BJB has looked a liability in defence for a while now. last night was awful though. his attempted 'tackle' on lovegrove was pathetic

Yes BJB should have stopped the score but you cannot be sure Hardaker would have stopped the try as although much more physical he lacks positional sense and might not have been near enough. Whoever played at FB for Leeds last night was onto a hiding to nothing. The first mistake for the same try was by Sinfield I think who opened up a big hole.

My first suggestion you will recall was to play Sutcliffe at centre thereby leaving Hardaker at FB and BJB on the wing. I rate Sutcliffe and he has some class however I am not convinced yet that he has ability to run a game and last night never showed enough in a pivotal role. His tackle bust and offload were centre skills which he has in abundance.

IMO only JP showed up well enough in the pack and the sooner we can get JJB & Delaney fit again the better. Sinfield had something of a nightmare and until he woke up in the final quarter he failed to provide the direction and creation Leeds need to succeed. McShane offered little and meant Burrow had to revert to acting half back and despite the usual comments from the Anti-Burrow Faction (ABF) he did what he always does. To compare him with Dobson is an ABF cheap shot as after all these years it shows a failure to understand how our players play. In the Leeds side the Dobson role is taken by Sinfield. When Burrow wasn't running and trying to create an opening or space we had the alternative offerings from his team mates that was poor passing and 2nd rowers getting in the way of ball that should have gone to the centres. Ablett for all his efforts all too aften died with the ball.

The team made far too many errors and our finishing was very poor and the players seemed to think a win was a certainty. All credit to a much weakend HKR outfit that were really up for it. Their defence was outstanding with very quick line speed hugely aided by the ref's idea of the offside laws. While our defence was ok, our line speed and aggressive tackling were poor.

As time ran out Sinfield, stopped day dreaming about his Salford offer, and started to pass out wide and over the heads of our blinkered 2nd rowers. This created enough chances to win the game.

On the positive side this was a good work out in what was play-off style pressure. It could well give us the kick up the backside we needed and get some urgency and sharpeness in our game. Despite being not at the races the team still had that never say die attitude and it was not for the want of effort we lost. The players need to improve their handling, lines of running and offloading skills and have some answers to the rushed defence as the opposition coaches will have made plenty of notes last night.

As I have remarked before and will continue doing so the hooking Position is a major problem. This is causing players to be played out of position thus affecting the teams performance .
I think everbody is in agreement that in future whatever the circumstances Hardaker should always remain at full back.
Likewise BJB should remain on the wing.
I just hope last nights performance was a blip and things will improve, if not we will win nowt this season.

I've seen quite a bit of Rovers this season. I think the "weakened side" is a red herring. Since they started fielding all these youngsters they've had more belief and more enthusiasm. They look a better team. They are heavily reliant on Dobson, but they haven't missed many of the first-teamers who have been out.

Back tracking now are we?

I stated elsewhere before the match that positions FB and RW/RC should be maintained; the changes should have only come on the left. Hardaker is a fantastic FB especially on one on one efforts: BJB was more like Webb at his worst with his feeble attempt....he's much much better on the wing.
However, the huge problem as you state was the awful pack effort, apart from Singleton in the main. McShane looks more shattered and lacking in confidence than ever before - good coaching you think?
Kirke the shirk should have been dropped at the begining of the season; Burrow is a fantastic combatant and is mr dynamo, but will never ever be the answer as main hooker. Terrible performance all round and I am so damn well glad I am not one of the poor to be pitied season ticket holders.

Duckworth looked strong and generally promising (Vickery anybody?) but outright pace is certainly not an apparent part of his armoury. His chase back on HKR's second try was not up to much. Ryan Hall mark 2 maybe?

There's no excuse When Lovegrove ran down the touchline to score

IMO he should have been hit so hard that he would have had to pay to get back into the ground

I agree TBB it was a weak effort from Bish imo.
I also think Watkins was at fault for shooting out of the line which gave Dobson stacks of space and a 3 on 1 to get past Duckworth.

BJB can offer no excuse for that try

In that situation any decent fullback would have gone for the legs and tackled him into touch.

I'd agree as far as defence goes Rovers would not have been better whatever team we put out.

But on attack we definitely miss Cory Patterson, Greg Eden & Kris Welham an awful lot. They are our main strike players. And Mickey Paea gives us good go forward he is a big loss too. We'd probably miss Ryan O'Hara too except we can't remember what he looks like.

Also we had some guys out there who are 'cover for the cover' but they did well. We tend to assume rightly or wrongly that the likes of yourselves have strength in depth and can cope whatever. Whereas those of us who slum it lower down the table have squads as thin as Kate Moss after a bout of gastroenteritis.

But we still had our first choice half backs, a pile of enthusiasm and rarely for us a touch of good fortune. With you being below your best it was just enough on the night.

You'll win the GF yet again and you won't give a fig.

Ten out of ten for the Kate Moss line.

The clue was in the remark " in the main " ..... Peacock didn't play bad, but was hardly at his best.

McShane maybe looks ever more shattered and lacking in confidence owing to the lack of faith placed in him by his coach? He certainly seems to have gone backwards in his playing abilities.

Hmmmm the alternative is to concede that McDermott was right all along....and you can hardly expect me to admit that now can you?