Sutcliffe didn't look sharp enough before he was injured, neither did Watkins or Hardaker who dies with the ball too much. The forwards didn't dominate and the whole side struggled with Warrington's quick defence who came with a distinct tactic to slow down our PTB.

Having said that we should still have won had we kicked our goals which is a source of concern that I have previously expressed and unfortunately this weakness I believe will be repeated. Hardaker does not look a natural kicker and will need to improve dramatically to be more than just a 50%er.

On the plus side Lilley played very well and was involved in most of our best bits and IMO he should currently be a starter at halfback. I like the way he is prepared to take responsibility and I think he is also our best kicker and should be taking the goal kicks when he is on the field. Moon was once again our best and I thought Ferres worked hard and Galloway and Singleton went well too.

First game of the season and were already into bizarre coaching decision territory
Why Lilly wasnt made kicker is beyond me especilly as he kicked a touchline conversion against NZ, whilst Sutcliffe won us a match from a similar position last year against Catalan, I understand that Hardaker needs time but if youve got a kick to level a game your best kicker HAS to take it!
Hopefully this is a blip and Hardaker is kicking them from everywhere in a couple of months but for now please let Lilly kick, also he should be playing 7 when hes on, burrow will be playing hooker most games anyway so dont understand why he was put in the halves

Poor is the answer, as was his all round play. But we didn't win because of poor half back play in the first half of the game. All that play and no danger. Lilley is the only half we have who can dictate play and move the team around, and we should have faith in him for an extended run.

Random thoughts

We had enough ball and field position to win 2 games, but the lack of spark from the halfbacks was obvious for all to see, and stopped the match winning backs getting enough possession

Sutcliffe had a shocker, Mcguire was missed when he went off and Burrow was his usual self which isn't an organising playmaker. Lilley looked very good.

Surprised to see Wire come to slow the PTB so much, they were penalised heavily but on balance it worked

Seems the game came across well on TV, but in the ground I thought both teams were very scrappy with the ball, lots of mistakes in a typical opener

The first Wire try came from a strange penalty against Ferres, but proved I'm not going to understand what is and isn't obstruction for another season

Forwards went OK, I think they lacked some composure with the ball. No issue with mistakes per se but some of the attempted offloads were low percentage plays

Haven't watched the replay but didnt Hall have the ball clearly stolen in a 2 man tackle late on and a knock on was given? Was I seeing things on the big screen? They didn't appear to check it even though it was a scrum and a natural break in play?

Not convinced the late penalty for obstruction on Lilley was a penalty at all, but havent seen it again

No lack of effort from Leeds, and nothing to panic about after one game. We'll lose a few this year, we do every year.

Thought the million pound pitch looked very impressive.

We got absolutely dry bummed on the penalty count, played poorly with ball in hand and yet still won. You will struggle this year. I think you all know your wonderful decade of fun is over. Sir kev or jp in that side and you win

Agree with most of this. Thought wire defensive was extremely committed and when they gave any penalties we were not composed enough to stretch them. 2 points of concern to me. 1) last tackle kick options were pretty poor and 2) hardaker looks to me like he is kicking hard at the ball rather than through it. agree he does not look like a natural goal kicker.

You did the double over us last year in league and yet ....agree with sir kev kicking we would have won but it's a long year.

Yes it did look a bit threadbare. Are there plans to sow some plastic seeds? But at least it's in better nick than the training one which wasn't glued down well enough or has shrunk or something.

It was under about 6 ft of filthy River Aire for a couple of days last month, wasn't it? I'm guessing the actual grass pitches down there were also affected. They've still got that pitch at Meanwood/Weetwood which hasn't been used for a couple of decades. The posts (now rusty and laid flat on the deck) are still there. Needs plenty of weeding done though along with removal of dog mess

Sinfield brings more than just his conversions, huge loss, looked rudderless tonight, like the season we lost Briers.

If McGuire is going to be out for a period I fear that his true worth will be so evident that even those who stubbornly remain oblivious will have to acknowledge it.

Oh, and to use a tired - yet valid - cliche, we (particularly the forwards) missed a proper hooker.

The biggest disappointment for me was we were repeatedly camped out on their line but didn't seem to have any idea how to get over. It was like we were playing thirteen stand offs, the ball was just thrown from one side of the pitch to the other with no line runners to put any doubt in Warrington's mind.

Singleton and Garbutt brought some much needed aggression and Lilley shone as both a hooker and a half. Moon also played well and was my MOTM.

I agree re: Lilley he looks the real deal - I know Sutcliffe was injured and he hasn't played at this level for a long time but he looked well out of his depth and his inability to catch a sublime offload was costly.

I disagree re: the first half - the problem for me was we didn't capitalise on the pressure we built in the first half in the second. The game was lost when Burrow decided to put the brakes on when he saw Currie coming towards him and two shocking attempts at kicks from Hardaker. If he is the best kicker in the club we really have some issues.

On a positive I thought Ablett was much improved on last season, Ferres fitted in well, Galloway looked like he had come to play and Child could have been a whole lot worse.

Leeds were comfortable last night, dominated possession and field position.

Leeds weren't panicking when 6-0 down. The first 20 minutes of 2nd half they upped the speed on play all round, a lot of credit has to go to Lilley for that. for me where they slipped up was not finding the killer punch when they were leading 10-6. if we could have pushed 2 scores clear that would have been enough.

1st game in, always expected a tough arm wrestle. Leeds were edged out, plenty more to come. nothing to worry about from a 1st hit out.