i'm more looking forward to us testing ourselves against leeds next time out than i am about games against rovers

but against leeds next week we'll probably play with much more composure. win or loose the team will hopefully stick to a game plan and the team that executes it best will probably win. and if we were mature and peasant in the derbies i think we'd win quite easily. cant believe that people are willing to accept that we are not at the races for theses games. bragging rights aside the 2 points are important.

Let's forget about Rovers. It was 2 points gained if not deserved. However we should be concentrating on how we perform against big clubs not little ones. We will need to play a damned sight better on Friday to get anything out of Leeds.

Rovers always raise their game for the derby, they always see themselves as the underdogs.

We don't handle the pressure well and there seems to be more of it when at the KC/Magic weekend for some reason. We seem to play better at their place as the away side.

I actually think it's more a case of us not being able to cope with being the favourites and the opposition getting into our faces. We are pretty good at getting into the faces of teams that maybe should be beating us on paper (see Warrington last week, the recent Wigan game and I suspect we'll take it to Leeds on Friday). However we've struggled when teams get into us (Rovers twice, Widnes away, and unconvincing performances at Salford/London), we have to realise that teams just won't roll over and they need to be be up for these challenges.

after 8 weeks of good to exceptional performances we had a day when our attack misfired but our defence was as good as ever, think we may be getting carried away a bit, maybe need to wait till after the Leeds game which bear in mind we will be without Horne who has been on fire this season, just had a bad day on Saturday.

Bit of a myth this one, last year we out-enthused and performed Rovers in all three derby and would have won them all if it wasn't for poor reffing and a bad spell.

First derby we were poor, but we didn't have the team and Gentle got his selection wrong.

Last game, we weren't as bad as people are making out, I watched it again, not great first half, but still made 3 good scoring opportunities but was let down by poor handling. 2nd half we dominated and had 3/4 good scoring chances, but once again last pass options were poor. On another day we those passes stick and we win easy. Think Rovers only had 3 chances to score and they took them all, our defence was pretty strong throughout the game also.

I actually thought our defence was quite sloppy for the most part, but we were dragged out of the mire by some decent goal line defence.

I thought they made far too much ground, far too easily. Our line speed seemed quite poor, we fell off a fair few first tackles and we consistently failed to prevent the offload. If we defend like that against Leeds, they will have the attacking prowess to make us pay.

"Defend" like that against L**ds and they'll stick 40+ on us.

I think we try to play down the importance of these games because of the expectation that we should win and the extra pressure in a derby that creates. We looked OK after the 40/20 and try but when Hall intercepted we got nervy and tried too hard. KR as underdogs feed off that - and played well tbf. But that's what derbies are about isn't it?

But the thing is, it clearly isn't the same as any other match. Regardless of whether or not we want to view it that wat or think it deserves to treated different, the opposition are making it so. In that sense we should prepare for Rovers differently in the same way that every team should be prepared for slightly differently. I'm not saying we should make winning those 3 games the priority of our season, but we should still be aiming to win them as we should all games, and Rovers' increased intensity should be something we make ourselves ready for in the same way as we would, say, Brough/Sinfield's kicking games, Tomkins' kick returns, or Warrington's offloading. It's a facet of our opponent's game that we seem to be underestimating/struggling to handle sometimes.

......you are simply ace

'kin 'ell have they allowed you to have an account...........mods!!!!

I agree with Spackler,
I was previously of the view, like Gentle and many others, that we treat the Rovers game as just another 2 pts. But I’m starting to change my view on this.
The reason ? We arn’t picking up enough 2 pts against Rovers and we aren’t really playing that well whenever we play them. There is a pattern in my opinion.
If we play any of the top 4/5 I feel we go into the game with more intensity then we do teams from outside that top group. Even though we have lost more than we’ve won of those “bigger games” I always feel we are “up for it” at least for 60 mins.
However when we play teams outside that top group we just don’t have that same intensity, Call it what you want,……. we don’t turn up,…. were off the boil….we looked tired, All the old clichés weve heard so many times when we've lost games against Crusaders, Salford, Cas, Wakefield, Widnes. Yes, the top teams sometimes hit a banana skin with these sides too, but for the most part these teams are put to the sword with a ruthless efficiency bordering on bullying. If we seriously see ourselves as a force then something has to change, and I’m sure Gaz will be a catalyst for that change.
But at the moment we go into these games half cooked,….under prepared (2 more clichés) so often its just not funny any more..
But here’s were it hurts - we treat games against our old enemy like they are not top 4, and they prepare for us like WE ARE top 4, like their life depends on it., like its their Cup Final.
And like on Saturday they are able to put in 1 off performances that often defy what they have any right to do. That’s not been disrespectful to them, On the contrary its impressive. On Saturday their intensity was hugely impressive for me, They looked a good side to me. Some may say we made them look good, I don’t think so. In my opinion for 70 mins they were very good. Will they play like that again this year? I doubt it, except when we turn up again.
We will only start to actually treat those 2pts against Rovers with real value and with a chance of taking more than we lose if we start to treat the game like we do all other BIG games. Our Derby is a big game no matter how you look at it and I want to start winning a few by being the best. Not scraping over the line.
The ruthless streak needs to be part of our make up now, not next season and we need to start with raising the ante against the red and whites because at the moment we are not matching their passion or intensity for the war. And it shows.
There you are, rant over.