Wow. Very unusual - I'd never have guessed that.

Who scored a hat trick in 97 (the suspense is killing me)

It was a prop forward.

Barry Mac

'There are those that play the piano, and there are those that carry the piano.'

Not helping...'"

You were there already.

It was Barrie McDermott with the solitary hat-trick in 1997 and Wheels is using a McDermott-ism from last night's Batley - Halifax fixture when describing another former prop (Karl Harrison)

Good timing to have this discussion a couple of days before the next Rhinos prop to score a hat-trick. Be interesting to see if Brent Webb gets the try-assist for Peacock's hat-trick try.

To the untrained mind it may appear coincidental but there are forces at work here beyond our ken.



It should as it bears all the hallmarks of an OPTA try assist.

As for the rest I'm going for seven in total from the thirteen tries scored at Newport.

Burrow X 2
Hall
McGuire
Smith
Peacock
Webb

Most official sources incorrectly have Webb scoring the try himself so how they'll credit him with an assist to himself will be interesting.

Just shows you can never trust statistics and statisticians.

Some you can trust. Southstander's match report had no difficulty telling the difference between Webb and Peacock and the **** up will not be allowed to stand once everyone (even staticians) sober up.

I was wondering if I'd imagined Peacock scoring that try.

Webb has been given the assist for the final Peacock try and correctly so.

However and as per usual there are the usual headscratchers.

Nothing for Hall sending in Senior for the first

Nothing for McGuire for Hall's clear run in

Yet Diskin has been given one where Peacock had men to beat on the line.

The OPTA bod/s need to have a word with himself/herself/themselves sometimes they really do.

But we'd have all imagined the rest of the players jumping all over Jamie Peacock to celebrate too ....That wouldn't be imagination, it would be mass-hysteria !

Next opponents - St Helens

Leeds SL Era Record V St Helens

All Comps: All Fixtures
Played 49, Won 22, Drawn 0, Lost 27, Pts For 1148, Pts Agst 1275 ..... Avg Scr (23-26) ..... 45%

All Comps: Headingley:
Played 19, Won 11, Drawn 0, Lost 8, Pts For 534, Pts Agst 427 ..... Avg Scr (28-22) ..... 58%

SL Reg Rds:
Played 33, Won 15, Drawn 0, Lost 18, Pts For 797, Pts Agst 894 ..... Avg Scr (24-27) ..... 45%

SL Reg Rds: Headingley:
Played 15, Won 8, Drawn 0, Lost 7, Pts For 422, Pts Agst 353 ..... Avg Scr (28-24) ..... 53%

__________

Leeds' Biggest Win: 74 - 16 (Headingley - 4th May 2001)
Leeds' Biggest Win At Headingley: See Above
Leeds' Widest Winning Margin: 70 - 0 (Headingley - 23rd July 2004)
Leeds' Widest Winning Margin At Headingley: See Above
__________

St Helens's Biggest Win: 62 - 18 (Knowsley Road - 4th May 1999)
St Helens's Biggest Win At Headingley: 46 - 24 (8th April 1996)


St Helens's Widest Winning Margin: 56 - 10 (Knowsley Road - 30th April 2006)
St Helens's Widest Winning Margin At Headingley: 42 - 14 (7th April 2000)

It's perhaps interesting to note that the above four results came during the reigns of four different Leeds coaches. In the above order Graham Murray, Dean Bell, Tony Smith and Dean Lance. OK perhaps not.

Brian McClennan doesn't enjoy coaching against St Helens so much if his record is anything to go by:

Played 7, Won 2, Drawn 0, Lost 5, Pts For 112, Pts Agst 164, Avg Scr (16-23), 29%

But he's done better when coaching against Mick Potter:

Played 4, Won 2, Drawn 0, Lost 2, Pts For 107, Pts Agst 78, Avg Scr (27-20), 50%

Edit: McClennan V Potter corrected to include Challenge Cup, missed in error.

Statistics, as usual, only tell part of the story though.... If I remember rightly (and the dates kind of give it away anyway) both Leeds and Saints' biggest wins came a matter of days after their opponents had won the cup final. For Leeds' biggest win, I think it was the Friday night following the cup final weekend, whereas Saints' biggest win - again, if my memory is correct, coming on a Tuesday night - 3 whole days after Leeds had won their first major silverware in ages! Wonder how much Leeds cared about that match?

IIRC murray picked the most sober 17

This is the statistics thread, the story thread is this way ------>

oooooh saucer of milk for tvoc

Surely BM has had two defeats against Mick Potter this season, never mind when he coached the Catalans

Fair point. Just being contextual....

Is this where I join the mob rule relegating the Challenge Cup to being somehow less worthy or hold my hands up to an honest mistake?

You'll perhaps have noted how coach's records head to head haven't been used before. Now you can see why.

I may have to consider relying on Opta stats in future, they seem more accurate.

Well they're certainly guaranteed not to include any Challenge Cup fixtures when you use the Super League website to access them.

But Bluey probably did enjoy one of those two wins a hell of a lot more than saints enjoyed any of their five