Re: Leeds away first up. : Mon Dec 30, 2024 8:58 am  

Spookisback wrote:

:lol: I think the issue in the first 25 was the lack of penetration from the middles... All three starting middles began the game at championship pace and intensity (particularly with ball in hand) ... I think Powell likes to play his halves quite flat, but that needs the defensive line to be in retreat... (disappointingly) the team didn't initially adjust well to that and Leeds intensity and line speed, and gave away field position and momentum.
That said... There was some real positives in the performance and i think adding the likes of McMeeken, Atoni, Storton, and/ or Pitts into the starting line-up for the middle of the pitch will make a difference.

More or less sums it up for me however Leeds have been in pre season a month longer and looked sharper for it. When the season starts I am confident we will be able to rake them on bit we will have to be smart with the ball to come away with anything.

Re: Leeds away first up. : Mon Dec 30, 2024 4:39 pm  

Sounds like Jarrod O'Connor did his MCL in last week's game so he might be missing for our repeat fixture ??

Re: Leeds away first up. : Mon Dec 30, 2024 6:42 pm  

FIL wrote:

Sounds like Jarrod O'Connor did his MCL in last week's game so he might be missing for our repeat fixture ??

Talk of Frawley as back up hooker with Connor in the halves and Handley at centre which would not be my preferred choice wrt Handley.

Re: Leeds away first up. : Tue Dec 31, 2024 10:12 am  

Trinity_lurcher wrote:

I thought their line speed made it very difficult for our halves. They had no time on the ball, as we lost a lot of contacts and had a slow play of the ball.

We only managed to get round them a couple of times. Once through some quick hands from Hall.

Considering the amount of ball and territory they had, our defence was pretty good. They seemed to target our marker defence and got some joy. That needs tightening up.

A decent hit out with 4 first team players missing. It will take a while for some players to step up (pace wise) and Trueman hasn't played for ages.

Promising. Really looking forward to the season to begin.

This sums it up for me. We will need to be far better at competing in terms of intensity and line speed up the middle in future games as Leeds controlled territory and marched us down the field for the first fourty minutes which strangled us. We defended our line superbly well which was pleasing but if Leeds would have kept their first team on we'd have lost that by 30 in my opinion. However, we've got Atoni, Storton, Mcmeeken and Pitts to likely come into the seventeen in terms of middles as well as Johnstone who willg ive us some punch in our exit sets. I thought we looked extremely weak carrying the ball out of our own yardage which is my biggest concern this season I think in terms of our backline. Apart from Johnstone they're all a bit lightweight.

Re: Leeds away first up. : Tue Dec 31, 2024 11:25 am  

Adam_Harrison9 wrote:

This sums it up for me. We will need to be far better at competing in terms of intensity and line speed up the middle in future games as Leeds controlled territory and marched us down the field for the first fourty minutes which strangled us. We defended our line superbly well which was pleasing but if Leeds would have kept their first team on we'd have lost that by 30 in my opinion. However, we've got Atoni, Storton, Mcmeeken and Pitts to likely come into the seventeen in terms of middles as well as Johnstone who willg ive us some punch in our exit sets. I thought we looked extremely weak carrying the ball out of our own yardage which is my biggest concern this season I think in terms of our backline. Apart from Johnstone they're all a bit lightweight.

Agree Hope you are right about those forwards .Hope we do not use Johnstone as a battering ram , with is injury problems on is legs . Defence looks good but you can not tackle for 40 minutes like we did in the first half against Leeds .You got to create something in attack that we did not do against Leeds

Re: Leeds away first up. : Tue Dec 31, 2024 3:11 pm  

Adam_Harrison9 wrote:

This sums it up for me. We will need to be far better at competing in terms of intensity and line speed up the middle in future games as Leeds controlled territory and marched us down the field for the first fourty minutes which strangled us. We defended our line superbly well which was pleasing but if Leeds would have kept their first team on we'd have lost that by 30 in my opinion. However, we've got Atoni, Storton, Mcmeeken and Pitts to likely come into the seventeen in terms of middles as well as Johnstone who willg ive us some punch in our exit sets. I thought we looked extremely weak carrying the ball out of our own yardage which is my biggest concern this season I think in terms of our backline. Apart from Johnstone they're all a bit lightweight.

You missed Jowitt, Hood and Doyle.

Re: Leeds away first up. : Wed Jan 01, 2025 12:25 pm  

Trojan Horse wrote:

You missed Jowitt, Hood and Doyle.

I wasn't referring to all we had missing. Just the ones most likely to make an impact through the middle in terms of winning the arm wrestle. Not sure Hood, Jowitt or Doyle will necessarily help much in that department with ball in hand.

Re: Leeds away first up. : Wed Jan 01, 2025 2:23 pm  

Adam_Harrison9 wrote:

I wasn't referring to all we had missing. Just the ones most likely to make an impact through the middle in terms of winning the arm wrestle. Not sure Hood, Jowitt or Doyle will necessarily help much in that department with ball in hand.

They would certainly stiffen the defence up which in turn would improve field position and have an effect on where we play our sets out. Hood especially is a strong defender.

Regardless, those 3 would strengthen the team in a few areas, not just down the middle.

Re: Leeds away first up. : Wed Jan 01, 2025 5:14 pm  

The full game is now on YouTube, still the Leeds commentary not TC

Re: Leeds away first up. : Wed Jan 01, 2025 6:44 pm  

Trojan Horse wrote:

They would certainly stiffen the defence up which in turn would improve field position and have an effect on where we play our sets out. Hood especially is a strong defender.

Regardless, those 3 would strengthen the team in a few areas, not just down the middle.

Hope Hood is not around a lot ,struggled in is last stint in S L .Need more than a player who can tackle at 9 as not even got a kicking game. Defence looks decent, lot more work to do in attack . Hope Russell plays 9 and Lino 7 .If we are struggling to make some ground ,we got 3 good kickers on the park