Jack Croft for me. Seriously changed my mind. Tackled brilliantly and made meters in contact

[quote="Pat Bateman":39yhrktp]I genuinely hope he makes it his position to lose, it’s very easy to praise quality like McMeeken, Storton and Truman et al…. but Croft is starting a new position and he was solid as a rock, bloody good on him. I had my doubts about Pratt…… I’ll happily eat humble pie with that lad, some talent that. The atmosphere was bouncing, definitely bringing the good vibes back to Wakey.[/quote:39yhrktp] Glad you’re coming round to Pratt. The young lad oozes confidence and is quality. He outplayed an England centre today. He will be taking his England shirt in no time at all too imho. Though that’s for the future. I’m convinced Pratt is of future international quality. Can’t argue with the rest.

Big Mike was my MOTM after the game, just. Looking at the stats reinforces how much work the back row got through as a unit, Pitts, and Storton were very impressive as always and Croft showed what he's about, which is great to see moving forward, he really could have found a place into the top 21 players with a move to back row. Without their work, we'd have struggled imo. Our bench props played just 18 and 10 minutes, which suggests if we hadn't lost Rodwell and Atoni, they wouldn't have been chosen and would still be a week or so away from being fully ready. With Vagana having hardly any pre-season and Caius just arriving in the country last week, but we managed. With the sin-binning and other factors, it made it quite tricky for DP to organise the sub-rotation at the times he'd have preferred, but we overcame that challenge. Matty Russell carried really well, he's a great addition, as did TJ. Both Lino and Trueman did boss things off the back of the forwards and were very quick to get the ball to each flank, which was great to watch. Lino's looked sharp all pre-season and Trueman has shown up well but it was really pleasing to see them carry that on into an SL game with the extra pressure and Trueman really showing what a class player he is when fit. You'd have thought they'd have been playing together for years watching that. Doyle and Russell came on and did their thing, both made good tackles and Doyle made some meters as well. Last but not least both centres Hall and Pratt had good games, a little more came down Hall's side than Pratts's but for his age Pratt juist continues to grow and grow and any thoughts about his size or lack of experience at this level have proved silly. The defence as a whole seems to have moved up another level this year, our back row and hookers are excellent defensively and the left and right shut down any attack that seems to come their way, although we'll face better attacking teams as the season goes on but we look well drilled and very fit. It's gonna be interesting when we have our full set of top 21 to pick from or at least most of them.

I agree with Trojan. Ollie Pratt oozes confidence and backs himself against whoever he plays against, and looks to have a very exciting career ahead of him, a probable England cap for the future ( along With Doyle ) Watching his disallowed try on the big screen looked harsh. Ollie and Matt Russell caused trouble down there left side all throughout the match. Mason Lino played well and only seemed to get sin binned by the southstand. Caleb Uele put in some big hits, but on the whole a very good team performance. Daryl Powell inspired another great result against one of his old clubs.

[quote="westgaterunner":2fch3mj3]I agree with Trojan. Ollie Pratt oozes confidence and backs himself against whoever he plays against, and looks to have a very exciting career ahead of him, a probable England cap for the future ( along With Doyle ) [u:2fch3mj3]Watching his disallowed try on the big screen looked harsh[/u:2fch3mj3]. Ollie and Matt Russell caused trouble down there left side all throughout the match. Mason Lino played well and only seemed to get sin binned by the southstand. Caleb Uele put in some big hits, but on the whole a very good team performance. Daryl Powell inspired another great result against one of his old clubs.[/quote:2fch3mj3] I agree, that the gap Pratt ran down was huge. It was a 50/50 call at best that it was an obstruction, the Leeds player just seemed to run into him when he saw Pratt break for the line IMO, it wouldn't have made any difference if the Trinity player hadn't been there. That Leeds' defensive line was all over the place, and the Red Sea opened up for Pratt to run straight down to the line—nothing to do with an obstruction. I also don't think Leeds scored their first try, nor did Powell. It went up as a no try and I don't think he got any downward pressure on the ball, Newman's hands seemed to be on either side of it when he dived, and then the ball bounced up and hit his shoulder. The TV picture was crap as well in slow-mo to rule an on-field no-try. The TV ref was very quick to change the on-field call as if he watched a video that showed undeniable proof and it was far from it from what i could see.

I've no problem with Leeds try. The fact the ball bounced shows he had applied pressure to it. Oli's try on the other hand was a clear try to me.

Anyone see the Liam Hood incident at beginning of the second half. I am sure that the Leeds lad who runs it back uses a forearm to fend Hood off and sparks him. Showed one quick replay but never got reviewed unlike Lino's.

[quote="Trojan Horse":1udxkkcq]Glad you’re coming round to Pratt. The young lad oozes confidence and is quality. He outplayed an England centre today. He will be taking his England shirt in no time at all too imho. Though that’s for the future. I’m convinced Pratt is of future international quality. Can’t argue with the rest.[/quote:1udxkkcq] I always thought he was good, he carved up the championship and won young player of the year. It was his size that concerned me at SL level, especially against top teams/players but I couldn’t have been more wrong, he looks a top prospect. When I saw him carve through for the disallowed try i just thought what the hell.

[quote="Pat Bateman":2xmux5cg]I always thought he was good, he carved up the championship and won young player of the year. It was his size that concerned me at SL level, especially against top teams/players but I couldn’t have been more wrong, he looks a top prospect. When I saw him carve through for the disallowed try i just thought what the hell.[/quote:2xmux5cg] I really never got your size point. He's hardly small.

The Stevie Wonders on the Leeds forum still believe that Tom was in touch, goodness me

[quote="Big lads mate":32miogfh]The Stevie Wonders on the Leeds forum still believe that Tom was in touch, goodness me [/quote:32miogfh] They don't seem very happy do they

What an excellent way to start the season. Doesn't come better than a win in front of over 10,000 whinos! More pleasing to me is the quality of our squad, ravaged by injuries in the first the first competitive game of the season and yet the 'fringe players' stepped up. BV should be packed for 1st home game!

Defence and attack outstanding. We made Leeds look very ordinary, Trueman absolute class and Lino a great game ran rings round Leeds first half. Evey player did a great job. Leeds totally overated.

[quote="1315trinity":i353hay5]What an excellent way to start the season. Doesn't come better than a win in front of over 10,000 whinos! More pleasing to me is the quality of our squad, ravaged by injuries in the first the first competitive game of the season and yet the 'fringe players' stepped up. BV should be packed for 1st home game![/quote:i353hay5] Can not call them fringe players after yesterday, more like we got a solid squad that are all good enough for S L

[quote="alegend":94e80d2u]Can not call them fringe players after yesterday, more like we got a solid squad that are all good enough for S L[/quote:94e80d2u] I agree. When the injured players come back they have a challenge to get back in, which is exactly what we need

[quote="alegend":tfg6f2ek]Can not call them fringe players after yesterday, more like we got a solid squad that are all good enough for S L[/quote:tfg6f2ek] Exactly. Players like Jack Croft who I didn't see much of a future for, but he's proving to be a very capable second rower!

[quote="PopTart":1nyncwbw]I really never got your size point. He's hardly small.[/quote:1nyncwbw] I know you didn’t you’ve said before. lol: When I look at top draw centres majority are tall and rangy ie Farnworth, Wardle et al. Pratt is 5:10. For me that goes against the grain of what I’d known. The forum is all about Opinions, Powells opinion was he didn’t know whether Pratt was a centre or a winger. I hope he becomes a future international, he completely nullified Handley (my opinion isn’t a centre in a month of Sundays but a class winger).If I give an opinion I’ll happily eat humble pie if it means we’re winning or a player proves you wrong in a positive way. I didn’t think Pratt would be as good as he is this early on in SL. Yesterday showed that I was wrong.

[quote="1315trinity":2uf5kvyh]Exactly. Players like Jack Croft who I didn't see much of a future for, but he's proving to be a very capable second rower![/quote:2uf5kvyh] Pitts, Croft and Stortons stats were incredible yesterday. The cogs behind a winning game alongside everyone else.

[quote="Pat Bateman":2mlckjie]I know you didn’t you’ve said before. lol: When I look at top draw centres majority are tall and rangy ie Farnworth, Wardle et al. Pratt is 5:10. For me that goes against the grain of what I’d known. The forum is all about Opinions, Powells opinion was he didn’t know whether Pratt was a centre or a winger. I hope he becomes a future international, he completely nullified Handley (my opinion isn’t a centre in a month of Sundays but a class winger).If I give an opinion I’ll happily eat humble pie if it means we’re winning or a player proves you wrong in a positive way. I didn’t think Pratt would be as good as he is this early on in SL. Yesterday showed that I was wrong.[/quote:2mlckjie] He looked impressive and I’m with you on the size I thought it may hold him back from becoming a top SL centre but yesterday was a great start for him. He and also Jowitt look to have worked very hard during the offseason on their condition and it really showed. Pratt is clearly a talented lad but as you say he’s up against some physical freaks for international honours which are being talked about by some. My approach is let’s enjoy his development and not put too much pressure on him. The reality is he’s fighting for a starting spot in our side and he’s made a great start to that. As the the old saying goes iron sharpens iron and having comp across the park for places not only gives up depth when injuries kick in, it also ensures the players have to play well every week to be guaranteed a starting spot.

[quote="jonh":1bha8bh0]He looked impressive and I’m with you on the size I thought it may hold him back from becoming a top SL centre but yesterday was a great start for him. He and also Jowitt look to have worked very hard during the offseason on their condition and it really showed. Pratt is clearly a talented lad but as you say he’s up against some physical freaks for international honours which are being talked about by some. My approach is let’s enjoy his development and not put too much pressure on him. The reality is he’s fighting for a starting spot in our side and he’s made a great start to that. As the the old saying goes iron sharpens iron and having comp across the park for places not only gives up depth when injuries kick in, it also ensures the players have to play well every week to be guaranteed a starting spot.[/quote:1bha8bh0] Wardle and especially Farnworth, who in my opinion is the best english centre i have seen in my time of watching RL, are the bench mark for English centres. As Steve Mills said “We only analyse players when they play against the best teams”.

Highlights include the last Leeds try. https://youtu.be/gKFkIyiTncM?si=mNE9nJmGz1ENmz8l

Highlights include the last Leeds try. https://youtu.be/gKFkIyiTncM?si=mNE9nJmGz1ENmz8l

That was a great team performance all round, with McMeeken, Storton and Russell leading the way. Also special mention to Lino, with a new hakf back partner, competition and better players around him, he is looking much improved. Quietly fancy us on Thursday night, but we need to get into their faces a bit, especially Lewis and Litten

A great performance, 2 great halves each for different reasons. The first once we got out of the arm wrestle brilliant attacking. The second defending and the never say die attitude which will stand us in good stead going forward. Many reasons to be optimistic I know it's only a first victory but a run has to start somewhere. I've got my smug smile on and will have for a few days yet.

https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/new ... new-977268

https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/new ... new-977268

[quote="supercat":u211y2ct]Anyone see the Liam Hood incident at beginning of the second half. I am sure that the Leeds lad who runs it back uses a forearm to fend Hood off and sparks him. Showed one quick replay but never got reviewed unlike Lino's.[/quote:u211y2ct] There was another incident in the first half that seems to have gone unnoticed. Uele put in a strong run and Bentley was struggling to get to grips with him, as Calic bowed forward to drive the ball Bentley forearm smashed in at the back of his head. Looked like pure frustration from Bentley and it went unmentioned by the commentators