Just got back now. Hull KR were poor. Leeds also went through some poor patches, but when it did click, it clicked. Possibly an uneven scoreline, but considering missed kicks, unlikely. We certainly looked under prepared in some moves.

Game hinged on the substitution of Burrow, who was very poor. As soon as he went, things seemed to move very smoothly.

Typical that know nowt Juan Cornetto, calling for BJB to be ahead of Briscoe, and Burrow needing to be on for 80 minutes. Couldn't be any further from the truth.

As expected, Peacock was once again instrumental in our forward play, playing as he did most of last year. The backs, Hardaker, Briscoe, Watkins, Moon, living up to everything they have been labelled, brilliant. Nice to see McGuire back to being instrumental. Aiton could turn out to be a better acquisition than thought. Nothing over special, but was a very key link in the play second half.

So typical of 'thinks he knows everything Gotcha' to get it so totally wrong as usual. My selection was BJB ahead of Hardaker not Briscoe.

Are you saying that all those 2nd half tries by the backs were as a result of Aiton being on and Burrow being off? You know those clean breaks like the one Burrow made for Hardaker.

Where did you hear this from the radio? Mr big supporter.

I said the game changed on the substitution of Burrow and Aiton on the field. The difference was so quick and so different, for the better.

Had that substitution not happened, I am unsure we would have seen what followed.

On that basis, and I doubt I will say it often, well done Mr McDermot, for seeing the need, putting his bias aside, and doing what was right for the team today.

A convincing win away from home in round 1 that'll do just fine.

Our 3/4 line was very impressive in the second half and was good to see Danny Mags back to form.

Bit rusty in the first half and we gave away far too much silly ball. Once we'd settled and stopped knocking on and throwing the ball to one-one/out of play we looked good.

Peacock was immense as always but the hooking role is still an issue for me, someone please correct me but Aiton only seemed to be on for about 20 minutes.

Exactly. You can not ask for more.

first half we drew you into an arm wrestle but 2nd half you used the width really well and had to much pace for us.
it was great to see so many away fans for a change too.

shockingly, playing a hooker at hooker means we play better.

RB is a great player, but he needs to be coming on against a tired defense to exploit his pace and agility. Aiton gives us solidity and structure, which is what we need early doors.

Also good to see Singo start and Kylie come off the bench - as it should be.

I fort Paul aiton changed the game when he came on for you today direct and organised picked the right options and always there looking for the off load

bring on wire.....they looked clueless without Briers the other night

I really like your new away shirt, think Welham prefers the back of it tbf..

It was great not to be stuck behind the grassy knoll, waiting for the light from the game to reach us.

Nice new stand though. Sort out that open end, and you've got a cracking ground now.

Brian McD said that Paul Aiton had taken a knock to his ankle hence the lack of game time today but should be ok for next week.

he left the ground in a protective boot

why play him at all then

I believe he means Aiton suffered the knock in the actual game.

Yet another casualty of McDermott overplaying players. When will he learn.

Now now!!! You know you aren't allowed to mock/criticise/challenge those who dislike McDermott.

Damn him for starting with Leuluai and Bailey whilst Singleton and Clarkson started on the bench, bloody caving into player power again.

So I was just checking out the stats for our "weaker pack"

Singleton - 18 carries - 120 metres - 6.67 mpc
Peacock - 17 carries - 105 metres - 6.18 mpc
Delaney - 14 carries - 78 metres - 5.57 mpc
Ablett - 16 carries - 87 metres - 5.45 mpc
Clarkson - 10 carries - 47 metres - 4.7 mpc
Bailey - 7 carries - 57 metres - 8.14 mpc
Leuluai - carries - 57metres - 8.14mpc

7 players - 551 metres (78.7 metres per forward)

Weyman - 13 carries - 92 metres - 7.08 mpc
Poore - 7 carries - 67 metres - 9.57 mpc
Langley - 14 carries - 100 metres - 7.14 mpc
Larroyer - 11 carries - 64 metres - 5.81 mpc
Costigan - 7 carries - 47 metres - 6.71 mpc
A. Walker - 7 carries - 62 metres - 8.86 mpc
J. Green - 11 carries - 74 metres - 6.73 mpc
J. Walker - 6 carries - 33 metres - 5.5 mpc

8 players - 539 metres (67.4 metres per player)

To say that's where most Rovers fans thought they would beat us they surely have to walk away pretty dissapointed.

Highlights how stats can be misleading, without seeing the actual game to back it up.

I am a huge fan of Singleton and the need for him involved as much as possible. But Peacock was head and shoulders the best forward on the park by some distance. The next best forward IMO was the Rovers 24, I think was Green? A youngster. I don't need the stats to tell me that.

Those stats also don't show you some of those metres for certain players were as a result of being put clean through a gap for a break. Or in the cases of Bailey and Kylie, the return of many kick offs.

It would have also being more interesting to see defensive stats too. The Rovers pack seemed to do a much better job in this department than the score suggested, as it was the backs leaking the scores.

Stats are historical reviews and shouldn't be used in isolation for projecting arguments. They can be a useful tool for motivations and structuring training or maybe tactics.

Well, I've only seen the highlights and heard the radio coverage. So I'm terribly ill-equipped and ill-qualified to comment.

But what the jolly heck. Welcome to the internet.

My favourite thing about the game, because it is something you don't need to see the whole game to know, is that when you have a new centre/wing pairing it is never going to be a bad thing for the centre to put the winger over 3 times. Partnerships take time, but that's a pretty good start.

Secondly, there were times on the radio commentary (and it showed in some of the tries) that Leeds were able to pick up a lot of metres either straight out of dummy half or for a first receiver running back at the ruck. This seemed especially so in the 2nd half, but it was hard to tell how much of it was down to Aiton. Our ruck speed seemed pretty good. Won collisions by the forwards? Good dummy half play? Both? Thoughts of those who saw the whole thing welcome.... Either way, Rovers will be pretty unhappy with that.

Even on the internet, I'm not going to try to infer more than that.

The season is one game old. I wouldn't panic overly if we were terrible at this stage, everyone's rusty in game 1 and some odd results happen, and similarly I'm not going to get over-excited after a win, but I'd rather have 2 points in the bag than not.

Not all the dummy half play was Aiton, especially in our own half of the field. The opinion you have formed is more or less correct. Our backs especially were really impressive at this.

The difference with Aiton is that when he was at dummy half, it was quick ball, it was a nice crisp pass, and he switched the plays.

In the first half, Burrow was nearly always the man at dummy half, the passes were lobbed at times and pretty poor, and others although wanting to get in at dummy half were pushed away by Burrow. The play was more predictable.

Compare and contrast to when Burrow came back on, and the Hull KR defence was broken and tired, and he had more success in 15 minutes than he had in 40. This is exactly where you use Burrow to the best.

Did Sutcliffe get on and if so where did he play?

An unusual alternative to the team bus.