Awful first half, although have to give the side some credit for the defensive display. Second half saw a glimmer of hope from the backs, Croft making breaks and lo and behold we had support runners. Still it’s a win and an away win at that. Have some sympathy for our recent Australian imports, it’s obviously a difficult transition period. But to train and play every week in what seems constant rain must be challenging. Still have concerns about our forwards. Certainly they wil have to improve to have any chance of success against Warrington.

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it worked because cas were dreadful. can you see it working against wire, wigan etc. it certainly didn't work against saints

The defence is crazy, concede tons of metres but very few line breaks. Tries against have mainly come from speculative kicks and individual howlers. Then again they wouldn't be conceded if we were 30 yards up the pitch.

In attack our backs appear to do far more work than most teams hitting the ball up. Score some cracking tries though.

Fusitua must be close to a return soon, hopefully for a sustained period.

It worked against Leigh, Salford, Catalans though didn't it? We weren't a million miles off Saints either, particularly in that first game - we actually looked very good in the first half . When our line speed was good...!

Warrington is a really interesting game because this is a side who might be similar to us in quality this year. I just hope it's dry and not freezing so we can see more of what we can do.

I was trying to watch closely last night and I'd just say we are trying to defend efficiently. The penalty against Bentley I thought was really harsh for once - the Cas player was moving forward off the mark constantly as Bentley was trying to get into marker position. Some other calls went our way though.

Listening to the presser etc. I'd say Leeds are very happy with that result. It's another one we did lose last year: if we keep on converting fixtures from Ls to Ws we'll be in the mix come season end.

Beating Warrington would be significant.

Agree with all the above. A win as expected, but can we just ignore that first half ? It’s true the defending in our own third was good, but the way Cas just rolled us down field was shocking. If ever there was a masterclass in how to look clueless near the try line, it came from both teams in that first half. Thought Miller was fantastic both in defence and attack, Handley did a lot of tough carries in the 1st half, and then Croft and McDonell made a big impact in the 2nd as did Lisone with a powerful stint. Let’s see if he turns up next week. Also, before we forget it’s an 80 minute game, Croft was none too clever in the first half. I’ve noticed his long passing game isn’t the strongest, and some of his passes have a big Red Cross on them for his team mates. He’s great to watch when he fires though. Can’t say I didn’t enjoy beating the inbreds, but I struggled to look forward to a game against such poor opposition. Like Loiner at large said, we learnt nothing from that game apart from Cas will be lucky to be playing in Superleague next season.

Thought Bentley was very good in his stint last night - I still wouldn't have him in the starting 13 but he was ferocious.

For Wire, assuming Holroyd returns, we should be pretty close to my first choice 17 other than Fus and possibly Gannon. Not sure how fit a few are but it should be a good contest and another yardstick for us.

You would imagine London will finish below Cas but they are clearly going to have a tough season.

So your first choice does not have Bentley and Newman in then

29 tackles and only played 40 minutes. If we going to continue to play the way we are he definitely needs to play the first half every week!
Will be missing next week so others need to step up defensively.

It wouldn't have Bentley and of course it would have Newman, who I'm expecting will get stitched up and be able to play next week. He didn't fail his HIA.

Newman did not fail his HIA, he needs stitches in a badly cut lip.

Holroyd did not play because of heavy bruising sustained when a Saints player pushed him into the advertising signs.

Gannon is out long-term - they are taking it slowly because of the concussions. I doubt he's ready yet.

I agree Leeds should have had an antidote to being pegged back for so long in the first half. We should also credit the outstanding defence a bit more too. I agree it will need to be better against Warrington.

I can see a pattern developing with the Smith haters that we only win when the opposition are poor. At what point do you give the guy some credit for those four wins? Okay, we have better players this season, does Smith not get credit for identifying them and signing them, or is it GH? But I thought everyone agrees that GH has lost the plot when it comes to recruitment... People have been moaning about Olpherts, the guy is moved on, and who gets the credit? This time last season we weren't winning as much, and the mantra was all about getting results - so what has changed now we're getting a few?

I think we'd all mostly agree he is very good in defensive workrate, no issues there.

We also have a lot of complaining on here about lack of go-forward and he is one of the main culprits, as a forward. Contrast with Martin and McDonnell who both offer loads more in offense, and this is why I wouldn't have Bentley in my starting 13. McDonnell is physically bigger and stronger than Bentley and looks to be improving there too. He handles bigger men better than Bentley can IMO and he is better technically on the ground too, whereas Bentley tends to niggle too much and get pinged for it. I also think McDonnell has better skill than Bentley, generally.

Martin has been very decent this year in the second row - at least what he lacks in outright size he makes up for in pace. If he breaks the first line he's dangerous.

My first choice back row would be McDonnell and Martin, and I'd let Goudemand, Bentley, Gannon, O'Connor and whoever else fight out the bench spots. Actually the better comparison is Bentley v O'Connor as they are similar players in some ways.

I was thinking a couple of times when Mom went for intercepts, in dry conditions I reckon he takes those and it's probably a try. His rugby brain is there he's just not quite on his timing and form yet. Interested to see how he develops with more game time and drier tracks, he could be disappointing or ace, haven't made my mind up yet.

Good post.

I can totally see where the RS criticism comes from - some of it is to do with how we play and a perceived lack of "structure". I think there is a kind of structure but it's not as regimented. Whether it works or not time will tell. Much of the rest of the criticism is just bias because people don't like the bloke's personality as far as I can see.

Don't get me wrong, he doesn't have excuses this season for poor table position or too many poor results, unless we have another injury tsunami. I'm not completely sold on how he's asking the team to play yet myself: although I would say the conditions have been crappy and levelling so far this year.

I can't argue with any of his post-match summary - we have played well in large patches this year. We haven't done it for long enough periods but when we are on form we look very good actually. I am concerned with how easily we're getting rolled down field and how hard work we make of gaining territory when we have the ball. However here we are at 4-2 with a decent sequence coming up ahead. If we beat Wire we're suddenly looking half competitive at least in terms of table.

I'm going to the Wire game (first live match in over 10 years) so will probably join the chorus of Smith haters if we play the same way as we did in the first half against Cas

Keep the faith Ex.