A lot is been said about players lacking basic skill level last night but an important factor that has not yet come up is that Leeds played a blinder last night by using brand new packet balls when they realised it was gonna be raining hard.

For those who dont know, Match balls are 'pre-kicked' as even with the triple tach technology balls are much harder to grip in wet weather when they are packet balls than when they are pre-kicked.

Leeds used brand new balls on purpose knowing Hull were likely to roll over them due to the fact they only play one way when playing well and that is fast and risky.

A mate of mine played for Leeds last night and he was laughing about it this morning (it was an old trick we used at Fev a few times wehn he played for us there)

I am not offering this as an excuse because every side has back up plans, even the worst teams have a simple 'settle' set or territory gainer but it was an important factor in what happened to Hull last night.

Leeds made plenty of errors with the ball but knew that if they defended well Hull we unlikely to be able to play the way they want to because the skill level was going to be driven from the game.

Instead of playing at Leeds own game by making sure the kicking game was good and they could go head to head in what would of been a boring scrappy game with a lot of kicking and chasing Hull played right into Leeds hands and tried to play decent stuff with slippery balls ending in countless mistakes in their own half leading to pressure put on them which was stupid and dumb.


What I will say is that come next weekend I expect a very different game.

If Leeds roll Hull over again I will look a right nob but to be fair that is not unusual

I wonder where we'll be able to find some "Pre kicked balls" from?

Blaming the ball...I've heard it all now.

how about the reason we lost was we aren't good enough, and haven't been for 3 years now.

You train with them first, then clean them.

IMO, the biggest problems last night were consistently losing the collision and not gaining enough ground, not the spilt ball. And I'm guessing your mate is either Zak Hardaker or Jamie Peacock then?

I think when I said 'I am not offering this as an excuse' kind of gave away the fact I was not trying to make an excuse.

Bri Mac deserves a lot of credit. Even the sky crew made note of the way they had cut the grass so short and even filmed it to show what they had done.

All I am saying is when the game is played next weekend it will be on Hull's turf with a perfect chance for them to play their own game. No excuses if they roll over next week, I however think they will beat Leeds next week because they will be playing on different terms.


Hull should of played a simple plan last night to gain territory and momentum but they didn't, hence they got dicked.

When I read the title,I thought it was about the board getting a set.

Zak is yes, I had him in the Reserves at Fev for two years and he now endorses my company.

Not gaining ground was caused by Leeds having a very good and disciplined defence. Hull could of got round that by playing simple settling sets and turning Leeds round at every opportunity and playing the game in the middle of the park.

However they tried to play football in their own half and made errors giving Leeds the ball in the zone they wanted to be in.


I just think it was a dumb way to play, especially against a side that could'nt score more than 6 in the first half

The game was winnable at Half time and there is a major worry that Hull did nothing about it and never once seemed to have any other plan but to try and sling it about and hope for some magic from someone.

No plan B at Hull bud.

It is scary that not one person last night thought 'hang on, if we just calm down and start turning them round and get us of our own line we can relieve a bit of pressure and force Leeds into making errors with the ball in their own end'

On that last point, over the last few years our 2nd half record is pretty abysmal. We have consistently shown our inability to turn a game around in our favour. It's almost like denial of the fact that we are 2nd best and we persist with our failing tactics.

Exactly.

Enough people using this forum will have been Coached or have Coached themselves at some point and will have heard the Coach say something along the lines of 'There is no way they are gonna come out second half and play that way anymore, we need to be careful and watch for a change in tactics'.

Against Hull they must just sit down and say 'Same again boys and we have won this'