We have one person here who blindly believes everything he hears as truth without objection and it certainly isn't me.



Ahh the inevitable u-turning on the original story as you previously stated in the past Clark was still living over here until it was pointed out to you by quotes from the player himself that he wasn't.



Like you said it's a discussion board, that will include opposite views to yours. But you are the one who truely gets so defensive and angry whenever anybody questions one of your rumours as if it's blasphemy for us to not automatically believe you just because you've said it and we should take it as gospel.

And here we are again, you not reading what is actually said. I said he was staying over here, staying. I even said in the same post that he was not enjoying staying over there, and wanted to be back over here. Living was never the mentioned point, the point been that he wanted to be over here, but due to his driving circumstances could not be over here as often as he wanted. Guess what, that problem was solved. You see, if you actually read what is said in the right context, there is no need for you child like petulance. You will also see that yet again I was right, but you don't really need me to tell you that.

You two really need to get a room

He likes me really, he just don't show it mate.

Let's look at some actual rugby shall we, and analyse the tries conceded from Friday:

Lunt (1) - Watkins over-reads and loses his footing to create the initial break. Some decent scramble to get back and nullify that, but then it all goes awry. JJB shoots out to smash the runner, Sutcliffe also over-reads and slides along the line leaving a yawning gap between him and Galloway which Lunt dummies and dives through

Lunt (2) - lazy looking grab from Mullally on the initial break, Cuthbertson and Walters hadn't pushed up on his inside leaving a gap. Again, good scramble to get back and deny the try at that point from Sutcliffe and Falloon. The smart play then is to give the penalty away, because the line is completely busted. They don't, and Lunt has a walk-in which would have probably been a penalty try if he hadn't grounded it due to McGuire not getting onside.

Dixon - this one pretty much sums up Leeds in attack at the minute. McGuire clearly has a short side call on. Falloon at dummy half doesn't even glance in his direction and goes open side instead to Burrow, who does his little dance, gets collared and loses the ball. From there it's game over once the ball gets into Dixon's hands.

Cockayne - Lunt actually looks like he's taken the wrong option here to start with. Galloway is left on the floor at the tackle, Cuthbertson and Walters are both retreating with their backs turned on the blind side yet he goes open side instead. Gets on the outside shoulder of Singleton who can't move his feet quick enough, goes high and misses the tackle. Simple support play down the middle, try at the side of the posts.

Allgood - simple three on three on the short side. Ablett goes high and loses his grip when Allgood spins, then walks straight through the attempted legs tackle of Walters.

Mulhern - Cuthbertson is supposed to be the A defender on the right hand side, but gets lined up almost directly behind the play the ball. Walters goes back from the tackle into the B defender position, then looks on as Mulhern just strolls into the big gap Cuthbertson has left where the A defender should have been. Can't tell from the video which one (or both) Hardaker immediately confronts, but I know which one it should have been.

The same names crop up on the analysis of most of the tries Leeds are conceding at the minute, and it's the middle unit either losing the tackle area and allowing quick ball out to the edges, or just simply missing tackles they should be making. What's causing it? I don't buy into the whole "lack of confidence" thing. Some of them look chronically unfit and even tired at this early stage of the season, the front row in particular.

Lots of talk comes out of the Leeds camp about "working harder". Are they working too hard in the week and leaving nothing in the legs for game day? Punishment floggings might work in the Marines, but that's not the way you get the best out of professional athletes.

There also appears to be a distinct lack of being able to think on your feet and read what is coming at you. How many times have defenders already this season jumped out on lead runners and left gaps for players to walk through untouched? Communication of who has what threat when you're defending needs to be much, much better than it currently is.

There are a lot of things to fix, both individually, collectively and structurally at the moment. Does the current coach have the brains to spot them, the ability to correct them and the ear of the players to implement those corrections? Or is his voice turning into background noise?

I honestly think many of our problems are caused from not controlling the play the ball in defence. We're getting left on the ground and players not getting back in to line quick enough and the markers are often getting caught not square and so unable to help out the A defender who's often a late retreater anyway.
I also think it's our problem in attack too. We're making yards but we aren't troubling defences. We rarely get quick play the balls and I'd be tempted to move away from our offloading game and focus on getting to the floor quicker instead. Whilst the halves and team as a whole aren't playing well enough, they're not helped by facing a set defence and a chronic lack of support runners running decent lines.

I also agree we look knackered. I'd be surprised if it's from being "over-worked" in training as Davidson and his team monitor workloads pretty closely. However could it be that doing something different in training is having an effect on our energy levels? I'm sure most coaches would say it's still more of an art than a science.

Impact of McGuire as main defensive line organiser is always understated - whenever he's been absent over last 6 yrs or more the defence has been weakened.

The flooding wiped out our state of the art wrestle chamber where our players, commanded by Ian Kirke could learn how to dominate the play the ball!

All our woes this season lead straight back to the flooding!



...and Ian Kirke!

Are you saying the likes of ablett, jjb, ferres, cuthbertson, delanney are still learning how to wrestle in the tackle?

On the evidence of this season, some of that middle unit are clearly struggling to do so. Whether it's technical, mental or physical fatigue, something is preventing them from dominating opposition ball carriers in contact.

Maybe we aren't practicing it enough. Maybe we aren't practicing it in the right way. Maybe we aren't giving it enough priority in training and prep. Maybe we are but for some other reason the players aren't doing it. Maybe we aren't hitting hard enough in the tackle to dominate the ball carrier and enable us to wrestle properly without giving a penalty away. Maybe we aren't getting enough players in to the tackle to enable us to wrestle properly without giving a penalty away.

Whatever the reason is we appear to be getting killed at the play the ball which is causing issues in our defence further wide.
And I think the opposite is true in attack. We are getting wrestled too long and so rarely facing a disorganised defence.

This has been the most obvious contributor to our down fall for me. And for all the lack of a leader, play maker whatever else we have not had so far this year, this is the two things as a team that would be the easiest thing to fix on the training field but it doesn't look like it is being addressed so far.Ironically, we started the year controlling the game against this years best team so far, Warrington but it has been evidently there ever since starting with the humiliation at Widnes.

Yep. I was initially thinking it was the halves that were ultimately to blame for our poor attack because we weren't seeing anything from them. Sutcliffe especially has taken stick for taking the ball in rather than passing it but when you look at his passing options they are very rarely particularly good.

I'd agree it's easier to fix up than some issues, except when the team is lacking both confidence and energy.
I'm not sure why we look so lethargic but we can only seem to spark for about 10-15 mins per game, the rest of the time we look knackered.

Well it has been said that quite a few players aren't able to train during the week and are only putting their boots on on game day so I imagine that's not helping with the regards of looking knackered.

As for the wrestling, I agree it's costing us a lot in both attack and defence. I'd also say though that it's never been our strong point and quite a few teams have always been better in that department than us, not just this season.

I would agree, we have never found it a problem come play off time though in years gone by. Same with the kicking game, which has been horrendous at various times down the years during the regular season.

Always been one of the biggest head scratchers about this team in the last decade, how they didn't kick like they do on Old Trafford nights more often during the season. Burrow in particular has produced some great long kicks in GF's including a 40/20.

Sign of a great team that ability to pull something special out of the locker when their back is up against the wall.

Team Sky in cycling target the tour and their whole season is geared towards that - amazing how they are able to dominate that yet struggle in the classics, the Giro and the Vuelta.

For anyone watching tonight's game on Sky, how the hell did Leeds lose to Hull KR at home by a 20 point margin last week? They are garbage.

Catalans v Warrington GF

Wigan v Warrington forget the rest imo. Cats could make top 4 though.

because we have joined the ranks of WBSLR

How the mighty have fallen

At the moment I can't see where the next Leeds win is coming from. Bet Bailey is having the satisfying last laugh now.

this SL is a crap fest so far.flicked the game on twice between watching the masters and it really is not inspiring me to watch it at all.The easter games were also poor on the whole to go with most of the other games on SKY to start the year which have failed to inspire.

Obviously being a Leeds fan right now adds to the depression but i hope it improves accross the board, it has to surely?

I refuse to apply that particular tag to Leeds just yet.

Perhaps Hull KR are suffering the consequences tonight of a really hard fought and tough encounter against Leeds last week?

No, I don't believe that either



Forty Effing Nil now.

Oh, and Dave Taylor's amazing skill set appears incongruous with his size, yet he's probably one of the most skilful players in SL right now.

Still getting to the Leeds games but I have lost all interest in other team, the quality is so poor. Like you say being a Leeds fan probably adds to the gloom but not just that the game is a poor spectacle at the moment. Watched about 5 minutes then switched to the masters.