A side in need of Renewal....

Thoughts on Staurday for what they're worth...

Warrington were superb in all departments (certainly by comparison to us), well coached by a good coach who came up with a perfect game plan for the referee, the opponents (including their injury problems), and the conditions. Credit where credit is due, we would have needed a fully fit squad/team and to have been at the very top of our game. Sadly I don't think either applied on Saturday. What follows is in no way an attempt to detract from Warrington's achievements - they were the better team, and fully deserved their win - we'll get over it.

Injuries - we sorely missed JP (and Burgess would have helped as well). We just could not match them in defence. They made us earn every inch on Saturday and then found they could make too many easy yards up the middle around the ruck. Three hookers playing on the back of a very dominent forward pack - you don't need to be a rocket scientist...

We need to polish up some of our core skills - it probably doesn't need saying under the circumstances but held up over the line three times is a sin. Another point. Seen it mentioned elsewhere and that is that Warrington played the game just as Silverwood was prepared to let them, (as Melbourne did in the WCC). They slowed us down all day and this gave them all the time to get their defence sorted out and cut down our options. They also stretched the offside parameter to it's limit as well. We on the other hand seem to be a little naiive in this. We tend to get off the tackle as soon as the ref calls move/held. It may wind opposition fans up to see our players (Senior in particular), leaning over the tackle looking at the referee to see when he's going to call it but all teams do exactly the same. Other teams however are better at gaining extra time before the call is made. I have heard it staright from Leeds staff that they aren't into all the wrestling at the PTB (claiming that they seem to get penalised more when they try). However. we clearly need to look at what teams like Warrington, Wigan and Huddersfield are doing differently to us because they can slow us down with impunity and currently we get penalised for trying to do the same. This is not an attempt to whinge about other teams dastardly tactics - it's just how it is. We need to improve in that department.

Silverwood - HE DID NOT COST US THE GAME ON SATURDAY - there are plenty of reasons that happened and some have been highlighted here and the rest can be found in other threads. However, what really p*$s*d me off about his performance on Saturday was that he did rob us of potentially one of the best finals in years. As I said ealrier, he allowed Warrington to murder us at the PTB. To have any hope on Saturday (especially with the team we had available - individual selections notwithstanding), we needed to get quick PTB and try and run them ragged. We just never got a sniff. In fact, there were times I thought we did quite well given how much they were able to dominate us round the ruck (JJB's audacious pass in the first half probably the best example).
However, he effectively killed us, and the game, stone dead with two decisions in the first half. The forward pass to Hall - if it was forward it can only have been milimetres at most (compare to the pass that put Smith in at the end). The pass was flat and a lovely piece of play. Then we had Atkins second try. I know we should have defended his run better from the PTB (Hall and Kirke the guilty parties), but FFS, Silverwood was running towards Mathers when it hit him on the and how he missed that I have no idea. 8-6 at half time and we have the prospect of a real game in the second half rather than Warringtin just having to soak up the pressure and waiting till we ran out of steam.

Burrow's defence at the start of the second half was unbelievable but how many will remember it in the context of the game we saw on Saturday - all we will remember is how well Mathers went instead (and for what it's worth Mathers should be remebered for how well he went defensively - he was brilliant.)

This season has shades of 2005 all over it - we get to the CC Final and disaster strikes just before hand, effectively writing off our season. Heard a few people on the way out of Wembley saying "we'll get them in the GF..." I don't know what they were on at the time but I wish I could have shared some once I got back home Sat evening, believe me.

I have no problems with the result - Warrington were the better team and fully deserved the win. I went down thinking we were going to struggle but that we had a chance. If I'd known Silverwood was going to turn into such a one sided procession I'd have stayed at home. We weren't good but I don't think we deserved the game we got.

Next year needs to be a season of assessment - we need to look at where we need to strengthen the squad because there are players that are getting past their sell by dates. We need to see some more of the youngsters and we need to assess just who needs to stay and guide them. A year of rebuilding for me next year.

Apologies for the length of this diatrible but I don't bother posting very often on here...