I agree Delaney is immense in his [igo forward[/i but with the majority of the drives he makes you just know it is going to be a dead ball....I don't see his looking to pass element developing now and it re-affirms my belief he will make a better prop; a prop in the Peacock mould.
Hardaker is a brilliant FB in his kick returns and one on one tackling (Watkins or Webb at FB would not have kept Leeds in the game with the same critical try saving tackles), but, yes, he is not in the same mould as Webb at his best in linking up.....Hardaker still has time on his side though and with a decent coach (McDermott?

) he should improve.

He is [uusually[/u very secure on the high or long ball too

Funny posts around Hudds wanting it more, bottom line they were better in pretty much every area, Brough dominated the game again, he is a very very good player.

England have to play him, kicking wise in general play he is untouchable in SL.

This may sound strange but I'm not that bothered by my loss, I guess 3 losses in a row numbs you

If the England team was being picked tomorrow, Brough would have to be a shoo-in.

Question is, where will his standard be come the reg season's end?

Sorry to say it but sinfield is looking less & less effective lately . I am not saying that he is finished but we need to start thinking about who will replace him but mcd would never drop sinfield and would play him if he only had one leg .Also agree that burrow should be coming off the bench . Maybe they need a rest . Best team one today imo

McGuire needs a stint at Hunslet, get some form back, he was worse today than I can remember seeing, and that saying something on recent performances!!

I'd wager Sinfield and McGuire make more tackles in a game than any other HB partnership in the comp. If you're halfs are making 40 or 50 tackles a game between them its goingto have a detrimental effeect on their attacking play.

Yet it had no effect on Mr Crabtree today, who played better in defence and attack than anyone else, and he's a big forward rather than light and slight.

Gotcha, seriously? Crabtree went backwards more than my ex wife when faced with the python!!

is that not just an effect of your fast rushing defense?

Crabtree isn't responsible for the creative work of his team and got subbed off.

At the 65 min Sinfield was third in the tackle list (with 24) behind only Crabtree and JJB. He'd even done more than Peacock and Delaney......thats the problem and one I've pointed out before this year. Sinfield has had to step up for our defence to improve this year compared to the last 2 seasons......but that comes with a negative effect on his attacking play.

To sum it up easily, Sinfield is being sacrificed for having Burrow at 9......is it worth it? Not really.

According to Opta in the SL Regular Rounds as a pair they are averaging 41 tackles a game, while also missing another 3. I don't have any comparable stats with other teams half-backs but I do have a stat for the Leeds starting hooker - 8 a game with another attempt missed - all figures rounded you understand.

I did it after 8/9 league games.....Sinfield was at 27, other halfs like Brough, Myler, Matty Smith and several others were in the low to mid teens.

The BBC had him at 24 tackles by the 65th minute mark so he probably end up around the 30 mark.

Meh.

It would have been nice to get back to wembley and have another bash at winning it, but we'd have had a nightmare schedule.

At least we get 2 free weeks to play the games in hand and then another week off shortly before the playoffs, that's ideal, we haven't had a week off since 2009.

In terms of the game itself, nothing to really worry about, just poor execution on the day let us down. Take away the silly intercept tries, sinfield wears his kicking boots, and the game is neck and neck. Huddersfields defence was very good, their attack was crisp and they deserved the win. I feel like they targeted this game strongly, and possibly the CC as a whole.

It's important we remain consistent in the league, get our outstanding games played (and hopefully won) and get into that top 2. If today is anything to go by I don't fancy trying to get to the grand final from lower down this season, home advantage will be important.

The interchange policy continues to baffle me.

How many passes did we have intercepted today?

Not watched the game back yet but I reckon 4.

I thought the poor execution stemmed from an inability to get on top of their pack. I thought they ran smarter and harder than we did all game.

Neither Burrow nor Sinfield were brilliant today, but they weren't the weakest link in the midfield triangle.

McGuire looks like a player who is narked by the fact he can no longer run away from people with pace and footwork. Watching him get overhauled by Brough when he had a clear run to the line in first half was embarrassing.

His frustration is leading to him losing his temper and looking to start fights. The nonsense with Cudjoe being the prime example. He's in a four man tackle over the line trying to get the ball down, there are going to be arms and legs flying and he may well cop a knock to the face. That he then came up swinging was the sign of a frustrated man.

I have said it for a couple of years now we need to make changes, Burrow needs to come off the bench, we need to sign a quality scrum half who can move us around the field and dictate play and more important get the ball out wide to our Watkins and moon who are the best in the league. These two players are criminally under used. I would try sinfield at hooker and move McGuire to stand off. I would love to see a MIchael DObson type scrum half a Leeds but we all know it won't happen. If our coach has no confidence in mcshane then we should look to move him to cas in exchange for someone like Darrel Clark. I can,t believe why he wa not kept on longer today. Our tactics today were awful and we had no idea in attack and made it easy for Huddersfield to defend. Our attack as been poor all season with the odd exception. Only our defene has kept us in the hunt. McGuire looks like he has a wooden leg and burrow justs runs around looking like a headless chicken. If we had won that game after wardle was sent off it would have been an injustice, Huddersfield deserved their win no doubt. Our coach has proven week in and week out he wants to flog these players until they bleed, no rotation at all and by the end of season players like peacock and luleuai wil be shagged .
We have no structure in attack at all compared to teams like Wigan,

Beaten by a better team on the day. Hudds celebrated like they'd won the cup! We're not far off the mark, most of the above comments are an insult to how well Hudds played. Good on them, at least they've an excuse for the expected end of season capitulation



PS First time I've heard Anderson interviewed. Quality.

Lots of knee-jerkery going on.

We were second best today. Hudds executed their game plan very well, we fluffed our lines too many times.

Better team won. We've lost before. We'll be back.

Indeed.....but Leeds's deficiences [iwere[/i cruelly exposed: namely the tightening of the defence with Sinfield is costing the team in attack against the better determined team; McGuire [i[uhas[/u[/i lost the edge to his pace which is causing him frustration and his displays show a reluctance to accept it .....AND Burrow is most definitely not a starting hooker (his attribute of running against tired forwards from dummy half - as back up to a [uproper[/u hooker, who can defend in the middle - needs to be implemented asap..... McShane [ishould[/i start).

Watkins DOES NEED to be better used.

I'm surprised McGuire's loss of pace is being discussed, he lost his pace about 7 years ago.

Tackles in league matches

- Sinfield = 313 - Avg 26 (only 9 less than main prop Peacock)
- Brough = 174 - Avg 13.4 (109 less than main prop Crabtree)

- Burrow = 100 - Avg 8.5
- Lunt = 392 - Avg 28

Time for some new batteries in t'old calculator?