it's a catch 22 with finch at the moment, as i said on another topic he definately has unsettled the rhythm of our attack in his 2 games, some of his passes and kicking game where not very good at all, but as you say he has come back from a serious injury after a long spell out and into a new team, so he needs to play regular to get up to speed but we have to be prepared to be patient.

Thought on tonight...

Positives:

- Joel was excellent at centre, great running and defence, really showed he can step up to that position imo, look forward to seeing him there next game

- Sam's try - magical play and a shame we haven't seen him more with ball in hand attacking the oppositions line

- Chris Tuson. This guy is an unsung hero, his enthusiasm and energy off the bench is great to see and it's definitely needed

- We looked better with 12 men

Negatives:

- When the opposition get rough, we don't like it. Hull did it, we played badly, Leeds the same

- Too many stupid errors

- Opposition have found Sam out at FB, too shaky under the high bomb, defences are on him in a second


Overall disappointing, but nothing that can't be fixed. Leeds didn't scream at me like a team capable of doing much this season unlike Wire last week. When the f*ck is Richards back???!!??

Apart from the two times Senior made him look like a turnstyle.

First 15 mins and the end where we looked good and scored tried just happened to be the time when Micky Mc was on.

Yup, i noticed that too.

No he didnt, you had the overlap and Roberts didnt come in.

Correct. Twice Joel rushed out early and was made to look stupid which cost us points.
Leeds played tremendously well in the last 20 minutes of the first half and first 25 of the second. The game was going the same way as the Wire game a week ago, luckily we got something out of the game when we didn't deserve to really.

Joel made no more mistakes defensively than Carmont,who i thought looked shaky all night.

I think Joel showed enough last night to show that he could make a decent fist of centre. What he needs is a bit more game awareness of defending in that position, give him a few months in that position and I think we have a monster on our hands. He has decent pace for a big man, is aggressive and a good pair of hands - I certainly think he is a better bet than Marsh

Finch will come good, watch the match and it was down to Finchs' enthusiasm and calming effect. He supported Lockers when he got the offload and threw the pass to Tomkins on the LHS. Oncw when we conceded a penalty for a high shot (can't remember who by or to) it was on Leeds 20 yard line he was telling players to calm down and get back and defend.

Fair enough his kicking game is off at the minute and other aspects of his game is off at the minute. But look at it this way he has played two games against two of the teams that you would expect to be competiting in the semi finals of the play offs. Let him settle and hopefully against some "weaker" sides get his rhythm and get used to his team mates then hopefully things will improve for him.

I agree he's a better bet than Marsh, definitely something in him to keep trying him there.

The side again looked like they didn't know each other for long parts of the game and we aren't flying out of the blocks like we were last year. I think the major 2 factors in that are firstly the side hasn't been settled and seems to change week on week due to various factors and secondly the WCC hasn't taken alot out of us imo. I think the focus was on that game and we peaked for it but then we got beat and it's taken some time to get over.

A settled side and a kick up the backside from Maguire and Wane and we'll be more then fine. We showed in the last 10 minutes last night that we still have those attacking weapons that won us the Grand Final with Sam ripping them up from fullback, Joel running defences ragged, Leuluai spinning and darting about the place and Lockers firing those cut out passes to the wings.

It'll come.