I think the bench last night looked weak. The bench should add impact but achurch who has looked excellent out wide this season is wasted at prop. Yates seems to be in the Kirke role of being steady but unspectaculat.
I agree with above that sometimes burrow off the bench works and sometimes it doesn't. Hull away he was great. Last night less so. Keeping aiton mcguire sinfield burrow and Sutcliffe happy will be tough.
We are spoiled though. A record win away at saints with 4 first teamers missing and a six point lead at the top is beyond any of our expectations this season

His composure and awareness, knowing that Hardaker was coming on to it belied his young years. He could have a big future indeed.

Agree with Gotchas summing up.
I kept saying get Burrow off he is slowing us down and offering very little.
Sutcliffe and McGuire played well together and Sutcliffe can only get better.
Aiton, JP and Ward who tackled all night were top notch.
I actually think a couple of Saints tries were dubious at best.
They will be a different team once their injured players come back and Walsh gets match fit.
I actually felt we didn't lose anything with Watkins and Handley on the wings replacing Briscoe and Hall.

The pass to Hardaker rather than Aiton - who was probably covered ad would have been tackled - was what impressed me too. Altogether a masterly performance from the young man. It did seem as though the coach's faith in him at the expense of Sinfield was the final element in him really stepping up to the plate. Very impressive and now undoubtedly (I hope) Leeds' first choice stand off for the rest of the season.

I have to give credit to the coach who I have not always been the biggest fan of

..... it is a masterful performance from him also in handling the transition phase we were all fearing.

McGuire is playng his best footy for many a season and makes for a pretty damn good half back partnership at the moment.

Sinfield must remain as an option in the forwards....he still looks good at dummy half (think it was Sinfield that helped create McGuire's try). Burrow's days at Leeds do look sadly numbered at present; Aiton too is showing his apparent appreciation at being selected as first choice hooker.

He was aided by an absolutely awful read by whoever was defending in that left centre position for Saints.

Flew out of the line to shut the play down, and all Sutcliffe had to do was skip onto Wilkin's outside shoulder and through the yawning gap it left.

Great composure to pick the right pass once he did though.

On the game as a whole:

Saints were awful in the first half, there's no getting away from that. Credit to Leeds for being able to take advantage and being a step quicker in everything they did.

While I appreciate we're down to arguably 17 or 18 fit senior pros with the four that are missing, team selection did look a bit of square pegs in round holes in places. The bench in particular looked lightweight with both Sinfield and Burrow on it.

Sutcliffe and McGuire worked well as a partnership again, off the back of some good work from Aiton at dummy half. Thought we handled Saints props pretty well, they were reduced to throwing blind offloads at times out of desperation. Unable to win the collision, Roby looked much less effective getting out of dummy half. Unsurprisingly, they looked a much better side with Walsh on the field but the game had pretty much already gone by then.

Some interesting selection decisions to be made when the likes of JJB get fit. If he comes back into the side, you'd expect it would be for the likes of Achurch or Yates, but that would leave us even more lacking in size off the bench.

Contrast with McDermott who was very modest about Leeds forst half and complimentay about Saints. I said something similar after a petulant whiny post match interview from Darryl Powell last year. McDermott's presence has really grown since he first got the job and his media interviews are generally very good.

An excellent first half is an understatement. The biggest concern for me wasn't Burrow for Aiton but our right side defence when Walsh came on. However, Saints were always going to throw everything at us after half time and we were very composed again by the end.

Well done last night guys.

Mightily impressive performance from Leeds. Totally outclassed us I felt at the game. Disappointed in our defending, which has been awful the last few weeks but you guys were utterly ruthless. Very impressed with Sutcliffe, what a talent that lad is and I think Singleton is another with big potential.

Long season with more battles to come.

Massive assist goes to Jordan Turner who spent the entire game charging up on his own to smash someone. He had his sights set on Ablett and didn't care that he left a huge hole for Suttcliffe to run through.

Fabulous win last night but to quote the old cliche "you win nothing in April".
What has been most pleasing has been the way in which we have won, playing slick, expansive yet (generally) controlled rugby.
Cuthbertson & Aiton have been instrumental in that with McGuire also pulling the strings.
Some our passing in & around the ruck area was reminiscent of that of Melbourne Storm.
But I have to admit to getting a wee bit nervous after Saints start to the second half.

Yeah, mentioned that above and just watched it back again on the highlights. Awful read, hung Wilkin out to dry against someone with Sutcliffe's footwork.

Stats for game. Stevie ward got through his usual chunk of tackles. Having a storming season so far www.superleague.co.uk/report/11127

Stats for game. Stevie ward got through his usual chunk of tackles. Having a storming season so far www.superleague.co.uk/report/11127