Quote: upthecats "No, you were spot on!
Just watched it back and we weren't given one penalty in the entire second half up to Dobson kicking that restart out on the full....when you look at Salford scoring two of their tries off the back of last tackle penalties that looked extremely harsh it's hard to believe we didn't get at least one at some point in that half for laying on or offside because there was a fair bit of it going on!
That said...I thought Hicks had a very good game...he's maturing very well into arguably the best ref in the league IMO...doesn't make the game about himself, and hardly noticed which is always a good sign...as I say, thought the two last tackle penalties were a shade on the harsh side but can see why they were given...
Defensively on the whole we were brilliant...Salford threw a lot at us and we stood up real well...especially on both edges....the two second rowers were class defensively...you look at the size of Batchelor and Ashurst compared with some of Salfords pack and they were terrific...Batchelor put two belting hits on Kopzac who's such a powerful player...I can't speak highly enough of this kid...we've got an absolute diamond on our hands here! To add to them though both centres were excellent...Lyne before he went off was near faultless...had Sau in his pocket all game...its also the best I've seen Gibson play for us, and both half backs tackled really well too to make us look real solid across the line...
To say it was his first outing in the first team since last July Chris Annakin was tremendous too...got through a ton of work and made some real hard yards...if he had the size of say a Fifita, he'd be the first name on the England team sheet at prop forward...just love his attitude and what he puts in on the field!
It's a fantastic headache to have for Chris Chester, but I wouldn't like to be picking the side this week with Grix, Tupou, Kirmond, Hadley and Allgood all pressing for a return...who on earth do you drop from that performance!'"
TBH after their performances on Sunday I'd stick with the same team. Not one of them deserves dropping and that team would give Leeds a game and has the potential to beat them if we play like we did on Sunday.
Also gives those listed an extra week of recovery for the Salford cup game.
