The missed tackles numbers are interesting because we had the same issue vs Hudds. What are they defining as a missed tackle? watched the reply and after about 60 mins it said we'd done about 24, about 8 more than Wigan.

Nothing wrong with the third man going into the tackle low down. Perfectly legal and legitimate providing the ball carrier is still moving.

Didn't see too many examples of it being done improperly by either side, other than the one that got Leuluai rattled late on in the game.

Some thoughts on last night in general.

Very good game management. Pushed the ball at the right time, shut the game down in the second half when we needed to.

Thought we looked a better, more cohesive unit with Clarkson at dummy half and Sinfield at first man than when Sinfield spent more time at the play the ball. Certainly an experiment worth repeating.

Some of Wigan's young forwards got lessons, thought the likes of Bateman, Taylor and Farrell went missing for chunks of the game.

Positive signs going forward for both teams though. Wigan will be better with O'Loughlin and Charnley back, Leeds with the added strike power of a Burrow or Aiton around the ruck area.

Wouldn't be surprised to see these two scrapping it out at Old Trafford or Wembley.

Quote: Andy Gilder "Some thoughts on last night in general. Very good game management. Pushed the ball at the right time, shut the game down in the second half when we needed to. Thought we looked a better, more cohesive unit with Clarkson at dummy half and Sinfield at first man than when Sinfield spent more time at the play the ball. Certainly an experiment worth repeating. Some of Wigan's young forwards got lessons, thought the likes of Bateman, Taylor and Farrell went missing for chunks of the game. Positive signs going forward for both teams though. Wigan will be better with O'Loughlin and Charnley back, Leeds with the added strike power of a Burrow or Aiton around the ruck area. Wouldn't be surprised to see these two scrapping it out at Old Trafford or Wembley.'" The defensive stats would contradict that. www.superleague.co.uk/report/9978 Great game last night and so much better than some of the tick and pass games we have seen earlier in the season. I think you're correct regarding players missing, O'Loughlin and Charnley obviously big misses for us, but also Pettybourne and Flower who would have given us a bit more grunt in the middle. I agree also that we'll both be there or thereabouts come the business end of the season.

Quote: Andy Gilder "Some thoughts on last night in general. Very good game management. Pushed the ball at the right time, shut the game down in the second half when we needed to. Thought we looked a better, more cohesive unit with Clarkson at dummy half and Sinfield at first man than when Sinfield spent more time at the play the ball. Certainly an experiment worth repeating. Some of Wigan's young forwards got lessons, thought the likes of Bateman, Taylor and Farrell went missing for chunks of the game. Positive signs going forward for both teams though. Wigan will be better with O'Loughlin and Charnley back, Leeds with the added strike power of a Burrow or Aiton around the ruck area. Wouldn't be surprised to see these two scrapping it out at Old Trafford or Wembley.'" The defensive stats would contradict that. www.superleague.co.uk/report/9978 Great game last night and so much better than some of the tick and pass games we have seen earlier in the season. I think you're correct regarding players missing, O'Loughlin and Charnley obviously big misses for us, but also Pettybourne and Flower who would have given us a bit more grunt in the middle. I agree also that we'll both be there or thereabouts come the business end of the season.

Anyone else think. Taylor's try was a no try? The one replay they didn't use when it went to the video ref showed the ball was on top of Zak's foot before it was released

It was right in front of us and the ball was definitely grounded. The only question was if his momentum was stopped.

I'll be putting that one up as a question on the "Ask the Ref" thing on Twitter.

If that had happened in midfield and Taylor had got up and set off running, I'm pretty sure he would have called back. So why would he be allowed to promote the ball over the line?

Because the ball or ball carrying arm hadn't hit the ground. Perfectly legitimate try.

On the game: Great win for Leeds and well worthy of it. Great defence and, as I've said elsewhere, the best 1-5 in SL. To nullify it we'd have needed to dominate in the pack and that was never going to happen with the likes of James and Dudson and Clubb at loose forward. Add Flower, Pettybourne and, most importantly, O'Loughlin to that pack and play Clubb in the front row where he is most effective and I wouldn't be surprised to see the result reversed. Interesting that some on here think that Wigan didn't 'trouble the Leeds line' or that 'the score flattered Wigan' (sic). There were 2 or 3 occasions where we were held up over the line and several clean breaks that were just a support player or finding the right man with the pass away from tries. The last Green break where the support player was Dudson (!) for example. Not the usual slick performance from Wigan that you might expect, by any means, but to say that the margin should have been wider in Leeds favour is getting carried away a little. Leeds converted most of their opportunities, Wigan didn't. Simple as that really. That said, Leeds were undoubtedly the better side last night and your scramble defence in particular was outstanding. Hopefully that will be the first round of many this season!

Phuzzy-Whilst you correctly point to chances you had the "held up" chances were never going to be scores imo so I'm not sure they can be counted as "missed chances" per say.
We also bombed 2 or 3 scores so that said I think we were more than worthy of the 16pt winning margin.
Once again I thought our 2 "old war-horses" upfront laid a good solid platform ,our back 3 were outstanding and the whole Team effort was very good throughout.

Although Leeds were hungrier and certainly more ruthless with ball in hand I dont think the win was as emphatic or comfortable as being made out. Two of the tries were blatent knock ons, possible a third but it was a 50/50 one. In the first ten minutes there were three particularly harsh calls that didnt lead directly to a try but mounted huge pressure, something you expect at Headingley. Add to that the 5 missing key players and it was always a big ask for Wigan. Looking forward to the magic return and hopefully a stronger ref.

Wigan fans moaning at the ref... Glass houses and all that

It was an excellent win, given we were missing Aiton and burrow, we as expected were a bit disjointed at times, but our hunger in defence is the biggest pleasing factor so far this season.

I know a lot of people have been saying hardaker has really improved this year, but for me he has always been top class, he is just maturing as a player. He is by a mile the best full back in SL, and fully deserved his motm award last night.

Hall outstanding again, and was imo, the other closest contender to hardaker as motm.

Clarkson had his best game in ages for us, and peacock and Kylie again led from the front. Delaney wasn't as good as he was last week, which I thought was his best game this year, but the effort he puts in week in week out Ill let him off

The kindest thing I can say about that opinion is that it highlights your somewhat niave view of the game of RL.

Watch our tackle game down the middle rucks and its first man flying in then lots of bodies following up some times 4 and 5. Yes on a couple of occassions a Leeds defender might get bumped off in the melee but thats not a "missed" tackle in my book. FAR TO OVER A SIMPLIFICATION.

I take it thats Delaney playing to instructions tackle wise and I repeat over 30 tackles and 13 carries is a great contribution playing in the middle of the park.



Thats your opinion but I reserve the right to contradict it on an open forum. My apologies if your such a sensitive soul that this upsets you.

Blatant knock on's????? I must have watched a different game to you

We also had Aiton, Burrow and Jones-Buchanan missing