Supposed to be one of the big games of the RL calendar but, no thread ?
Is anyone interested in the game,it kicks off in less than 24 hours.

Storm by 46

Regards

King James

The date is a bit of a bugger, wish it was Sat morning instead. Hope Leeds can turn them over on their turf, would give SL a boost.

How would it give SL a boost?

I think Grimmy means a win in Australia, over the Aussies would bring back a little bit of positivity to Super League and depending on the final score, maybe a bit of interest from players who have snubbed at the thought of Super League before and then maybe even potential sponsors.

There's always a bigger picture Homme, I mean... they are businesses at the end of the day.

less of an interest as its on friday morning when most of us at work so wont catch the game live!

Turning them over in their backyard with their best players presents us in a better light, and would hopefully encourage NRL teams to take SL sides seriously as competition. Plus it may make our fans view our league a bit more positively. There is a lot of negativity about, after all.

Totally agree about the FRiday AM kick off, it seems absolutely bonkers, surely SAturday would have been a better option.
What is worse is that nobody, even the Rhinos fans seems to be bothered about the first "big game" of the season.
I hope it's getting a bit more coverage over there ?

There's a 26 page thread on the Rhinos board about this game. They probably just didn't bother making a thread on the VT about it because damn near every thread on here gets derailed by someone's ego.

Anyway as for this game, it's looking ominous for Leeds. Hopefully Melbourne will be a bit rusty with this being their first game for a while and the scoreline remains respectful.

Leeds' chances were slim before but the depleted prop department makes it even worst. 5 props out in Galloway, Garbutt, Peteru, Mullally and Oledzki means we'll be asking the likes of JJB and Delaney to do stints in the front row. Moon hasn't trained whilst out there so whilst I think he'll be risked he won't be 100%

Even though they agree to international rules when the game was first arranged, the Aussies have done their usual trick of making the ref situation suite them and got it changed to a two ref game at late notice.

Likely Leeds lineup

Walker
Briscoe
Watkins
Sutcliffe
Hall
Moon
Myler
Cuthbertson
Parcell
Singleton
Ward
Ablett
JJB/Delaney

Dwyer
Keinhorst
Ormondroyd
Delaney/JJB

Storm 38 - Rhinos 4. Nothing to see here folks.

Melbourne were brilliant in the NRL last year and after a slow start they look to be carrying on where they left off.
It's no disgrace to Leeds Melbourne just have so many star players

I thought Leeds put up a strong effort against a team that is clearly the best in the world right now, and one that reguarly posts similar scores on NRL teams.

Melbourne were very strong around the ruck area, defended superbly and forced Leeds into errors, but I'd maintain that Leeds putting in a similar performance in Super League would see them pasting most SL teams. That's the difference between the two competitions.

A good indication of the relative strengths of the two competitions. I know that not all NRL teams come near to the Storm but money talks. The danger is that as salary caps become more widely divergent we start to lose players to the Aussie second grade competitions at an early age, who rather than sitting on their backsides waiting for a reserves game or playing in the lower leagues fancy playing in the sun.

I might be in the minority but I dont think the score line reflects the fight that leeds put up

Regards

King james

game was over at half time

Game was over before it started. For Leeds to have any sort of chance we needed a full strength side out, even then it would of been a massive uphill battle. Our depleted front row showed right from the off.

For a first hit-up I thought the Melbourne defence was superb.

Good effort from Leeds considering the lightweight pack, but the number of times they looked to have got over the line, somehow a Storm player made a last gasp tackle, right up to the end.

There is more to rugby league than fight.

Mebourne will do this against most of the NRL. They are the benchmark at the moment. They are relentless and ruthless. Leeds looked really good in the first 15-20 mins. By then they would have been out of sight in most SL games.

What do people think about Wally Lewis' comments about Leeds being 7th/8th place NRL standard? Fair comment?

Bang on. Too many front rowers down to compete then the injuries in game killed us off. It's a shame both our last two WC games we have had near half a team missing, something you can't afford against the best of the NRL.

Didn't see the game. So can't comment.

I'm am interested in how the 2 referee system worked? Would it benefit the game over here?

I think he was being diplomatic.

I think 7/8 would be flattering. Its like a championship/newly promoted team playing an SL team. In a one off you will give the SL team a good game and may pick up a few wins in the season but to do it consistently is the real challenge.

I think this Leeds squad would do very well to finish above bottom of the table and it is my team so certainly no biased. A lot of people are tipping NZ Warriors to finish bottom two and looking at their squad i think they would romp away with SL were they put into it now.