Wire beat Leeds because BMc rested Sinfield and Spelled Burrow against us so he could blood Sutcliffe with experience. BMc found himself fortunate because even though Leeds lost, so did all the teams just under them.

Sky Sports seem to think he was dropped because of form, dont kid yourself.

Leeds were still top or second even though they lost 6 out of 8 games. So BMc continued blooding Sutcliffe until the point it mattered, when both Burrow and Sinfield return to major roles and duly won.

Since Sutcliffe has been injured I don't recall them losing a game with BMc forced to play Sinfield.

Actually, from Tony Smith downwards the vast majority of online comments are about how good Leeds were and how poor Wire by comparison.

He scored two good tries last night, ran in hard, took a good share of the work and defended with enthusiasm. He even got to Hardaker (too late ) after everyone else missed him. He deserves his spot in this team, maybe not the one of 2011, but then, few of these players would make that side.

I think the most telling stat was the areas of our PTBs vs Leeds' that Sky showed at HT.

We had no meaningful territory. You could could count on one hand the number on PTBs we had within Leeds' 20, which is a shame, as it'd have been nice to have seen our new HB with more ball in hand in a dangerous area, rather than having to kick from deep so often.

Leeds' bench was far superior to ours, and at the first set of interchanges, they brought on on Leuluai and Delaney. We brought on Roy, Wilde and King. It's telling that we conceded 14 very quick points as soon as we'd made our changes.

Singleton, Delaney, Leuluai > Roy, King, Wilde.

I maybe deluded,but i honestly think that what has dealt us a major blow is the lack of a reserve set up which has meant that over the last couple of years many promising players from all the clubs have been lost to the game because there has been nowhere for them to move to from the under 19s age group.Hopefully ,if the idea of a reserve team is resurrected then promising players will once more have another tier to progress through before being thrown into superleague. Injury wise we seem to be suffering for whatever reason,but you have to take your hat off to Brian Mc for managing his team to be ready for the play offs...but isn't that what management is all about ? All our rivals have had the same "opportunity" to pick up injuries but seem to be coping better...do we have a conditioning problem in the camp ? Finally, i think two players who have been missed are Wood & Higham for big game stability & experience.

I think you have a very good point ninearches certainly not deluded, you have been constant with your A team campaign and have a valid point, not only are young players being being thrown in at the deep end they are having to do it while carrying knocks or returning from injury, of course this is inevitable with our present injury crisis but having an A team would help with conditioning, confidence, experience and general development.

A team games would be a step forward, looking at someone like kevin penny ,to come in cold and be catching big punts is not easy ,he needs lots of practice in a competiveness game environment

Considering we've been called "Dad's army" in the past, the average age against Leeds rounded up was 25. I do feel a reserve grade is needed as you're expecting players to come in after not playing, or playing 1 game at a lower level like Rhys Evans had.

The team was made up from;

8 players under 22.
6 players 25 - 28
3 over 30.

A young side can learn from the experience, look at what a young England cricket side has now done after being battered previously.

many years ago and i mean many years ago when the a team played on a friday night we were always near the top of the league producing some half decent players..why this was scrapped i1ll never know..the quicker its brought back the better instead of farming out players to swinton or wales or any where else..1 theyll get game time..2 theyll learn..3 itll keep em match fit..

Total lunacy, getting rid of the A-team
A nice freebie for season ticket holders, and a few extra quid for the club, for those paying on the door. The odd 2K+ attendance, too (Bateman's A-team debut being one such example)
A nice start to a Friday night, before hitting Time Square etc (providing it wasn't TOO cold).

Plus, why should young kids @ Swinton/Wales lose out on a place/wages, just because we need a player to get match fit.

Bring back the A-Team (Pat Poasa could've been Mr T........"I AIN'T GOIN' ON NO PITCH, FOOL"icon_wink.gif

Just watched it for the first time (been away) and cannot understand the criticism of certain players. At fullback Ratchford must have made at least five try saving tackles. On the wing Penny looks the only one capable of scoring. Sandow clearly has the kicking game we need.

One player I will pick out for a lack of overall contribution is Ben Currie but he largely escapes criticism on this forum.

Ratchford also got skinned far too easily for a couple and after making a good tackle on watkins in the first half he was far too quick to let him up leading to the try. He also needs to learn that if you're not going to make the tackle then at least make some decent contact to slow the attacker down.

nostalga..bateman pat poasa and time square far better days than now...

True, mark_m, Ratchford DID make some try savers, but he was "turnstile" like for a lot more. I like Ratchford, I just don't think he's a good enough (in terms of consistency) full back.

You're bang on, re Currie. A lad with immense potential, but strewth, he can go missing when he wants to. Did a passable impression of the Invisible Man on Friday.

Penny, Sandow, (and to some extent) Clark were the few to come out of Friday with reputations in tact.

Believe me, next season, Sandow will be superb, and hopefully Clark will be on his shoulder at all times.

As I said a few weeks ago, any wins now, are merely a bonus. I can't wait for Feb. We might not win owt, but we'll be good to watch

Agree with your comments and Currie has been largely anonymous in the last two games. However, he was only 21 last month and he has made good progress this year and is our top try scorer.
It's a bit unfair to expect him to provide what Westwood and Harrison can in such games. I don't recall Sculthorpe carrying our pack either at that age.