Well now it’s all over it really was bad.

Agree with those saying that Myler was A, terrible and B, can’t play that bad again.
For me the player escaping a lot of stick (particularly from the commentators who seemed keen to stick the boot in Austin) was Sezer. Austin tried absolutely everything and almost too much while his half back partner seemed to go into hiding for me (sorry if I sound like a Hudds fan)

The 3/4 selection just didn’t work. I think we need to get Handley back on the wing, and young Roberts isn’t ready. But I’m not sure we can achieve both those things, maybe fus in one centre, Martin in the other, with Tindall on the wing. The lad made some solid progress back end of last season. I’d also start O’Connor

In terms of positives, I thought fusi went well and the one howler aside Olpherts took his try well. Like I said I thought Austin tried absolutely everything without much support and Sangare was good, did more minutes than I thought and at least showed some aggression.

Myler is absolutely key to our attack though, partly because our halfbacks aren't the best but in the core skills of fullbacks he's lacking a few. Maybe Hooley can develop into a real alternative.

It has the feeling of a bit of complacency having got into the squad after last season and what seemed like a good off season in terms of training.

I hope this 'passive' defence isn't an ongoing part of the plan as it just doesn't work against powerful packs if they have strike in the backs. That was about as big a pack as we could pick, they ought to be able to hold their ground as a unit. I think the wings/centres were the wrong way round (Roberts and Olpherts have been playing there and Fusitu'a/Handley will never be centres no matter if they played there as kids) and Smith should have started ahead of Tetevano, who has done zero to be in the 17. Also, no disrespect to him, but given our signings Donaldson shouldn't be in our starting squad.

I expect a few changes next week, especially in attitude, but we don't have a lot of options in the backs. Forwards we have McDonnell, Walters and Ruan. McDonnell and Ruan might be raw but they both bring aggression, which for some reason too many of our forwards lack, except when Tetevano goes for a cheap shot.

Not much to say about that we were dominated from minute one - theres 26 rounds to go though hopefully we don’t play that bad again Myler certainly can’t

We go again as they say

I think the Olpherts deal was all ready done before hardhaker negotiations had even started.

Hardaker is a car crash just waiting to happen, you're well rid of him
I thought Cameron Smith had a decent game even though he spent most of it wrapped around a wire player.
Dunno what the stats are but he seemed to make a few yards with the carries he had....from a standing start...with wire closing in from a yard and with FA to foil or pass to.
Nah, I give him motm just for looking like he might be in a game.

Well I didn’t fancy us at all tonight as I said a week ago but I didn’t expect us to get hammered. It seems the pre season worries were correct. Very poor that and almost a carbon copy of starts in recent seasons. Our squad players in the back line look way off. Hardaker made a huge difference to that back line last year, we’ve definitely gone backwards there.

Glad I missed that one by the sounds of what`s been said.
I feared the worse when I saw the team selection with Handley and Fusitua at centre and Tetavno LF with Donaldson on the bench.
Smith had to start at LF with Walters in for Donno.
Other than that Myler, Sezer and Austin have enough experience to at least keep us in the game.
Chelsea Wire have spent plenty of money to put that team together and absolutely must finish top 2 to justify the spending.
Once we get our injured players back will be the time to judge how good we are.
But once again our squad looks thin with players for the future and not enough quality.
Sounds like Leeds United!

Had to laugh when someone said Nene McDonald is still to come , my Nan can tackle better than him .

Think we miss Bentley a lot, he puts 50+ tackles on in a lot of games hopefully he’ll be back soon

He is a Saints fan mate and an idiot.

Wire have spent no more than most of the other teams unless you are suggesting they are breaching the salary cap.

Seems clear Smith wasn't happy in the post match. He said a few contradictory things, saying losing yards in defence wasn't as big a deal as defending big players but admitted later that we need to fix up the yardage. I just don't think being passive in defence is a good idea as a game plan. Might work against some teams but we'll get mullered by Sts if we play the same.

Wow. I knew we stood little chance of winning tonight, but that was just depressing.

I know it is game one of the campaign, but I can't see a single positive from tonight's game and I'm already fearing for the season. It's probably the weakest Leeds squad I've ever seen and they look unprepared and uninspired as well.

Smith was clearly dismayed in the press conference after the game, and he knows that he can't hide behind the excuse of having players out. He needs a completely different attitude from his players next Friday.

I think everyone expected a loss tonight, players included, but it ended up looking like a Wire training session. Embarrassing.

Tetevano robbing a living.

Smith needs to stop mollycoddling Tetevano. Great at training is utterly pointless - he's a Kiwi international marquee player. Play up or be dropped.

It feels like the whole club got a bit smug preseason to me, treating pre-season games as a big mess about rather than focusing on hitting the ground running.

The main thing is the defensive intensity. I really hope that this passive defence stuff gets knocked on the head. We worked around it last year, but its simply not a viable strategy against a team with a big pack and strikepower. It'll work against smaller teams who don't make as much yardage, or against teams with big forwards and nothing else, but if a team has both its a recipe for big losses IMO.