Quote: Juan Cornetto "Look this is sport. Coaches and professional players practice and strive for error free performances with good discipline. Even Champion players fall below their targets sometimes. Our discipline in the last couple of games has been good so looking to make some spooky case based on what came before 2 out of 3 penalties is really scaping the barrel.'"
Is it spooky when it's been a noticeable trait all season even if it's passed the good folk of Opta and some others by?
Opening the book with the first game of the season at Home to Hull
5th minute -
Knock-On - Moon from a loose carry
6th minute -
Penalty - Bailey - Interference at the Play The Ball
12th minute -
Lost possession - Sinfield - poor offload in traffic
13th minute -
Penalty - Peacock - Interference at the Play The Ball
V Melbourne in the World CLub Challenge
30th minute -
Knock-On - Burrow - I think we can all remember this one
31st minute -
Penalty - Delaney - Interference at the Play The Ball
35th minute -
Knock-On - Moon - Poor pass selection
35th minute -
Penalty - Burrow - Offside at scrum
61st minute -
Knock-On - Ward - Poor pass from Sinfield
62nd minute -
Penalty - Peacock - Offside at the Play The Ball
V St Helens Away
7th minute -
Knock-On - Ward - From an incorrect Play The Ball
7th minute -
Penalty - Jones-Buchanan - Interference at the Play The Ball
64th minute -
Knock-On - Ablett - From a McShane Pass
65th minute -
Penalty - McShane - Interference at the Play The Ball
V Bradford Home
20th minute -
Knock-On - McGuire - From a Jones-Buchanan offload
21st minute -
Penalty - Jones-Buchanan - Pushing and Not Square at the Play The Ball
62nd minute -
Lost possession - Ablett - Ball stolen
62nd minute -
Penalty - Ablett - Interference at the Play The Ball
These were just in some of the Sky Leeds games covered before the end of March and if I continued the list the trend would almost certainly continue as it's been a noticeable feature in Leeds game all season and there were still the two instances again in Saturday's game at Warrington. To fail to complete your sets of possession can happen but to then allow that frustration to lead to a further loss in field position and more defensive duties is poor by any standard.
Even when Leeds have a comparative walkover encounter such as the game V London at the Stoop it's still in their armoury - Burrow - Shocker
8th minute -
Penalty - Peacock - High tackle
41st minute -
Knock-On - Moon - Pass from Sinfield
41st minute -
Penalty - ? - Offside
Quote: Juan Cornetto "The match against Warrington was just not to be our day. We came up against a pack that was in better form than ours and whose line speed and PTB was very quick and who were allowed to be offside and mess about in the tackle. We lost most of the 50/50 calls and all this meant they gained the all important momentum which proved decisive in the 2nd half.'"
Warrington out-played Leeds because first and foremost they have a better squad and a much better coach. They have two high quality hookers while Leeds have none with an interchange policy that shares the front-row workload evenly and that doesn't appear to carry spare parts who are given scant minutes after the result is decided. I would have thought ranting at the referee was below your usual standards but if you want to plumb those depths, then carry on.
Quote: Juan Cornetto "With regard to Kirke, I have said on many occassions I am not a big fan and would have dropped him. However the critics are one eyed and for example against Warrington his metres per carry was the 3rd best. I also note the Kirke critics have kept very quiet regarding Bailey's awful lack of go forward which bears repeating. 6 carries for just 19 metres making a bottom of the table 3.17metres per carry. And your friend Kylie just 7 carries and 10 tackles. Come on now!'"
The Kirke critics can answer that one themselves. The Bailey stat looks poor and before the game I was calling for Singleton to retain his starting place after a great showing the week before but obviously the coach (no doubt with your full backing) knows best.
According to Opta?
Quote: Juan Cornetto "I too base my opinion on what I see played on the pitch. However it is useful to be able to back opinion up with facts.'"
Whose facts, are they trustworthy and can they describe the actual incidents that determine a game? They are numbers on a spreadsheet - they are not rugby league.
For example what your 'facts' won't have noticed on Saturday is which player was left on the ground by Westwood as Monaghan (Michael - a genuine hooker) expertly engaged the A defender (Delaney) which caused the B defender (Jones-Buchanan) to sink in on defence which opened a huge gap between the B and C defender (Watkins) which allowed a carthorse such as Grix (Simon) to romp through embarrass Hardaker and score. The kick from Ratchford regained Warrington the lead and they would never lose it again.
The referee could have penalised Leeds at the PTB but chose to play an advantage and Warrington were good enough to seize it. In case you're wondering it was Sinfield and in particular Moon who had failed to control the speed of the PTB that led to the try being scored, unfortunately no amount of searching Opta's so called facts will recognise that.