There was a point early in the second half where big Mik took the first hit-up out of yardage, got smashed but made good ground. Next up was Holroyd, again toiling through Wigan's pretty tough D. We're 30 metres out with carries from a 22 year old and 20 year old prop, and I thought "this is it".

Give is 2 more years and we'll be 40 metres out instead with broken opposition players littering the floor.

I'll say it again but I've never been as excited about a group of young players at Leeds as I am now. Are we playing great rugby? No not really. But we are showing the kind of foundation grit and spirit that made the club so successful in the past. Once these lads have some more physical presence and experience under their belts, we are going to be very good indeed. Smith is still only 22 and was close to our MoM again last night.

We need to remember that the Goldens didn't pop out of a microwave overnight. They took years, literally, to develop and mature and we had plenty of disappointments and poor performances along the way. If anything this group is ahead of where they were. In fact our biggest challenge will be keeping the NRL clubs away from these lads.

yes the futures bright
yes we won and progressed
but lets be honest, the game was bloody awful

I want nothing more from Lui and agree he's playing at the very end of his career. Not all his kicks were great last night by the way. He clearly is busted though

I'll be honest I should have just posted similar tad and left it at that.

Sethster you do have a point in what you're saying. Let's see how we go next week because I think it'll be a different type of game altogether.

I agree the finals series needs a turbo boost of quality though, hopefully the other finalists can put on a show over the weekend. The game in this country needs a good finish to the season given the loss of the WC.

I'm blaming Wigan a bit for last night; they are a suffocating type of team. I thought some of their wrestle in D was dangerous too, lots of attack to the lower legs and bending players into dangerous positions, hands on faces, standing on hands... lots of housery going on last night I thought. Was quite proud of Smith towards the end winding Partington (?) up and winning the penalty by not striking back - that takes some maturity.

I like this affectionate playful add on to my name. Makes me feel loved.

To be fair, I thought Leeming did well to get it so close considering the terrible pass he received.

]

Negative, negative, negative.

What was you expecting last night Seth seriously? Was you really expecting a free flowing open razzle dazzle style of game? The game went exactly as I and others expected it to, tight, tense, war of attrition, arm wrestle. I expected we would need to defend our line, deal with kicks, be good bringing it away from our line and be patient in attack. All of those are skills in RL. Wigan are, for all the negativity in your posts, a well drilled team defensively. They dont concede many points and we had to match that. We more than matched it we topped it. Picking the likes of Donaldson and Thompson allowed us some impact of the bench, we won the game so Agar's selection was absolutely spot on. The likes of Mikolaj, Cam and Tommy the Tank really added to the team when they was needed.

You say it was mistake ridden but Wigan completed at over 90% in a first half of very few stoppages. Leeds discipline last night was superb, again a key skill.

Handley made over 230m mainly clearing his lines, is that not a skill for a modern day winger?

Everytime we win you comment on the standard of the opposition. How about picking some positives out for once?

For somebody who supposedly cares about the sport, and deep down Seth i know you do, you focus on the negatives too much. Good teams win different ways. If this Leeds team is learning to win tight tussles like last night thats a good thing in my opinion not a negative. The good teams in the past could overcome any type of game
Last night was what playoff footy is all about.

Thanks for posting that Jack. Thats the exact point i made at the ground.

Again Marty your opening couple of sentences shows you want to completely ignore what I've actually written. You think last night was a good quality game and beyond the effort levels I and many others disagree, anyone would think it was just me who said it was poor quality. Even those who rightfully praise the effort have acknowledged it was. And there I think we draw a line.

Never said it was a high quality game Seth but defending and commitment are elements of the sport. You dont think the defence was high quality last night? You dont think the way our wingers cleared our line was high quality? You dont think Newmans, Cam's, Mikolaj's performances was high quality? You dont think some of our kick chase was high quality? The way we protected our wingers under kicks wasnt high quality? Our discipline, which has been poor at times this year wasnt high quality last night?

Really?

You genuinely didnt see any elements of that game that was worthy of any praise because from about an hour before the game all you posted was negativity. If thats how you want to be then fine. If beating Wigan away in a playoff game isnt good enough for you I find that very strange.

last night we outdid Wigan at their own game. Had to have a change of tatics from the last outing and it proved to be the right decision. Out Wiganed Wigan at Wigan.
I think anyone watching who has been following the game for a long time understood what was happening. Not a game for the casual supporter or non affecianado maybe but a bloody good win, nilling the opposition in a play off game is no mean feat. Because it was the first time it has been 0-0 at ht in PO game speaks volume. That wasn't becasue it was two poor sides, it was because it was two sides performing game plans that were cancelling each other out. Not the flashiest of watches but hey ho, on to the semi's
Couldnt be prouder of my team after all the advcersity of seasons gone and this one in particular

Yes Marty the effort areas and 3 individuals mentioned were worthy of praise and along with my frustrations on the overall poor quality and lack of any real pressure on our defence, I should have also mentioned these.

Well said completely agree.

"Oh but it wasnt high quality" who cares. Onto the semi.

We score on average 3 points per half in the last 10 games or so. Nilling us is nothing to be proud of!