Don't think I can do it on my phone

40 tackles no misses from bruno again last night! That for only half a game!!! And before folk moan about his go forward he also had as many carries as Huby and Eorl but a slightly bigger avg gain! What a workhorse he is!
Mullally made 9.5 metres a carry- only 6 carries and 9 tackles though.

Great night. Atmosphere was top class. Really great support. And I think it absolutely made a difference. Particularly when it scoreline got close, the lads were under the sticks waiting for wire's kick. At that point the noise from fans went up even further. No griping or getting on players back, just 100% support. That's got to make a difference.

Main points I picked up:

Our defence is looking as mean as it has for 18 months. Solid, working for each other, good shape, better line speed.

Michael Lawrence is a major part of the above. Gotta be one of the best defenders in super league. Great technique coupled with a great engine and increased size and strength over last few seasons makes for a brick wall of a defender. As others have mentioned, his go forward is steadily improving too.

Our signings so far have made a real difference. Huby was quality. Didn't take a backwards step. Hughes was solid again. Ellis gives us real balance. Thought his first half kicking was very good
, he takes on the line and is a class finisher.

Brough was outstanding. Kicking master class. Was vocal through the match, geeing the lads up, didn't get his mardy head on, which with the number of the pens against was good to see. One thing I noticed in particular . Jerry made a tackle bust and spilled the ball. Danny was shouting from other side of pitch at him to keep his chin up and keep doing what he's doing and encouraging him.

Loads of other pluses. As baloo has mentioned we weren't perfect with the ball, but I still like where we are at.

COYG

Jools where did you get your stat from? Been trying to find some but had no luck. Cheers.

One other thought - how do we get that atmosphere at home games? Was chatting to my bro today who also went last night (an ex Rhinos season ticket holder of 20 years, now converted!), he mentioned why not get Giants fans in the South Stand? It is the best stand for atmosphere at JS Stadium by far. He has a point. Town are doing that next year.

Any thoughts?

Been a great feeling today being so positive about the towns RL club again!

and yet some know nothings still don't think he's worth a place in the team! unbelievable

All stats are available day after each game on superleague.co.uk- look under match reports for match stats - can also get stats for teams and individual players by season.

As for the South stand- not for me- I hate watching from behind the sticks- only do it out of necessity at away games.

for all the stats, i use sltv rlhttps://www.superleague.co.uk/report/11084rl

the only way we can recreate that kind of atmopshere at home games is for everyone to sit together, most of the singers sit at the back of the britannia stand with a few others dotted around in the riverside.
we have had lengthy debates on here about this, and the conclusion is usually the same, why should people move from where they sit now? i've spoke to many people who sit in the riverside about coming over to the britannia and they seem keen on the idea but for some reason never follow it through.
it's not just loudmouth lads up there but families, older people, and teenagers but simply not enough people to make much of noise and the ones who sit further down are reluctant to join in for fear of upsetting their neighbours peaceful viewing.

i have said before that maybe the club could encourage this by having a home game in the future where the people in other stands like to join in with the singing could swap their ticket for one in the britannia and if it works then maybe try it on a regular basis?

i know some people like where they sit and that's fair enough but if everyone is willing to work together to create an atmosphere, an atmosphere that helps the team, as it undoubtedly did at warrington, then im sure it could work?

Lawrence is awesome, still dont know why anderson plays him from the bench mind.

his defence top class, id put cudjoe not far behind him too on defence.

crabtree,brough and hughes also high on the list for defending

cudjoe was getting some right stick for his defence not long ago, he does have a tendency to jump out of the line a lot and get caught out, but he seems to have improved recently.
every rugby league player should be able to defend some are better than others, but i wouldn't say leroy was one of our better defenders as such..yet

waits for the stats to prove me wrong i mean in terms of reading and positioning etc

You're dead wrong on that meast


Last season he had a bad one by his standards but like Bruno I usually think players aren't going past him and he cuts down the space

Hes helped this season by Hughes being a better edge defender - last season was not good all round for that

Also that flank is most sides prefered attack

I agree code- Leroy was quite clearly fatigued last year. He does sometimes jump out of the line- but so does brough!!!! Leroy has a good tackling technique-ball and all tackle that rarely allows the offload. If he makes contact players rarely slip out of his grasp.

He wrangles players down to prevent a quick ptb too


Season of the world cup his stats had him as the best defensive centre in the league and second best in attack

Good to see im not the only one who see's cudjoes awesome defence, when he misses one every one jumps on his back even though its rare compared to wardle but not many seem to question that