YEP Jury: Game-by-game improvement sets Leeds Rhinos nicely for Wakefield Trinity derby

ANDREW SUTCLIFFE

How to sum up the Saints game?

Firstly, another improved performance let down by the second half. Secondly, glimpses of how good we are getting on attack. Thirdly, and I think most importantly, the standard of refereeing.

I don’t like to use this as an excuse when we lose but I feel referees are having, or can have, too much of an influence on games. The decision to penalise certain offences such as offside or holding down appears to differ week by week and can allow teams to control games depending on how strictly the rules are being managed.

Then there’s missing clear and obvious knock-ons such as ones in the Wigan game and in the closing stages of the Saints game. Leeds are not getting any close decisions and that can be the difference between winning and losing.

On to this week, and we appear to be at home although I need to double check! Time to give our new signings the Headingley welcome! Not an easy game against Wakefield but if they continue to improve can see a win.

LUKE CROSSFIELD

It was a tale of two halves last Friday night.

The first half contained some very exciting rugby league and Konrad Hurrell was devastating on the left-hand edge. Some poor defence in the second half got St Helens the win; Luke Thompson’s try was very disappointing to see.

I still don’t understand quite a few of the decisions given by the officials.

Dave Furner showed his class in the press conference after the match and he was right that we should be proud of the performance.

Hopefully Stevie Ward won’t be out for long. I just want the lad to get a run of games without an injury.

We are finally coming home on Friday night. It is time for us to build some momentum and make Headingley a fortress once again.

It won’t be easy against Wakefield who earned themselves a hard-earned win last time out.

I would like us to have a more consistent performance over the 80 minutes this week.

The team are getting better every week which is a huge positive.

OLIVER HAWKHEAD

The boys showed us a lot of spirit in this game.

In the previous three matches we conceded early tries but I’ve been impressed by our character to come back and respond.

The main concern, for me, is that we still don’t look like a team that can compete for the full 80 minutes. Our defence looked very fragile towards the end of the game.

Saying this, match fitness will improve over time so we need to be patient as fans.

I know that creating chances against this Saints team will be hard for any group of players over the course of the season, but for us to score zero points in a whole 40 minutes is a little bit worrying. On the other hand, the structure of our attack is much improved so full credit must be given to coach Dave Furner.

Even in the very last minutes of this encounter we gave ourselves opportunities to win it, which is a promising sign going forward.

The performance was spirited and, as fans, we should be very proud of all 17 players.

It would just have been nice to get the two points.

THOMAS LAWRENCE

After going 10-0 down and looking completely out of touch with Saints I feared the worst for Leeds on Friday evening – but what a turnaround before half-time!

All it took was one territorial chance to spark a competitive Leeds performance and, from then on, Leeds should have held out for two points. More poor officiating in yet another televised game once again hindered Leeds’ chances but, after Tom Briscoe’s brilliant work to drag Regan Grace into touch at the start of the second half, I cannot understand why Leeds didn’t go for a drop-goal to extend the lead to a three-score one.

For me, it’s simple rugby! What could have been a 13-point lead was soon a six-point lead and Leeds went on to regret that – a lesson in game management.

On a more positive note, Leeds displayed signs of being clinical in attack – one of the major issues of 2018 that Dave Furner seems to be fixing for 2019. Overall, I expected us to win only one of our opening four – which we did.

Now, we need to pick up some points at home, starting with Friday’s test against Wakefield.

KATIE BURROWS

It sounds like a terrible cliché but last Friday really was a game of two halves.

We were outstanding for parts of the first half, but we weren’t able to come back out and finish the job after the break. Conceding 17 unanswered points in the second half isn’t good enough – I thought our defence looked incredibly shaky at times.

That said, we showed some brilliance in attack and much of the first half was exciting to watch – something we haven’t experienced very often in recent years!

Konrad Hurrell continues to show his skill and Brad Dwyer and Mikolaj Oledzki both worked their socks off.

The Rhinos return to Headingley this week to host Wakefield and I can’t wait to be back in the South Stand!

It goes without saying that Danny Brough will be a menace for them and we’ll need to keep an eye on Tom Johnstone on the wing as well.

Providing last week’s injuries don’t prove to be too serious, and we manage to build on our first-half performance, I think we will be heading for our first home win of the season.

TIM NUTTALL

There were a lot of positives to take out of Friday’s fixture, even if ultimately we lost the game.

Some of the tries we scored, in particular the execution of Kallum Watkins’ try, were plays we have not seen from a Leeds team for some considerable time. Konrad Hurrell and Brad Dwyer were excellent. Tui Lolhea and Richie Myler are growing week on week.

The least said about the performance of official Robert Hicks the better. I think Dave Furner handled the post-match questions brilliantly on that subject.

One thing that remains a concern is some of our defending. We need to become much tougher to score against; the two tries that Alex Walmsley got were very poor.

I hope that the injury to Stevie Ward isn’t as bad as it looked; he has been really good in the early season.

A return to HQ on Friday in a Yorkshire derby against Wakefield is always a tough game and they will be buoyed by their win over Catalans.

If we play in the same manner as Friday, though, I am confident that we will win the game.