No i was thinking that as well

impressed with bailey tonight, leeds were great keep it up be great too see them in the grand final again

Agreed our forwards were immense and imo it was Thaler and his flag waving cronies that kept Catalan in the game they were always fecking about at the ptb ,moving off the mark and the penalty count in the 1st half before they score was ridiculous imo.

Great team showing, not just the pack but all 17. Its been pointed out before even by McDermott himself that we often try to win games through individual brilliance so to see a whole team performance like that is really good and encouraging.

There was an urgency and desire about the Leeds forwards tonight that makes a total mockery of those who claim we only care about the play-offs. Delaney's workrate and leg-drive was immense but all the forwards excelled against one of the best packs in the league. Another great effort from the prolific try scorer at loose forward.

Can I ask why the flag carrying pr1cks miss so much, but see things that are'nt there. Is tonit what happens when you give 2 referee wannabee's a flag each???

Our coach had some entertaining comments regarding some of the decisions when interviewed on Sky tonight.

Have to agree

It was a very good performance particulary in defense, however I do think we played within ourselves with the ball and would like to see us play with a bit more tempo in attack. I thought Delaney, Lunt, Sinfield (brilliant kicking game, although not as good as Bailey's

), Webb and McGuire were the stand outs. I liked how our props shared the workload (stevoism).

They will miss a blatant high shot right infront but spot an obstruction from 60 yards through a crowd of players. This has always been the case.
The penalty against Delaney was rediculous, it was not foul play and the kicker had no chance of getting anywhere near the kick. Ridiculous. Yet the same flag waver missed Pryce smacking someone in the face right in front of him.

It was a great game plan. We moved them all over the first half, Ablett was fantastic. Then battered them on defence up the middle.

His work for BJB's 2nd try was great, he no longer looks like a 2nd row covering at centre, he just looks like a centre now when he plays there.

Also a lot has been said lately on here about RL, especially the regular season, that teams like Leeds were going to go through the motions until Playoff time and questioned the effort of players during weekly rounds I recommend those people watch a replay of this game.
Some as well questioned the quality of today's game and whether its good value for money, well i tell you what i definately feel like i got my money's worth last night with....
- BJB great catch and finish for his 1st try.
- Ablett's effort for BJB's second.
- 3 great Sinfield cross field kicks that lead to tries. If an Aussie had done that these boards would of melted until volume of praise. But it was only 'average' Sinfield so meh!
- Lunt playing like he's been at the club a few years not a few days.
- BJB kick return after about 70 mins when he looked like he was going to be trapped in goal and somehow managed to work his way to around the 30m line.
- A great team effort from the WHOLE pack, one which has been heavily criticised in the past.
- Ian Kirke making a break just after half time and for a split second looking like he was going to go all the way.
- It getting quite tasty in the final 10 when it could of just easily petered out instead.
- And last but not least, England's new number 13 Ryan Bailey, scoring again and then producing one of the best kicks you'll actually see from ANY player this season.

And all without JJB and Ablett in the SR

Far too positive for this board



Seriously, there were many encouraging aspects from last night. If I had to pick just one I might opt for the confidence displayed by BJB throughout.

Some great points Printer and i also think Delaney is turning into a rael "Machine2 in the BR and with Jjb and Ablett to go back there aswell we have some real quality in that BR.

Yup.

Ablett - looked like Richie Blackmore, body going in one way, ball moving the other. made some damage when shifted to his more effective SR position. But a real talent.

Lunt - you are not kidding. How well did he fit in. So much energy and willing to impress. Lad.

Bails - The kick is only as good as the chase, he did both. He is loving the additional responsibility. maybe getting a little 'mainstream' for me now though.

Wait until he starts doing some Rob Burrow-esque darting runs from dummy half then.

It's only a matter of time.

Thoroughly deserved win based on strong aggressive defence from the whole team. Difficult to pick a MOM as there were many notable contributions. Yet again Delaney was immense in both attack and defence with Clarkson putting in a very sound effort too. All the props were solid with good impact from Moore. Bailey although picked at LF played as a prop around the ruck and at times a 2nd row out wide and was in the right position to take Delaney's pass for his try. I liked his kick & chase for position and wonder if a regular return to his original 2nd row position would suit him better. Ablett showed good skills at centre and BJB looked sharp.

On the back of this great defence Sinny and Mags passed the ball around to good effect and with Webb looked dangerous with the ball. Add Kevin's precise kicking and the Catalan's were overpowered.

Lunt had a very impressive debut with Buderus-like command at the PTB with good distribution, defence and a well taken try. My main concern before the game was how much of a negative effect we would suffer without Burrow. My MOM would have gone to Delaney or Sinfield but on this occassion it goes to Lunt for coming into the team with little preparation yet having such a positive effect on the side. He looked as though he had played with us for years and it will be a shame if he only stays till the end of the season.

PS: to above post.

Forgot to acknowledge the excellent preparation and game plan of Brian McD and his coaches who got it spot on. Back to the WCC form just in time for the tricky Cup fixture next week

In a word, yes. They're both dire.

It almost seemed like they were on a mission to penalise Leeds for 'blocking' - as though they'd been poring over videos to catch them out on it.

I'd take Thaler over either of the two attention-seeking flag-wavers, neither of whom will make a decent ref.

On that performance last night Ablett is more a centre than a SR....

I was one of the first to suggest Ablett was a better centre than Delaney ( and vice versa ref SR ) but still never saw him as more than another stop-gap in the once problematic position.

He is more and more reminding me of David Stephenson: not blessed with great pace but sublime in putting his winger into space to work in.

I am prepared to eat humble pie ( or cake

)

According to the stats onn the SL site Kirke made his first clean break in 3 years yesterday.

He made a break last week in the cup too! And an interception