Thought Sutcliffe ran hard and tackled well, supported well, and made a couple of half breaks. Considering this was a game no half-back broke open, its strange to see Sutcliffe thrown under the bus for it.

That's true. Last season he was defending Hardaker when he was equally bad.

I've no issue with him defending players, just don't take us for mugs by saying he was very good. plenty of other things he could say or better still say nothing at all

Ernest, I agree about moon, he is our most gifted creative talent looking forward. We may all need some endurance until it happens.

As for Lilley, I wonder if he has been sent to Bradford so Toovey can have a look and decide if he thinks he could play scrum half under him for Leeds next season.

By creative do you mean running? He hasn't got any kind of creative passing game at all.

The solution whether from inside or outside the club is an actual halfback.

What worries me about Sutcliffe is he seems to be going backwards. When he made his debut no matter what position he played he made a positive contribution to the team. I remember being furious after the semi final against Wigan in 2013 because I was certain that if McDermott played Sutcliffe from the beginning instead of McGuire or JJB (Who were on one leg between them) we would have won. He had a fairly quiet 2014 but that could easily be put down to second season syndrome and playing in a Leeds team that were uninspiring in attack before playing out of his skin at points in 2015 before suffering that season ending injury.

Since then he has looked worse than when he started. Last season was understandable as apparently he was rushed back from his injury and was expected to be the main director when that is not his natural strength and he is still learning the trade but he seems to be continuing this in 2017. I really do hope that he can shake off whatever is holding him back (Could a new coach be what he needs?) as RL is crying out for more quality British halves and he has massive potential but he is going to have to turn it around soon before the fans turn on him.

As for the game itself Leeds picked up where they left off in 2016. Defensively solid but lacking any serious idea in attack and relying on bits of magic to score.

More schoolyard name calling.

This is very true though in fairness the team wasn't struggling in the same way as it was last year. And he's hardly alone in making relatively few recent positive contributions; there are players with far more experience who also give the appearance of having gone backwards. Probably a confidence thing.

That's very true and with the current lack of structure in the side it is a difficult place to regain confidence for anyone. I do hope he can claw back some form because he has massive potential and I would hate to see it wasted.

But for Ward's pass straying forward and Makinson's outstanding cover defence, Sutcliffe would have had two great tries. In an incredibly tight game, against very very disciplined defence, Im not sure what people expect from him.

It is a game of fine margins. There was also a good read from Fages to intercept a pass from Sutty that looked like it'd give Ward a walk in.

The problem with his performance is that all that adds up to a bad one, he didn't manage the game, and was caught several times on the last in good ball. The same can however, can be said of Burrow. As a whole the halfback combo didn't work, and its unfair to lay all that on sutty.

He can run and kick well near the line. Agree he is not John Holmes with ball in hand but Can draw and pass well and out of the tackle. I'm making an assumption that oodles of cash for a new signing won't be forthcoming and internal options are limited.