yesterday Sinfield has kicked 81 from exactly 100 attempts now this season, raising his average to 81% for 2010

Quote ="GCM1980"Certainly seems to be back in the groove. Might be just me, and you may have some stats to back this up, but his kicking has seemed pretty indifferent this season compared to previous seasons.'" We did this on here fairly recently: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=455800&p=15189944&hilit=stats#p15189944 Quote ="tvoc"Sinfield's percentage of successful place kicks: 2004 - 80% 2005 - 79% 2006 - 84% 2007 - 82% 2008 - 76% 2009 - 77% 2010 - 80%'" After yesterday Sinfield has kicked 81 from exactly 100 attempts now this season, raising his average to 81% for 2010

That's very impressive - makes it look easy. I'd never bet against him making a kick at the minute.

(The wigan cup game was a bizarre off day obviously!)

I thought JP had a spell off the field in the first half, maybe Leeds first interchange?

Is that because Sky said so?

He was replaced by Kirke on 14 minutes as Leeds were celebrating Senior's magnificent try and replaced Bailey around the 25th minute. Not sure about the rest of his gametime without checking and I'm also sure he will have played a massive stint in those conditions - only not the full 80.



Not last weekend you wouldn't in the Cowboys V the Sharks.

Brilliantly entertaining last 10 minutes but for all the wrong reasons. Cowboys dropped a goal to win it (or so they thought) and two players accidentally, full on, head butted each other in the celebrations (daft Ockers), blood everywhere.

Then Cronulla dropped a goal to equalise, wingers unable to catch re-starts gifting the all important field position away, appalling setting up for drop attempts by both sides, a referee blunder awarded a penalty for a ball steal that never happened, Thurston missing the penalty from smack in front (30 out), more terrible drop goal misses before Barrett (I think it was) finally nailed one to end the fun. I think the drop attempts ended at 2 from 7 for Cronulla and 1 from 5 from the Cowboys or something like that.

It made the Leeds - Bradford game look like a masterclass in how to win in the last five minutes.