Wasn't expecting to win, so good to find a way to win being 10 points down, though we really didn't deserve the win. Thought our marking and line speed at the play the ball was awful, giving Leeds got a lot of cheap yards from dummy half. This is the main issue from todays game that needs addressing. Thought we had the good, the bad and the really dumb (passing with just seconds to the hooter after his break away) from Wrench. Still think he's a quality player and a first team regular for the future. Cooper was immense in the last 20 minutes and made a lot of tough yards, but our pack was second best, as I thought it would be. Bentley was my MotM. The rebuilding and remodelling from the SP era has a fair way to go.

It'll take time for DP to get the players playing in the way he wants, and for the players to be comfortable playing that way.

It's really early days.
Doing the skills in training is one thing, in the first match when under pressure another - very different.

Forward power is an obvious issue.
Bullock seemed to be on only for a short period.
Joe didnt make as much impact as he usually does either, but still it's just the first game.

Just an additional point, that conversion from Ratchford in those conditions with the scores tied was sensational.

Despite what Alex Murphy says, the best team lost today, I'll admit it. However how many times has it happened to us against Saits, Wigan and Leeds and we've been told that our victors "know how to play for 80 minutes", "the cream rises to the top", "know how to play the conditions", so I don't feel any sympathy for Leeds at all.
The new rules protecting players heads are understandable but once a player goes off, it kills the game, and you can bet that we will be on the wrong end sometime in the season (good job Lineham's gone).
Some stupid, silly errors today. Even in the last few seconds we were trying to let Leeds nick it. Come on Wire, use your heads.
In summary, a win is a win, but lots of improvement needed. Roll on Thursday.

Post of the day.
I don't get previous posters saying "we didn't deserve to win".
YES WE DID.
We scored two more points than them, and one more try than them. That is a deserved win in my book. Leeds' indiscipline is their funeral. The ref got both calls correct.
As a golfer, there's a famous phrase used when you get a scruffy par..... "there's no pictures on a scorecard".
I've said before about British sporting mentality, there's too much praise for the plucky loser. You won't catch an Aussie coming out with such guff. #### Leeds and their perceived "better side lost" attitude.

Onwards, Wire.

Agree with MPN, besides the elementary mistakes, the biggest issue of today's match was à lack of line speed in defence. Worst thing you can do with a light pack is wait for bigger stronger forwards to run at you. We need to watch how Saints and Catalan performed in this area, we are far too slow.

Another point, thought Ben Currie was really good today. Ran strongly and very aggressive in defence.

I don't know if it was just me. But ratchford was poor. Extreamly poor. His runs were meh and his kicking was poor. every kick off straight down a Leeds players throat.
We have no strength in the pack.
Positives. It's a win. It seems we have learned to not let our heads drop when we go 8-10 points down.

And was it just me or did the ref. For the calls he had to give against Leeds. Allowed Leeds to slow the ruck down so so much. we couldn't run and allow the quick PTB.

I feel we were a bit flat really today, I was really concerned about the pack but I felt the props went well against one of the leagues better packs. I think our biggest problem was the static defensive line, nevermind poor line speed the line didn't move at all! Holmes went well and mata'autia, we bombed a few overlaps which will need sharpening up. Bullock and philbin looked a good combination off the bench.

Leeds were very unfortunate really, they were excellent with 12 and 11 men, great work rate and commitment for their shirt. There is a lot more to come from us, but overall that's a great 2 points away at Leeds to start the season. More composure and it would have been more comfortable.

Bentley is a grub and I think he's an awful signing for Leeds, he isn't very talented and his discipline is simply awful. Cost his team big time today, I doubt that will be the last time he does that this season either.

I should have said earlier, there was one positive from today (in addition to finding a way to snatch victory). On most attacks in the opposition 40 we had so many options and runners. Looked very different to a Price attack. Once we click and cut out the errors and silly offloads we should be dangerous to all teams. I guess we could also praise some last ditch tackling after we gave Leeds so much territory.

Ratchfords tackle early on to somehow stop Walker dead and drag him back from the line in one motion was a sensational effort.

Agreed. We were pretty solid all over really and so were Leeds for that matter. Too many dropped balls early on and at the end too a bit of composure lacking maybe and we need to sharpen up a bit on goal line defence, their first 2 tries were a bit disappointing IMO.

That's the sort of performance that would have got worse and worse and ended up really embarrassing under Price.

We didn't deserve to win can be expressed alternatively as our performance wasn't up to scratch. Effectively, means the same, and is just a moot point, as the scoreboard said 22-20 to Wire. That's sport, and nobody is going to want the points awarded to Leeds as Warrington supporters know only too well, that you get nothing for hard luck.
Onwards, indeed, but there's a lot of work to be done for DP to improve on our performance today.

As I said earlier, we didnt deserve to win - - but the scoreboard shows we did.

However putting it another way, which of the two coaches will be more satisfied with their teams performance?

IMO Agar has one thing to sort out - discipline. If he gets that right Leeds will be a real force this year.

DPs worklist is fairly extensive, but unlike our previous coach I DO think he knows how to fix it.

Why should king replace wrench?

I think Wrench was a one of our best. If he can deliver that standard consistently he will stay in the team.

Holmes struggled in my opinion, slow in defence coming off his line, shows in the first Leeds try. By no means was he rubbish, but that coupled with discipline, he needs to improve.

Soft in the middle still, Bullock did ok but we have gone backwards in that section with losing Hill.

Good game though, despite being drenched, good to be back

Because King is better.

Wrench was good for the most part yesterday really and his future looks quite promising, he needs to play to improve but none of that makes him a better option than Toby King.

Harsh on Holmes BW, he looks a far superior player to Jack Hughes IMO, he got a try assist and showed attacking intent plus he tackled every bit as well as Hughes. Jason Clark played strong when he came on but I just see the same old issue of a painfully slow PTB whenever he runs it in.

Wrench was MOM in my opinion yesterday. If king is going to come back into the side then matautia should make way. Players should not lose their place if they perform like wrench did yesterday, regardless of how old they are.

I’m not sure it is harsh. A catch and pass assist got him some credit in the bank, but the penalty for the ball steal when we had them under pressure on around 30 minutes, followed by the high shot on Handley when they were coming away from their line and down to 11 men 5 minutes later are just absolute criminal penalties.

Slow off his line early on which gave the opportunity for Walker, Ratchford try saver on our line preventing a try, replicated for the try.

Can’t recall anything particularly barnstorming or effective with ball in hand. Carried it ok, but not punching holes.

On the whole, just ok but with disciplinary issues. (Same synopsis of Hughes’s career to date). Not writing him off, but I can’t say that I’m excited to watch his development either, not sure how many more gears he has.

Did you turn off before the end?

Anyway, my controversial opinion is that we now have better distribution out of 9 with Walker on the field than with Clark. Not a criticism of Daryl who is still one of our absolute stars, but testament to how much Walker has improved. We started making those breaks towards the end in part because Walker was sending out quick, accurate passes from the play the ball.

Nice problem to have with three good and capable centres. Form should take preference over any other criteria, in my view. The [idifficult [/iproblem has been mentioned many many times.

Quite the variety of opinions on this thread over who had a good game and who did not.

D Clark not playing on Thursday, so I guess Davis will be interchange hooker with J Clark starting at 13. Other than that, the only question is Wrench/King to my mind and I'd give Wrench another game, particularly as King is touch and go. However, the week after, King comes back in for me - he's earned the right over the past few years to a starting spot.

I suppose the other thing that's not been mentioned is that almost all the team had only one pre-season run-out, and most of them only 60 minutes of that. Leeds first 17 I think have had 2 or 3 games. Hopefully we'll get more into our stride by next week and over in Toulouse the week after (especially if the weather is mild and dry). We could have scored more except for the silly errors, but we did look very weak in bringing the ball upfield with the forwards.

Anyway, we'll know more in the next few weeks. Game 1 was never going to see us at our best.

Agree about Walker too, if he can keep progressing he'll be too good to not be in the 17. He also has the rugby smarts and wasn't afraid to give the older players a ticking off when needed. Possible future Captain? Didn't he Captain the Knights or the England Academy at some point?

Interesting points by some.

Personally I thought holmes a bit naff yesterday, hesitant in defence (well that's across the board) gave at least 3 penalties away and got himself binned.

Likewise with wrench, it was a good run and pass to put ashton away and finished the try, but for the rest of the game he was running like Jack Hughes, chucked a pass badly into touch and also dropped a ball when we were under the cosh giving Leeds another chance to keep the pressure on.