No complaints from us, Leeds were the better team tonight and have been the best team in SL this year, I am pleased with the effort and commitment we showed tonight but too many dropped balls and unforced errors prevented us from making the game closer and who knows, regarding the 2 obstructions that Powell moaned about, 1st one wasn't even worthy of a Vr decision, the 2nd was debatable, we have had tries chalked off very similar the last few weeks so I understand his frustration regarding consistency but picked the wrong time to vent it. Anyway well done leeds

Enjoyable game despite a lack of intensity and the first SL fixture I've attended in 3 years. Good seat, good view and well behaved fans apart from a couple of gobe females in rhinos shirts whose screams were pitched at a level which is a constant irritant to eardrums within a 10 metre radius.

Game panned out not quite as expected - I thought Leeds would run away with it in the 2nd half with plenty to spare but credit to Cas who weren't prepared to roll over despite the short three day turnaround which was too big a hurdle for them to overcome (as predicted earlier).

WHEFAM rolled around like he'd been shot around the 45th minute but thankfully didn't embarrass himself by requesting a stretcher because it was obvious he was just after a breather. He'd fit right in playing soccer instead.

Best team won by a scoreline which was a true reflection of the game. Reasonable attendance too considering it was a Thursday night and the poor weather for several hours prior to kick off.

You mean when he laid on his back holding his shoulder.



And who'd want to watch football and a bunch of footballers roll around like they'd been shot every time they get a slight touch???

You still looking forward to Algeria vs South Korea BTW?

Slightly disapointed with the Daryl Powell comments about some tough call against the tigers. I am assuming its the two shenton incidents,seems to me shenton seemed to deliberately run into our dummy runner.
Presumably to win a penalty.
Just to balance things up, I thought the short turn around was extremely unfair and probably affected cas in the last ten minutes,they seemed to run out of steam.

Reporter "JP did the full 80 minutes didn't he?"

McDermott "I tried getting him off 3 times......tried to. We keep getting a b*ll*cking off the fourth officials because they think we're messing about just trying to secretly get a message out there......he (JP) just turns around and says "NO!". So I need help, can anyone help me? Does anybody dare tell JP he has to come off?

I send Plumey on there and I cringe for Plumey because he tells JP he has to come off and JP is like one of those guys off Superman (points to his eyes) who puts rays into him. So when I send Plumey on for a substitution....no worries, when I send him on to go get JP off he literally shakes."

Love this story.

Whilst yes I'm sure they'll be some who "worry" about him come playoff time, I'm just enjoying and appreciating a truly special player and like Peacock himself said post match, he doesn't have many of these occasions left so why not make the most of it.

Truly fantastic individual.

nice 9 day turnaround for him. hes going to need it! very happy with how that played out. much enjoyed the closer first half than the 2nd.
credit to the cas defence in the last 20, very surprised we didnt score. well done cas, thanks for an awesome game to watch

Functional from Leeds. Did what they had to do in tricky conditions. Nothing flashy, not pushing the pass when it wasn't needed (in most cases).

Kicking game, which has been a bugbear of some, was in the main well directed at Tansey and Dixon, giving Carney nothing to work with.

Thought the two "obstruction" calls were both good ones based on the current interpretation. The ball was past Achurch's outside shoulder before there was any contact with Shenton, who on both occasions just took the wrong runner.

Fitness permitting, Hall back in for BJB for me at Magic Weekend. Thought he looked nervous fielding kicks, spilled a couple that he was fortunate to be able to clean up before any damage came of them.

Still not convinced there isn't a better option that sticking Sinfield at dummy half for 50-60 minutes per game. The attack loses a lot of shape and fluidity when he isn't calling the shots from first receiver.

Plenty of positives to take from that game and still plenty of areas to improve on.
I actually thought we looked like we had played sunday during the 1st half and Cas looked more up for it.
However we re-grouped in the second half and managed the game and conditions very well.
Watkins got sky m.o.m and I thought he was very good but I would have given it to JP.
Kylie again put some huge hits in and did the tough drives but to be fair the whole pack put a shift in and whilst Bailey may not have made any line breaks he scrambled well defensively so not all negative.
Sutcliffe is getting better the more time he spends on the field and I hope he can keep his spot in the 17 when everyone is fit should his form warrant it.
I still think Cas will be top 6 IF they keep their better players fit and whilst there are plenty of plaudits for Clarke ,Huby and Carney in Sneyd I think they could have potentially a very good scrum half and should be doing all they can to sign him up whilst the Mad Dr is still willing to over look him in search of NRL stars.

The problem is Sinfield is our best option at hooker too. His dummy half play is clever and strong ( loved the kick for Tansey's knock on ). I think McDermott has got his selections spot on at the moment . Clarkson good down the middle to begin with then bring on the growing in confidence Sutcliffe, who is looking to take on the responsibility more and more. He is looking like a young Leon Pryce type of SO and can see more strong breaks that our fantastic outside backs will lap up. I agree Hall should walk back in. BJB still inspires less confidence in defence as always looking jittery, but Briscoe too again looked less than fully confident on the left. This is strange considering he played there for Hull... Or maybe it's his way of saying keep me outside Watkins please.
The weakest link at the moment for me is Delaney who has not put in anything like a MOM performance for some time. Perhaps a case for switching Stevie Ward to LF with Delaney taking a turn off the bench.
I am enjoying the extended faith shown in Achurch as the wide running second rower ( JJB not missed especially in the reduced penalty count - Ablett now seems to want to contest that role

) and the rest of the pack is performing admirably. Ablett is always a threat and Kylie like Peacock is rolling back the years. Peacock is beyond superlatives. ... How are we going to replace this guy?

Keep up the good work Brian.

Maybe a chance for young Robbie Ward after magic weekend?

I thought Delaney was poor at the match last night, and shows how stats can work the other way also. Because I see his stats now, and on that basis is performance was incredible. Obviously many things you can not see when watching the whole team. He seemed to be down on his haunches repeatedly after doing something, but considering he spent a fair amount of time off the field, his tackling stats are fantastic.

I agree with Gilder on the hooker. Yes Sinfield did a couple of great kicks, and controlled things, but he could have done that in his normal position. We seriously missed the unpredictability from dummy half last night that a out and out hooker brings. Compare and contrast to Clarke's contribution, and how he caught us, due to that unpredicatability.

Achurch really does look potentially a very good attacking threat. And he is producing it defensively also.

Clarke would be a bloody fabulous acquisition ....

For a change I will agree with all your points on this one Gotcha


I rate Delaney a bit more than you do but he looked unfit last night, Clarkson made some good hit's in defence last night and is playing a lot better when he stays in the middle of the field.

Achurch is making a lot of meters and his defence is solid, If he carries on this form I hope he gets a lot more minutes from now on (swapping Kirke for Achurch would be an upgrade imo).

Briscoe was poor, not unlike Hall was a few weeks ago but my thoughts are just the same, he's a class player who had a poor game....that's all.

On Delaney his looking unfit just seems to be how we've seen him over last year or so! He tackled everything in front of him and looked to cart it up. A very Delaney performance.

I'm a big Delaney fan and I didn't mean out of condition fit I just think he spent a lot of time on all fours and was slow getting back into the line, not sure if he's carrying an injury?

He's best on all fours



Delany down, busted, weathered but standing back up looking for me, just seems standard fare of late.

Just what was needed, given the tricky handling conditions. With the attacking threat our back line poses it would have been easy for our halves to try to force matters when it wasn't needed. A lot of teams would have fallen into that trap. I was very pleased to see the game run down in this way as it demonstrated better control than perhaps scoring a late try or two against a tiring opposition, having the game fizzle out in a welter of errors by both side or, worst of all, gifting Cas a reinvigorating score.

Good allround performance from Leeds, to me Sutcliffe, Sinfield and Peacock really stood out. Really enjoy Sinfield when he's in at 9 and the kick off the ground was brilliant. Peacock immense as per usual, and Sutcliffe just keeps getting better and better each week. Bring on Wigan again!

Someone should have fed that memo to Lynch

Been saying this for the past couple of years - one of the best hookers in SL but I think he's found his place at Cas and it would take quite a bit to tempt him away - the kind of dosh that GH isn't prepared to splash.

Can anyone explain why Cas ended up with a PTB on the spot where McGuire kicked it on half way just after half time while Eddie was banging on about Cas changing their starting 13? Did it go out on the full?

It hit Singleton? on the back of the head = offside

On offsides, early on, when McGuire got done for the double movement.....

Shouldn't that have been penalty to Leeds rather than a drop out for the knock on? Dixon knocked on (play on), McGuire collected up, but tackled by an offside Tansey?

Ah, I missed that. Thanks for clearing it up.

Most unfair comments regarding Delaney. He was our top tackler with 39 (no misses) top marker tackler with 9 and third best metres made and average gain in the forwards. His work around the crucial ruck area seems to go unnoticed by some.

Similarly some unfair comments on BJB. Yes he did drop (backwards and regain) a high kick in difficult conditions - but he read the game well and put himself into good positions in defence and attack throughout the game and scores two tries - unlike Briscoe who was totally unaware for Dixon's try and missed two tackles and made 2 handling errors. If Hall is fit for the Wigan game I would pick BJB ahead of Briscoe for this one.

In what was perhaps our toughest match so far this season we did the business superbly led by Sinfield. JP and Kylie are proving what a good decision it was to give them contract extensions and the coach has got the lesser players to raise their game too.

With the halfway point in sight we are deservedly sitting at the top of the table as the best team in the competition. Of course this could easily change with injuries or a drop in form but for now lets us enjoy the moment and look at the positives.

Did you actually read the posts before commenting?