What was funny about last night was Phil Clarke

"He should kick the ball to the corner so a winger can chase on to it"

Yes Phil, that's what your allowed to do from a 2 point kick

Because he's a plank.

Poor display from Silverwood, who seems to be going backwards in his ability to officiate. He was bad for both sides and whoever lost the game could point out several game changing decisions that cost then the match.

A good point, unfortunately I have accidentally wiped my recording , if my memory serves me correctly the ref went behind the line and seemed ready to award the try. He then went to the video ref, did he get the call from the video ref or did the Wigan players ask for it. It was a tough call , on the basis of this ruling if applied correctly there should be a lot more penalties in games.

I am still a fan of baileys, said through gritted teeth unfortunately some of the penalties he gave away were deep in our half so were extremely costly. Overall I was pleased with our performance , Hardaker was superb as I suspected he would be after his blip against saints. Considering the big name players we had on the bench versus wigans players not available we did well enough. Get some of these players back and it will take a special team to overturn us.
Slight concern about a short turn around before we face hull, having watched them steal a win against rovers I think we can win over at the KC . Refereeing decisions notwithstanding .

Leeds made a couple of errors for the no-try, firstly McGuire could have passed instead of running behind his own player - probably without an issue arising and secondly Achurch (?) could have carried on through the gap in the Wigan line instead of tossing the anchor overboard and parking himself in it.

The difficulty for fans and officials IMO to achieve a level of understanding and consistency is the number of variables Stuart Cummings introduced when he was head of the referees as he clearly demonstrated himself during the commentary. What the referee has to consider firstly is blah, blah, blah .... then he has to look for blah, blah, blah ..... then not forgetting blah, blah, blah ..... oh and finally is there an 'r' in the month.

Since when did League rule makers set out to get one up on their Union counterparts.

The answer is in the question.

Wigan were there for the taking last night.

They weren't their usual fluent self in attack, the half backs didn't fire and the forwards struggled to impose themselves. Defensively they made some poor reads and the line speed wasn't up to their usual standards.

Sadly for Leeds, they continue to look like headless chickens. Three playmakers, all woefully short of form. Back to just throwing the ball to the player next to them and waiting for someone to come up with a miracle play out of nothing.

The closing stages of the first half summed them up currently. Bailey trying to play the hard man again rather than concentrating on his job, cheap shots the smallest player on the park and gives two points away. Sinfield then has a massive brainfart on the hooter and gives away what turns out to be the winning try.

At some point, either Hetherington or McDermott is going to have to grasp the nettle with this squad. Sadly, both of them seem too close to this group of players to have any objectivity in their decision making.

Expect little from next Friday, then a couple of big wins over whipping boys to paper over the cracks.

Quote: Andy Gilder "Wigan were there for the taking last night. They weren't their usual fluent self in attack, the half backs didn't fire and the forwards struggled to impose themselves. Defensively they made some poor reads and the line speed wasn't up to their usual standards. Sadly for Leeds, they continue to look like headless chickens. Three playmakers, all woefully short of form. Back to just throwing the ball to the player next to them and waiting for someone to come up with a miracle play out of nothing. The closing stages of the first half summed them up currently. Bailey trying to play the hard man again rather than concentrating on his job, cheap shots the smallest player on the park and gives two points away. Sinfield then has a massive brainfart on the hooter and gives away what turns out to be the winning try. At some point, either Hetherington or McDermott is going to have to grasp the nettle with this squad. Sadly, both of them seem too close to this group of players to have any objectivity in their decision making. Expect little from next Friday, then a couple of big wins over whipping boys to paper over the cracks.'" The game stats say something different. www.superleague.co.uk/match_report/8871

Quote: Andy Gilder "Wigan were there for the taking last night. They weren't their usual fluent self in attack, the half backs didn't fire and the forwards struggled to impose themselves. Defensively they made some poor reads and the line speed wasn't up to their usual standards. Sadly for Leeds, they continue to look like headless chickens. Three playmakers, all woefully short of form. Back to just throwing the ball to the player next to them and waiting for someone to come up with a miracle play out of nothing. The closing stages of the first half summed them up currently. Bailey trying to play the hard man again rather than concentrating on his job, cheap shots the smallest player on the park and gives two points away. Sinfield then has a massive brainfart on the hooter and gives away what turns out to be the winning try. At some point, either Hetherington or McDermott is going to have to grasp the nettle with this squad. Sadly, both of them seem too close to this group of players to have any objectivity in their decision making. Expect little from next Friday, then a couple of big wins over whipping boys to paper over the cracks.'" The game stats say something different. www.superleague.co.uk/match_report/8871

Who would you change in the squad Andy?

I thought Leeds had a good game plan with a rushed defence that forced Wigan down the middle and starved the ball from their dangerous runners. Wigan had more possession yet Leeds defended well against a strong Wigan pressure on our line.

It was a quality game played at a fast pace and with some outstanding rugby played by both sides. In the end it was the Leeds errors that proved costly and considering our injuries and loss of form to key players we did very well and almost won it with the unfortunate (but correct call) obstruction. Near the end Wigan were happy to run the clock down in a game that perhaps was worthy of a draw.

The two Leeds youngsters got more game time due to the injury to Kirke who for possibly the first time had the best average metre gain of any forward on the field.

Fantastic game between,IMO, the best two teams in the league.

And what a player you have in Kallum Watkins. Absolutely brilliant player!

Agree.....in my many years of watching RL he is a sheer joy to watch: he needs so little space to produce something (he just needs quick ball; not something he gets a lot of).

I agree it was a cracking game: didn't even realise there was only the one score in the second half after it being so absorbing. Proves a try fest is not necessary for good entertainment.

If you thought your forwards bossed ours, I'm not sure which game you were watching. Stats or no stats

In terms of for the rest of this season, or looking further ahead?

At the moment, options are limited by the long term injuries to Peacock and Ablett.

Delaney will obviously come back in, for me in place of Clarkson. McShane needs to start. If Burrow is going to be in the side it's either ahead of McGuire or on the bench.

Sutclifffe, whether he is named at six or thirteen, needs to be given some responsibility to play as a pivot rather than just a runner.

Moore comes back from Hunslet and comes in to replace Bailey.

Longer term, look to bring in an organising scrum half. Somebody in the Dureau/Dobson mould. Sutcliffe starts at stand-off, Sinfield goes to 13 and defends in the middle. Burrow operates as an interchange hooker.

Also need to find a front-rower with an offload game. With Peacock out of the side and maybe only doing one more year there's nobody (Moore apart) who can knock people out of the way and create a second phase of play.

Could it not be said that we didn't let them be their usual fluent self in attack, or let their forwards impose themselves?



Why do you expect little from Friday? I think there's enough to suggest we stand a pretty good chance if we play anything like that again?

Hull will be buoyed by that win on Saturday, deserved or not. They're much improved from the opening night side that got rolled so easily at Headingley, and have some real threats on the edges who can take advantage of Leeds shaky defending.

I reckon they'll pick up a narrow home win on Friday.