Perfectly rational decision. He wants Donald to shore up the right hand side defence which was a glaring weakness last year.

Donald will probably take a couple of games to get use to playing on the right and not having Senior on the inside but a good decision from Bluey IMO as it was the weaker side defensively last season.

Smith- Even supporting like Webb, near faultless performance.
Donald- Good finish, unlucky not to ground 2 other bombs, not much ball. Maybe should have looked for more work.
Watkins- Should his quality and his inexperience, tackled above his weight.
Senior- Solid and strong.
Hall- Eye-catching performance, room for improvement though.
Sinfield- First run-out, looked rusty. Picked up a yard of pace it seems.
McGuire- Same as above, without the exta pace
Leulaui- Great first stint, not sure bringing him back on in 1st half worked though.
Diskin- Lively and energetic, he's fighting for his shirt.
Peacock- Got on with the job and won the fight.
JJB- Asked Celtic questions, eager, but silly penalty from him.
Ali- Trimmed down, full pre-season was needed, always looking to offload.
Ablett- Deserved try, filled in at lock adequately.

McShane- Well positioned for Hall's flick, solid little fella.
Allan- Hard to judge.
Burgess- Carted ball up time after time.
Kirke- He's even making long breaks now, added agression in his strides, useful weapon to hold.

Lets just hope Scottie keeps on scoring try's on that wing too

Good comments on the new season here: www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 45,00.html That guy 'Blood Bath' knows his onions. Top comments.

Good comments on the new season here: www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 45,00.html That guy 'Blood Bath' knows his onions. Top comments.

With regards the opening post. I dont see what Kirke didn't do that the starting back 3 did do. He was their equal IMO.

Despite critisisms previously, I actually thought Ryan Hall had a very good game.

Thought Kylie was definately MOM for us.

I thought Diskin's first spell was very good also. He made some telling runs from DH and was controlling that area very well for us.

Set the tempo in the first 15 minutes defensively, in the same way that Diskin set the tempo for the attack. The performance got markedly worse when both or either of them were off the field.

A few players will be better for the hit-out, the likes of Sinfield, Peacock and McGuire who haven't had a run since the end of the World Cup. There's a definite need to get the Eastwood situation sorted though to add some bulk to the middle of the park when the likes of Leuluai and Peacock are being spelled, not convinced that Burgess hits his weight defensively.

Didn't get the decision to give Danny Allan so little game time when the match was effectively won by half time. Even an extra 25-30 minutes at loose with Ablett shifting into the second row as the game got more open late on would have done him the world of good.

Burgess is one of the hardest tacklers at Leeds. His only problem is that he comes flying out and misses a lot. He's certainly no weaker than Bailey though.

I see that as an indication of his relative position in the pecking order of the upcoming youngsters.