I think they showed the right amount of enthusiasm, commitment and desire and at times it looked like L'Estrange, Kearney and Orford had had their shackles taken off. L'Estrange looked like the player he is, good distribution, disguise and running from dummy half, I thought we dropped a gear when Godwin replaced him, although the opposite had been true against Hudds/Saints. Kearney for me was outstanding and was given far less responsibility in terms of kicking which is not his strength anyway. Orford, as has been said, was running the show and was very strong in defense, tackling well above his weight. Overall the attack was far more imaginative, support running was good, there was depth and second lines of runners. We still tried and failed with the 'Halley run around' a couple of times, but this was lots better. Defensively we are still suspect and seem to cope badly with set plays, whilst Reardon is often out of position on kicks and seems to believe he's playing centre half the time. However, the effort he showed in carrying the ball was terrific and he frequently looked like a threat to break the line. Halley was his usual competent speedster self but rarely looks likely to make a break and what's with Rikki, he looks far more dangerous and determined this season? Shame no-one has sponsored him, I would be happy to chip in a few quid if anyone out there wants to join in.

Anyway, I hope this is the start of the Manly mafia imposing themselves and that our 6, 7 and 9 continue to click. if we can tighten our defense and keep the team fit we'll be in with a shout. My only fear is that we had a few similar false dawns last season (Leeds, Wakey, Saints) but a good performance against Salford and being competitive against Wigan will prove otherwise I hope. As I've said before, I think the personnel are in place, we could do with another prop but the way Langley's playing he almost makes up for that, however I think we need a steady and consistent improvement from here to even begin to consider that McNamara has turned the corner. If we end up with a top 4 finish and a reasonable cup run - the club's criteria of a successful season I'll be happy to have been proven wrong.

To the fans who wanted to attend the match but for what ever reason could not, you missed a good game

. To hose fans who did not want to go as they thought we were in for another good grubbing, Shame on you

What a FANTASTIC game!!!

Well worthy of an 800 mile round trip / long weekend.

Same again next week [iplease[/i

Was so glad that I went on Friday. An absolutely different kettle of fish to the previous week. More of the same please

(but with stronger defence)

I've not trawled through the previous pages but the game went as I feared. Cas' lack of discipline & concentration let them down yet again, the second half against a shockingly below par Leeds can't disguise how poor we are this season. The pack is crap with a couple of exceptions. LOwest of of the low points on Friday was Owen's leg break, exacerbated by the fecking half wit Stevo twice blaming the injury on a high tackle by Hall. High point was the tigress admitting her disappointment in discovering that Heath L'Estrange is not actually called Keighley Strange. True that one.

That's what you call a scrum half. It's been a while.

It was fairly obvious when Orford snatched the ball off Sykes at Huddersfield to take over the kicking duties that he is the "de facto" skipper. Its something of a double edged sword. Good to have a number of leaders but we saw against saints how too much responsibility can spoil his game.

How do you arrive at that conclusion as a matter of interest?

We played a lot better on Friday, but the biggest positive is that there is still a lot of improvement in the team. If the team can continue to improve by gradually getting to know the game of our new halves better, and tightening up the defence and players like Whitehead, Sheriffe, Skyes and Halley can keep improving individually then I don't think there are many teams in the league that we should fear.

All we need now is to find a bit of consistency, because we've all seen games like that in the last couple of years that have been followed by the same old error strewn stuff that we have seen in the past.

I thought it was pretty clear by Orford's body language that the call had come from the bench rather than him taking it upon himself to be goalkicker.

Blimey, you changed your tune quickly enough!

However, did not see the game as was in Dublin at the weekend but it reads like the performance was much better at the weekend. With a potential (on paper anyway) easier looking tie this weekend it is important to keep up momentum.

It is a start.

Oh, personally I just thought you were taking a break because we'd picked up a win.