Whilst at the game i thought attack wise we still looked in pre-season and a couple of weeks away from being ready having watched it again on T.v my view hasn't changed.
Losing Mags was a big blow especially as Sutty was playing on 1 leg from the 14th minute after the bombed try.
It seems 50/50 split re-Burrows break in the 2nd half it happened right in front of us and imo he'd have just made it or got tackled short and Hall would have had a walk in from dummy half either way i think he got it wrong hitting the breaks.
Also whilst on about the little Dynamo far too often he hit the lead runner in possession or stepped and went the wrong way losing the ball on one occasion when the call was clearly to come right to Ferres/Watkins.
Lilley again looked the real deal but imo he's a better 7 than he is a 9 and controls play better there than RB.
Plenty of positives Galloway was much better ,Ferres was my M.O.M and Singo got stuck right in.
The GK issue i've covered on the rellevant thread and as for Mr Child once again our great sport is getting held back by inept officials who go along consistently being awful to average without repurcussions or more importantly improvement.
Loads we need to improve on and more importantly 1 or 2 positional tweaks are needed imo but at least a lot is fixable rustiness and not lack of quality/talent.
On the Leadership front it will take time but there was enough experience on that pitch to have taken better control and brought a calmness but it didn't happen.

Agree with that Rhinoms.
I'm not too worried. I thought there were times we were starting to look good with Cuthbertson getting some offloads away we just didn't do enough of it.
Sutcliffe was obviously struggling and losing McGuire was a blow. Had he been on I reckon we'd have sneaked a win.
Pleased with Ferres and Galloway.
Unfortunately Burrow, whilst trying hard as always, wasn't particularly effective at anything really.
We appeared to lack direction when McGuire was off. Often we were going sideways when we needed to straighten up and vice-versa, plus our last tackle was generally poor and rushed.
Moon looked very dangerous as did Watkins on the very few occasions he got the ball.

All of this though shouldn't lead to the referee's terrible performance being overlooked. He was utterly terrible. He didn't referee that game, he just let it happen. The holding down and offside rule was consistently ignored by him and the forward pass and high tackle rule applied schizophrenicly. But the crowning turd in the water-pipe was Wire's first try. An obstruction occurred directly in front of him. It should've gone to the video ref. To not send that up to the VR simply isn't good enough. Child is developing a pattern, his games involve an awful lot of holding down and offsides. Be prepared for most of the skill to be taken out of the games he refs thanks to his allowing holding down and offsides. It becomes more of a lottery with him reffing.

Now before any Wire fans get all worked up, I'm not complaining at the result, Wire's hard work and determination kept us out, I'm merely depressed/annoyed that at the very start of the new season the exact same refereeing problems are so starkly evident. Hopefully the other refs have improved otherwise it's going to be another season filled with slow play the balls and dodgy obstruction calls.

Like I said on the Wire board, it looked like a blatant obstruction.

I don't have a problem with it been a try, what I will have a problem with is the next dozen been sent upstairs and chalked off for the same or less infringement.

This is the issue for me too. You just know we are in for another long season of lottery decisions on obstruction.

Child may have had a bad game but that does not alter the fact that we had enough possession & field position to win that game twice over.
I'm sure that McDermott will not blame the ref for the result.
We need to concentrate on what we can control, not look for excuses elsewhere.

We should send for the Wigan ground staff ,apparently they have considerable expertise in preparing first class playing areas.

Absolutely....but again I can't see anybody making 'excuses elswhere' but simply making observations of the game ...including the poor refereeing which is subject to so much subjectivity and inconsistency of applying the 'rules'

We all knew Leeds were going to miss the 2 icons, but many felt confident that Leeds will still perform well this season, if not (understandably) quite reaching the heights of last season. I still believe that - subject to injuries of course (and already the ominous signs are there with the lengthy loss of Danny).

I like to think this season will be the making of Lilley (what a "find" he has been - he looks a natural and already worthy of a starting half back position: hope he gets that start against Widnes), Golding and Handley. Difficult to see yet who Golding and Handley will displace, but sadly as we have already seen with McGuire those opportunities might materialise rather sooner than anybody might have reasonably planned. Undoubtedly they are - like Lilley - both ready for SL.

Quite correct, it will be several weeks before we discover the real Leeds. Its early days but you look good. Your aggressive defence impressed me, add latchford to the squad and you could potentially be in the running for some silverware.

Bob Latchford? Didn't he play for Everton in the 70's - can't see him adding much but probably still more than Bailey will.

If Child was poor I think we're going to have to find some new words for when a referee doesn't go 7-0 in Leeds' favour second half and 11 - 5 over the full eighty.

Thaler fared worse IMO (although better man manager) - sent a dead set try up as a no try to be rightly overturned and had an excellent performance from his touch judge to save several other potential blushes - although again in his favour he quite correctly listened to and followed the advice he was given.

You get two for the price of one with my posting!! A footballer and a rugby player .