Yes Saints have a bit of an NRL-side look about them at times don't they? Very well coached, I didn't know much about Woolf before he came across but he clearly knows what he's doing.

It's a long season, and it's good that Saints are setting the standard high early doors. I want Leeds to look great too.

Pretty much spot on that Sadds.
First 17 mins of that game were pretty poor for any flowing rugby if im honest as it looked like Catalans were only interested in bashing anything in a red vee.
I was impressed that it looked like you always had a gear or two to go up while they looked like they had shot their bolt in the first half after throwing the kitchen sink at you and from then on were more interested in grubbing their way around the pitch.

Probably frustrated how the season ended from them and the alleged issues within that game and ol' Bernard fuelling a "us against them / no backward step" mentality all off season. A shame really as they can play some champagne league but seem to go for the grub route back into games when behind.

Pleasantly surprised by Hurrell last night - he has the first 8 weeks of the season to nail down a first XIII spot and he made a good start. My concern is still he didn't have to defend much and when teams move the balll a bit more (as Leigh did pre-season) he tends to miss bad tackles.

I think last night also underlined why Saints fans weren't overly concerned about losing Bentley - Bachelor was brilliant again. Win win all round I think as Bentley is undoubtedly a good player when he reigns in the nonsense so will go well for Leeds.

Thing is we've needed and missed a grade A poophouse since the master retired a few years ago.

Bachelor looked very good last night.

Even taking into account he was out to impress and making his debut in front of a vociferous home crowd he does look leaner and played meaner than during his time at Leeds.

I think that's a little unfair.

During his first two seasons he had games where he played better than he did for you guys last night, I think there's a bit of revisionism going on, he was poor last season(because he was injured) but had some great performances for us in those first two years.

Also don't think saints fans should get too carried away he will make mistakes both in defence and ball handling - they were lucky last night that Catalans attack was dire so didnt take advantage of his brain fart paying the ball on his own line, the game was actually in the balance at that point.

No doubt he looked slightly leaner, albeit is still blowing after every involvement. I also suspect he will struggle to maintain his weight through the season.

It has attack has never been criticised. It's his fitness, defence and handling errors that are the concern. Hopefully, his fitness will be better for the Saints and they can cover his defensive mishaps better. I doubt you'll eradicate his handling errors though as that is part of who he is.

We’ve got one quality centre who’s currently injured. Come back koni?

Do you think the salary cap doesn't apply to Leeds or something ?

The move to Saints was the best move for all partys, Koni's a luxury player, can be rocks or diamonds, Saints are a well oiled machine who can accomodate a player like him much better than we can at the minute. Right decision to let him go, glad he's started well, seems a great lad.

Do you honestly think Briscoe/Sutty are anywhere near good enough? Even at SL level. Austin won’t be cheap. Just think squad would have been a lot better if we’d retained Koni and Gale. We didn’t really need Bentley either…..

Briscoe and Sutty are decent SL players, they're also not our first choice Centre pairing are they.

We offered Koni more money than Saints, what more could we have done, he wasn't worth anywhere near Marquee money.

Personally I'd argue our team is better with Austin and Sezer in the half rather than Sezer/Gale. We'll have to wait and see, Gale was also out injured for a lot of his Leeds career.

He played 22 games in 2 years in fact


Anyway if we had kept them you'd probably be moaning about them now, it seems to be what you do.

Hang on. Isn't it you who thinks Sutty is a top class Stand Off?

I think they are solid SL players, not top class and id hope Broadbent would be overtaking them both at some point. I honestly dont think you are giving enough consideration to the cap, we'v brought in Sezer, Austin and Fusitua, id rather have any of them 3 over Hurrell, we cant keep everbody.

On top of that, Hurrell wasnt great either, for all the fantastic highlight runs there were all the errors and defensive misreads. Like iv already said, he's a better fit for where Saints are than where we are currently imo.

I don’t mind Sutty as back up stand off, not at all and think he has great skills. I don’t mind Briscoe as winger/ back up winger. I think both should be nowhere near first choice centre however…..