Haha, they're whinging about playing international rules rather than Super League rules.

Feck off Leeds.

That game will haunt Watkins for sometime I'm afraid. He blew two clear cut chances to score and it proved extremely costly.

Enjoyed the game...as people on here were pointing out on Friday night, you don't need a shedload of scores for that when seeing two excellent defences slog it out.

Storm were lying on something rotten, and the ref was not penalising them as much as I would have thought was justified. But its Silverwood, and we know all about that. More to the point, Leeds have perfected the art of lying on to the nanosecond, so in a way it was poetic justice that another side who practiced that tactic to perfection proved to be their nemesis. Maybe losing Sinfield made the difference, but Watkins and Leeds blew their chances and Storm took theirs. But you always felt Storm would power on with a late flourish I thought?

I was not supporting and never could support Leeds in that match, but had they managed to sneak it at the end (rather than it going the other way) I would have had no difficulty in congratulating them on a ground-out win.. As it is, the congrats go to Melbourne.

Bulls still have the bragging rights in WCC stakes...!

10 - 18 to Storm.

I think we saw again the problems caused by essentially having two very different games in SL and the NRL.

It's personal choice but I actually prefer the NRL style of play compared to what we see in SL. The quicker PTB in SL suits teams like St Helens who have built their whole game around a quick PTB. But I think the NRL style encourages greater skill to unlock the tighter defences.

Hopefully we will get to see the NRL on our screens over here this year, but it is all still quiet on that front.

Totally agree with that.

Melbourne showed how to defend tonight, and even when their line was broke they scrambled back and pressured perectly.

That's no longer the case, having two referees has speeded up their game considerably and having watched both SL and NRL last season I would say it was us who have the slower PTB by some way. In fact if anything tonight they were exploiting the one ref situation and laying on in a way they would never have got away with in the NRL.

Fact is they're just better, in nearly every Dept. I thought that whatever Leeds did Melbourne could respond. They hit harder, defended better and played the conditions. They were always going to win that and although Sinfield was a huge loss I doubt it would have made any difference to the outcome.

Well admittedly I didn't see a great deal last year of NRL once Setanta went under but I still think they allow more time at the PTB down under from what I have seen. They certainly can teach the Bulls about how to wrestle players to the ground and force them onto their backs.

Oh dear. That should earn him a trip to Rot Hall, although he's Leeds so maybe they have a dispensation for that?

:2uxt004g
Has he been playing hide the sausage with the referees?"I've had him many times. A lot of players don't like playing with him. He likes to be the centre of attention and he got his way tonight.

'"

Where is this Adey?

Its on Sporting Life Michael. Also there is a story on the Whino official site that Leeds are going to "investigate" his comments.

Funnily enough, no doubt after Gawwy had a word in his lug...



That will keep him off the naughty step at Rot Hall, no doubt. It IS Leeds, after all...