Yes, next time wake up when watching on TV. You obviously wasn't at the game.

Swap him and Burrow for both sides and Leeds would have won by a mile.

It's not about been noticed, it's what you contribute.

No mate never been to a game in my life and don't know anything about RL. Sorry for my lack of knowledge.

Noted

Totally agree with this Peacock loved the battle and Ward is going to get better and better. Achurch has found it tough so far but given more time I think (hope) he'll settle. Watkins was okay at FB but it was clear to see it's not his position.

All in all we can be proud with the performance but could certainly have won if we had taken out chances.

Smith ran that game from start to finish for Melbourne and showed the class act he is imo compare their ptb to ours and how he got them around the park compared to Burrow!

Good effort from your boys, thought a bit more composure on Melbourne's line in the last 10, and you might have nicked it. You lived with, matched and at some points, out played a very very good team. Leeds can be very proud of their performance last night.

2 main differences for me were that when they sucked defenders in and then got the ball free, they really took advantage, and used the space. When we got an arm free we either offloaded poorly, or gave itto a stationary man who got tackled.

Secondly, their defensive line speed was phenonenal. When we were on their line we just had no time to make the pass. We stood off them a bit in defence. We are just not used to that level of intensity.

Saying that, we did well to keep close especially after the start to the second half. We just couldnt get that final break.

Thoyght Ablett and Moon were great and had the beating of their opposite numbers. Peacock and Delaney were immense, and Kirke and Ward put in good shifts. Didnt see much in Achurch or vickery. Burrow goes from frustrating to brilliant in a moment. Hard to know how to use him best

I for one was rooting for the Rhinos last night!! The Rhinos should have pinched it in the last 10. Leeds are not one of my loves of rugby league but they are Yorkshire and so am I. WELL DONE LEEDS RHINOS!!!!!!

Thought Vickery did ok considering it was his first run out after his injury(in such a big game), Achurch was disappoiting......pretty much a poor mans Kirke (and thats not a knock on Ian). I was once again a little worried about McShanes turnstyle tackling technique for the very poor try we gave up. I've seen that hands on shoulder getting brushed off easily lazy effort far too often already in his limited career here.

McDermott doesn't trust McShane. After his missed tackle at the start of the first half (for which Achurch was equally culpable) he was subbed and not used again. As Melbourne had game planned to shut down Kev this meant all the creativity had to come from McGuire with Burrow stuck at dummy half and Danny could have used some help.

Overall, great game, great effort and if only Super League games were like that every week.

Firstly well done to Melbourne who were the best team on the night. But Leeds weren't that far behind and (in hindsight) had we taken the 2 penalties we would have draw. Both teams made a few too many mistakes and not at their sharpest on attack but on any other day Burrow and Mags would have scored and we would have been 12 up at half time.

IMO JP was the best forward on the pitch with an immense effort. Delaney and JJB were the equal of any of the Storm pack and Ward is coming on fine and justified the coaches starting selections. Watkins playing out of position looked dangerous and although Ablett put in his usual sterling effort I felt Leeds lacked Watkins skills in the centre and the loss of Hardaker was crucial to the outcome. Did Vickery get a pass from Ablett?

Cam Smith is a great player but I thought we handled him well. Their real star who made the difference was Cooper Cronk.

Melbourne came very well prepared and really wanted to win. I don't buy this not having had a game business. Our best form this season was our first match and the subsequent matches have cost us injuries and disruption.

McShane and Achurch were not up to speed and their combined poor defence was crucial as it gave them a soft score and the momentum for a quick follow up score. I don't think it would have made much difference had Clarkson played more time as the starting back three offer more (and were 3 of our best players) and were not lacking in energy either.

All in all while not being at our best we came so close to winning it. Thats sport.

Funny, I told you that 12 months ago

I wouldn't trust him after last nights effort, or any other big game I've seen him play in either. His defence is average, but his tackling technique is worse, and that's before we get going on his distribution and taking wrong options.

IMO he's not got enough for a top 8 team, kind of explains it all when he didn't stand out in last years Widnes team.

CMR-Disagree re-Mcshanes distribution and option taking he also did well enough last year against Manly.
His distribution is way above Burrows 70% pass to ankles and sharper imo and he's not as bad as you suggest with his reading of the options on offer.
Also Widnes wanted him to stay and 99% of their fans thought he was avery good 9.
Last night wasn't his greatest but he wasn't the only 1 at fault for Bromwichs try either.

I left the ground feeling very proud of the boys last night. Didnt give up and played a part in a enthralling game of Rugby League

Heard some say that it's a shame we were missing Hardaker but if you think Watkins and Ablett and the rejigged back-row including Ward did really well then the real lost was more Bailey. He might be disliked and not rated by many RL fans but he would've offered us a lot more coming off the bench at prop than Achurch. Don't know if it was because he'd only just come back from injury but Ablett seemed reluctant to use Vickery and thats not usually what you get when Ablett plays at centre. We also seemed happier to spread it wide in our own half/near the half way line in the first half but in the 2nd half we didn't go to Melbourne's weakest area of the edges enough IMO considering the success we were starting to have there and instead got a bit too much down the middle around the same field position.

Predicted Watkins would go very good at FB in attack (which he did) but worried about kicks to him, he unfortunately made a mess of a high bomb and the toe into touch was crucial at such a late stage. The lack of use of Clarkson (9 mins) is a strange one, on one hand the back rowers were all playing well but I can't see the logic of giving someone so little time, it will have been nearly 2 hours since the proper warm-up until he came on and he's got to get up to game speed in under 10 mins?

It's a shame he couldn't give Peacock more of a breather but he obviously felt that he couldn't keep Achurch out there any longer, same goes for McShane. That could've give us more options on the last tackle in the 2nd half with Burrow dropping back (or even McShane as he can kick too) but the Bromwich try was a shocker to give away. Add to this that I saw McGuire limpimg at times in the 2nd half then I think we ran out of energy and fitness of the guys who McDermott could/would trust out there to do something. Everytime we needed to kick it seemed to be [i'give it to Sinfield'[/i but when we've got McGuire, Burrow and McShane who can all kick too then it was frustrating that Melbourne could read what was going to happen and who was going to get it on the 5th so easily last night.

All in all though it was a great effort and we can think 'if only' had Burrow scored, Melbourne were the better team but not by loads and we certainly gave them a battle.