OK

Its' time to get definitive here.

This season, we have conceded 5 tries in 4 league games. One of those was between the sticks, one of those was on the right hand side of the sticks and 3 of them were down our left hand side. let me repeat, one try conceded down our right channel.

This season we have scored 14 tries in 4 league games. 9 were scored down our left hand side, one between the posts and 4 on our right hand side. Ablett has scored 2 of those tries on the right (and one of the left for good measure). Watkins set up the other try on the right (and scored one on the left for good measure).

Of those tries scored down the left channel 2 have come from Hall who played on the allegedly porous right side last year.

So, remind me again, what is the problem, who is the weakness and where are we in the league?

I dont give a poop. How much time did Ablett play at centre in the GF?

p.s. well done with the stats above. I agree with you, although did think Gibson looked the more composed on Sunday.

You do realise I had to waste a good hour of working time/posting time sitting through SL highlights to compile that?

Who on earth I will bill for the time is the real issue.

Bill 6 clients 10 mins. They'll never know

Interesting that you've ignored the WCC match in your assessment.

Arguably they were the best prepared to exploit Leeds' weakness and that most certainly included Watkins defending on the right.

Luckily we don't face NRL opposition (let alone NRL champions) on a weekly basis so the ability of our players to play at that level consistently is not a relevant factor.





....and it probably didn't help my argument.

You have a point. My memoriy of where everyone stood for each set is a bit vague. But it could be that one was defedning at centre and one was attacking at centre. Its something that many teams do. again, my memory is not that clear, I may have to watch the dvd again

I guess for this to stop going round in circles we'd have to agree on what playing centre actually is defined as. Is it who lines up where in a defensive line, who lines up where from a scrum, or some other criteria.

That's the spirit.

Leeds scramble defence is very good, as you rightly acknowledge, it's just a pity it is so often called into action through failures (often by Watkins moving in on the wrong player) further upfield.

They would solve Englands rubbish centre's problems. But who'd play half back

Seriously though. Halves often defend outside the centres, which makes sence when you see the size of most centres

Causation is an area open to interpretation and opinion TVOC.

Best sticking to cold hard prove-able facts like what side of the field tries are scored/conceded on.

BTW, it works both ways. Example? Hall's try (on the left) against HKR was set up thanks to a Donald break on the right. He was released by a beautiful ball from Watkins.

Eastwood is a steampig!

Quite so followed by a good kick on the last, a good catch and eventual offload by Senior in heavy traffic, composure from McShane and awareness from Hall to finish. A good team try.





You've just studied the tries conceded, on the fifth and last of those who was lining up at left centre (outside Burrow on this occasion) and went in on Burrow's man leaving Hicks free to cross unopposed?

Whether defending on the left or right we appear to have a 17 year old making poor defensive decisions.

That's one way of looking at it. Another is that the players on the right had not slid across properly. After the first drive from the penalty you can see we shift right and Briers recognises this. We were therefore short on the left, giving them an overlap. I have no idea what call was made but both Watkins and Hall crashed in to try and prevent the over-lap. The free winger was actually Hall's man, not Watkins. Perhaps Watkins did exactly as instructed to do in that circumstance and they simply couldn't prevent the easy score created by a poor defensive alignment as the team shifted right?

Also, mercurial Lee Smith arrived very lat on the scene. If both threequarters crash in like that one would expect the full back to sweep across much quicker.

Shades of grey TVOC, shades of grey.

Watkins flew out of the line towards the player Burrow had identified as his man. Watkins' terrible read/lack of confidence in his teammate, left Hall forced to follow inside onto Gleeson and hopelessly outnumbered leaving Hicks with the unopposed walk in.

For a moment there I thought Leeds had re-signed Chev Walker.

I don't blame Watkins, I expect it from an inexperienced 17 year old. I blame the club for crap off season recruitment.