IMO today was an example as to why Mark Dunning isn’t the man for the job. There has been a so called shift in mentality in the players but today showed that it’s still there and the players brought in to help shift it wasn’t on the pitch. I know that they weren’t there against Sheffield either but the same old story of being under pressure in a game there is no plan B to get out of it. Same old temperament and attitude when the going gets tough and unfortunately the tough went. Gill going off was a big issue as the balance completely went. The left hand side got exposed way to much and everything attacking wise seems to go to the right hand side because Dec patton can only play to the left when Gill is on the pitch and all Keighley had to do was pack that side which they did very well. As for the DR lads, there must be some pressure to play them because why would you drop a fit DFJ for a Leeds reserves centre? So back to my point of Mark Dunning being the wrong man for the job, I think he’d have understood the rivalry between the two and kept the fit players that understand this NOT DR players from leeds. I really don’t think he has the presence, personality and experience to get this club where it needs to be.

Well all I can say about performance is what a disaster. Right from the kick off I just knew it wasn't going to be our day. Even my lucky boxers couldn't help us.

Mark Dunning calls the performance "toothless". Dunning also mentioned the attitude of the squad during today's performance being way off. He stated that players need to be accountable for their actions are talks are ongoing about bringing in some new recruits. Kieran Gill sounds like he has done his hamstring which compounds a terrible day for the Bulls. https://on.soundcloud.com/rf941

Mark Dunning calls the performance "toothless". Dunning also mentioned the attitude of the squad during today's performance being way off. He stated that players need to be accountable for their actions are talks are ongoing about bringing in some new recruits. Kieran Gill sounds like he has done his hamstring which compounds a terrible day for the Bulls. https://on.soundcloud.com/rf941

Holmes - had an okay game. Couldn’t do anything in attack really due to poor halfback set ups. Couldn’t do much about the 3 tries where they ran through and had support.

Roberts - shocking. I know he’s young. But not again thanks. Did one good tackle all game. Not helped by his inside defence. But probably one of the worst DR’s we’ve had behind a certain someone.

Gill - kept that left edge tight. Made some metres but ultimately his injury exposed our left side massively.

Arundel - average today. A few drop balls close to their line one of which would have resulted in a try. Not helped by poor service. Defensively that side only got exposed once I think.

Tindall - couldn’t do much with no service. Took his try well. Should have had two. Only DR player I’d keep. But since last year I wanted Tindall to stay.

Patton - poor. No organisation. No depth in attack. Some good bombs, but nothing else. Never took the line on at all.

Lilley - worst game he’s had for us. Erractic passing. Kick offs were god awful and in play kicking was just as bad. Best thing he did was when he jumped into 9 for a couple of tackles and looked like he had a bit of spark there.

Rodgers - ran hard and made metres. But that stupid elbow of his will keep getting himself sinbinned.

Flanagan - surprised he wasn’t as fired up. But glad he kept it cool when it looked like things were boiling over.

Baldwinson - a trier. Didn’t do anything wrong. Don’t think he made a mistake. Very Liam Kirk like.

Wallace - again. Tried. Too many mis tackles especially when him and Butler tried their hand at centre.

Ruan - what is the point? Waste of a shirt. Can’t run. Can't tackle. That’s including at Sheffield. Start Appo or Foster because this guy is gash. Told you everything when Webster broke.

Butler - didn’t think he was great at LF last week and was poor this week for me. Put him back to SR where his line running is an advantage.

Roby - worst game so far for us. Too many mistakes. Fell of the tackle a bunch. Passing was unusually off as well.

Appo - ran hard, tackled well. Why don’t we just start him? He does look unfit though. Unless that’s just how he is.

Scurr - not his best game but made meters. Tried.

Johnson - only contribution was a stupid offload on our own 30m line where Chisholm scored. Other than that he was garbage. Wanted to pass more than run.


Overall the basics were crap. Ball handling was poor. Halves didn’t have a clue. We lacked any gameplan today. The coach has a lot to answer for in team selection and gameplan today because that’s the worst I’ve seen us. Embarrassing.

We missed Blackmores meterage in yardage sets and Lawrence and Thompsons composure and solidness.

Credit to Keighley, they wanted it more. Did the basics. They didn’t do anything special. Just completed and hit the left edge where we were weak. Three tries came from our errors.

Be a different game at the bash and Odsal once Walker, Thompson, Blackmore and Lawrence are fit.

Ouch! Didn't see that coming but (bear with it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMV-4zrdSl4

Ouch! Didn't see that coming but (bear with it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMV-4zrdSl4

I'd agree with all that but add that Butler was going well until he had to cover Gill's absence.

The lack of composure and the unwillingness to roll the sleeves up and compete down the middle was very disappointing. We really missed the leadership of Lawrence and Thompson. Without them we tired to make short cuts.

Anyone know what the incident was that the ref put on report? The Keighley player seemed to be indicating he's had his face raked.

Said on commentary an allege fish hook (fingers in mouth)

Well that's a new one. If anyone had done that to me they wouldn't have done it twice.

Why is it seen as a fish hook? Why not biting from the other player?

If someone's putting fingers in your mouth they should expect consequences. Daft anyway as the Keighley pack hardly needed firing up anymore.

what can we take from this game?

1) we are light in the front row power and aggression was lacking
2) Dunning probably isn't a Champ head coach (we knew this before the season stared)
3) out of 3 Leeds DR lads 2 were beyond Garbage and didn't want to be there (although who could blame them?)
4) As in most of last years car crash of a year Patton & Lilley doesn't work (both were terrible, why does Lawford continue to be 18th man?)
5) Keighley really do hate us and we should expect more of the same in the next 2 encounters we need to fight fire with fire.

That 1 result could be the beginning of the end for any play off hopes.

1. Agreed with the lack of aggression. We didn’t want it anywhere near as much as Keighley and tried to play around them with often comical results.
2. Dunning’s inexperienced at this level but everyone has to start somewhere I suppose. Up until yesterday he’s delivered clear improvements on 2022 (albeit a low bar to clear). I’ll reserve judgement a bit longer on the head coach for now.
3. Dual reg isn’t ideal. Ruan was anonymous for the second game now – that embarrassing chase after Webster was abysmal, especially when he was stretching his hamstrings afterwards (he’d done nothing in the game to get cramp). The selection of Roberts in this game was baffling. Not sure what Dunning was thinking. A young kid debuting in a blood and thunder derby who’s had no chance to train properly with his teammates beforehand. What could go wrong? We saw immediately from the kick off.
4. Not sure what Lawford has to do. Lilley is way better at hooker. Yesterday Patton was anonymous and Lilley’s efforts got more and more desperate as the game went on with some hilarious consequences at times but fair play for not hiding. Lawford deserves a run. He looked good versus Dewsbury and Acorn. He’ll not progress much in reserves.
5. The rivalry with Keighley should’ve been clear to coach and players beforehand. Even Mick brought it up with Dunning in the pre match interview. Clearly the players thought they could dial it in and still get a win.

Left the ground feeling pretty low after what i'd seen. Most of what I think has already been said before so not going to go over old ground.

However, what I will say is that up until the first two tries we were still defensively quite tight. For all the stupid unforced errors and lack of discipline, I think we had them in our pocket. Gill goes off and all of a sudden we start to let them run and our left edge just capitulated. It was a collapse worthy of the England cricket team.

Silly penalties too and I'm pretty sure a couple are going to be ending up with some bans... can I just ask what is wrong with Fenton Rogers and his brain fart discipline???

I can see him getting a few games for the use of the elbow. Don't know what is wrong with the kid but despite being a bloody good player, he must be thick as horsesh*t as he doesn't learn. Got away with one (Yellow) vs York Acorn and will probably sit out a few games for this one. Later in the game he did something similar by roughing someone up again with the elbow. Not like he hasn't got previous either as he ended up coping 5 games for a late high hit on Tyler Dickinson, saw red for a late hit against Cas reserves and a red card against Cornwall for a headbutt.

Then you have Roby losing the plot and trying to headbutt a Cougars player in the nuts???

I'm not going to jump on Dunning yet as I've said all along he needs a year with his own team around him, but on this showing I think there is still a long way to go and still some bad eggs in that dressing room!!!

As bad and as angry I am about yesterday's result, I think the flack on Dunning is unfair. He's coached us to two superb victories against against Toulouse and Sheffield who are currently second and third. We pushed Fev all the way for the first time in a long time at POR. He deserves the full season IMO when we'll have a better idea about his coaching qualities.

As daft as it sounds, if we had a Lawrence or Thompson on the field yesterday, I think the result may have been difference. As others have said despite all our brain darts and Keighley being camped our line for the entire opening quarter, they had nothing to show for it. If we just smashed out a few completed sets and made them come out from their own try line, I think it would have demoralised them. Instead we had no on-field leadership and imploded and energised them.

Two of our three defeats have been a result of us beating ourselves. So I still think this squad is good enough to have a successful season. But these games need eradicating as they're starting to become a habit.