Most of our team stood up very well. We had 3 players who never got off the coach. Unfortunately they are the 3 key positions.

Sinfield had his worst game for years. He doesn't have many, so when he does they do stand out.

Burrow was dreadful. He should have been pinged for 6 or 7 forward passes, was slow to get the ball away and offered little threat with the ball.

McGuire - Has had an angry, ball greedy head on for the last couple of weeks. Last season he was putting people into all sorts of space. The pace left 4 years ago if not longer, and certainly after his knee injury away at Wigan that time. The brain and the footwork are still there, but we saw neither yesterday. Take our halves and 9, and swap them for theirs, we'd have cruised that game yesterday.

I did notice that Hudds were using a massive gap to their first receiver, especially when we were bunched in the middle. Using this tactic is nothing new I know but it worked well for them which almost naturalised the fact they were a man down at times.

We looked void of ideas at times and with Burrow at hooker just didn't work - how many times did he scoot across the line and try and duck through a nonexistent gap?

...and I do not believe that you'll see a softer try than the one Lunt scored - made us look amateurish.

Pretty much my thoughts as well. What frustrates me as well is when Burrow runs from DH hardly anyone ever pushes through to give him the chance to pass the ball meaning he just has to take the tackle, it happend two or 3 times yesterday IIRC.

McGuire has been shot for some time. The criticism he escapes as a half back amazes me. Sort out the hooking position and get Burrow back to 7.

At least Bailey wasn't sent off.

He played well, as did most of the pack, Although Achurch had a pretty poor first stint., I just wish we'd get Ablett back in the 2nd row to give us a bit more cohesion out wide.

I'm pleased for Gotcha. I think he spent the whole week worrying about the certain red card heading Ryans way.

You don't reckon sport's ever as simple as one team executing their game plan better than the other on the day?

I'll bow to your greater 'knowledge' then.

One other observation, it obviously meant a great deal to the Giants as the players brought their kids onto the pitch at the end like ours usually do when they win finals.

It was probably just because of the discounted tickets. Most of the players' kids hadn't been to a game before.

Lose and you're gone. Yesterday was a big game, I hope Huddersfield treat it as the stepping stone it was and don't rest on their laurels after humbling the current SL Champions. Enjoy the win but remember they've won nothing yet although I think it would be great to see them go on and do so now as West Yorkshire's representative and add another new name to the SL Era roll of honour.



If he threw it would it be forward anyway?

Matt23 has nailed Burrow's distribution from dummy half on the head although lots of those flat balls from him are probably OK they look needlessly forward most of the time and some of them unquestionably are, IMO.

I thought MCguire was quite a big threat yesterday. Made loss of half breaks which in another day would have been more productive. Sadly his pace has gone and he can't make the most of the breaks he makes

If Burrow goes back to 7 it will create more problems.

At least he will create something then, unlike the present incumbent

Create what exactly? He runs around himsself for himself, then when he does pass he passes 90% of the time forward.

All we do is move someone around who is not a proper hooker, to not a proper scrum half anymore even.

He is better off doing what he does best, but at a period of the game when it works best, 15 minutes at end of each half. That is an area he excels at.

Plenty half breaks, yes, but Hudds defence was happy to let him run, preferring instead to disrupt any support runners safe in the knowledge that if they prevented the pass then he'd be easily run down. Anderson's not the only coach to have realised this but he deserves credit for ensuring that his defenders never panicked. Link up play's becoming a major headache for us: McGuire is excellent at finding the gap but is now tackled too quickly to fully exploit it; Hardaker has the pace that McGuire lacks but has no eye for the telling pass. The one genuine threat is Watkins but he's too far from the action when out on the wing. And without Ward we're lacking back rowers with any pace either. If/when we have the team fully fit these deficiencies will lessen but a pacey 2nd rower added to the squad wouldn't go amiss (that's assuming there'll be no changes of personnel in our halves for the foreseeable future).