Quote: PopTart "I do agree that Leeds are dangerous and we should certainly not take them lightly.
When we were guessing league positions at the beginning of the season I said Leeds would be well in the 8. They are not as good as they were and their pack is their weak link but their backs are o far ahead, they simply have to break even in the pack.
We on the other hand have a strong pack but haven't really fired in the backs. We have one of the best wingers in the league and his only involvement in a pretty open game against Salford was to cart the ball up like a prop, with one piece of broken field play which resulted in a try.
The key for us being, that when our pack does get on top, which I think it has for stretches in every game, we need to use the ball and get the strike players striking. When we get it right like two of the tries against Salford we look great, but we go down the middle too far. The pack does really well to get us to the line, then we keep smashing it in instead of spreading it and working the players we have just tired out.
It will come, but Leeds will be looking at that and working on just containing our pack and then countering on the break.....which they do very effectively.
I look forward to seeing us develop more.'"
I agree with most of what you say, and it's an interesting point about Johnstone, and the other wingers. I just don't think we have wingers' centres! I think they have good attributes, in differing ways, but it's not in their natural instinct, like say a Matthew Gidley etc, to put their winger away at every opportunity. Reece Lyne, Tupou scored similar tries using strength near the line, and particularly Lyne has been excellent so far, but neither are naturally inclined to find their winger, although to be fair Lyne has a decent out the back door pass. A lot of Johnstone's tries last season were opportunistic, a few interceptions etc, because he's so naturally athletic and is reading the game well now as he develops. I actually thought last season Arundel got him in space more than any other centre, so will be interesting to see if he's his partner in the next few games with presumably Lyne out for a while.