Re: Doncaster : Mon May 27, 2024 6:28 am  

Louis and Joe Keyes at 6 and 7, who would have thought this would work?

Not out of the woods by any means but a positive step forward.

The Leeds hooker was my MOTM, his speed from the play the ball and his pass selection was superb. That run too to set up Widdop. Pons and the Leeds centre did really well too.

Doncaster were a huge team but missed an organiser to take them around.

Need to back it up next Saturday.

Re: Doncaster : Mon May 27, 2024 6:36 am  

I was writing this before your post popped up Jaffro. Were you reading my mind or was i reading yours?

Agree that balance of the side is much better with Keyes and Jouffret in the halves and I thought Widdop had his best game so far.
The Dons must have been fed up of Salty coming at them. Mcormack looked like a young lad when warming up but he defended really well and caused them problems with his running and what a try! Johnson looked a real prospect and certainly had an eye for a scoot.
Tangata had his best game for a long time the m.o.m. for me. Fairbank and Davies were immense too but everyone stood up to a huge side and played their part with really hard working defence.
Time to string a few results together.

Re: Doncaster : Mon May 27, 2024 7:13 am  

Makes a difference getting a few scores up and not panicking chasing the game. We cut out the errors and tried to get quick ptb to move their big pack round.

Defensively whilst we had a better attitude our shape looked better too. No shooting out of the line and we numbered up well, especially on our left where we had the 2 from
Leeds and and Pons on the wing.

Donny on the other hand showed very little and it seemed that they were relying on their big guys to crash through.

Re: Doncaster : Mon May 27, 2024 7:47 am  

Agree with all the above posts - thought Johnson and Mccormack where excellent- McCormacks reads in defence and his tackling were fantastic for such a young player and helped make the whole team look a lot less fragile than it has all season. If we could keep these 2 for a month or so it would make a massive difference. Ruan didn't do much wrong but as the player with most recent first team experience at Leeds was a bit underwhelming.
You got the feeling today that right from the start the players were more confident; all of them running in much harder, than at any time this season - and how good was it to have 2 half's who terrified the opposition with their running threat. Finn has got a difficult decision next week with the Widdop/JWH at fullback situation - but I dearly hope he's seen that barring injuries he shouldn't split up what I still think on their day is the best half back pairing in the league.

Re: Doncaster : Mon May 27, 2024 7:51 am  

gizempo wrote:

Makes a difference getting a few scores up and not panicking chasing the game. We cut out the errors and tried to get quick ptb to move their big pack round.

Defensively whilst we had a better attitude our shape looked better too. No shooting out of the line and we numbered up well, especially on our left where we had the 2 from
Leeds and and Pons on the wing.

Donny on the other hand showed very little and it seemed that they were relying on their big guys to crash through.

I agree. The Dons hardly showed any ambition with one plan. A very big side, batter the line then kick on last. Toulouse will offer more of a threat i think.

Re: Doncaster : Mon May 27, 2024 9:50 am  

Ilkley Fax wrote:

Agree with all the above posts - thought Johnson and Mccormack where excellent- McCormacks reads in defence and his tackling were fantastic for such a young player and helped make the whole team look a lot less fragile than it has all season. If we could keep these 2 for a month or so it would make a massive difference. Ruan didn't do much wrong but as the player with most recent first team experience at Leeds was a bit underwhelming.
You got the feeling today that right from the start the players were more confident; all of them running in much harder, than at any time this season - and how good was it to have 2 half's who terrified the opposition with their running threat. Finn has got a difficult decision next week with the Widdop/JWH at fullback situation - but I dearly hope he's seen that barring injuries he shouldn't split up what I still think on their day is the best half back pairing in the league.

Fully agree with this, Keyes, Joufrett & Widdop at 7,6 & 1 looked much better than Keyes, Widdop & Joufrett at 7,6 & 1.
Whilst most of us would agree JWH is one of the best fullbacks in the division playing him at centre with his pace and strength could give a better size and strike that position and a better balance from who we’ve got.

Re: Doncaster : Mon May 27, 2024 10:06 am  

faxcar wrote:

Fully agree with this, Keyes, Joufrett & Widdop at 7,6 & 1 looked much better than Keyes, Widdop & Joufrett at 7,6 & 1.
Whilst most of us would agree JWH is one of the best fullbacks in the division playing him at centre with his pace and strength could give a better size and strike that position and a better balance from who we’ve got.

Yeah if we can keep the Leeds lad for a bit then having those two in the centres just makes us look stronger there than we have all season.

Re: Doncaster : Mon May 27, 2024 11:44 am  

O think Widdop is better at full back due to his experience and I think he has a better RL brain the JWH. Having JWH on the Ben h gives you options with substitutions as he is very adaptable to playing different positions in the backs if injuries occur without having to reshuffle everyone

Re: Doncaster : Mon May 27, 2024 12:35 pm  

Very happy with yesterday..several good performers with Johnson the mom without doubt.Even happy with Finn’s post match comments for a change..thanking Leeds for not sending us rubbish..lol and praising the players for putting the effort in the right places.Much better the effort in defence than sprinting behind our own posts every 10 minutes..

Re: Doncaster : Mon May 27, 2024 1:47 pm  

Faxlore wrote:

O think Widdop is better at full back due to his experience and I think he has a better RL brain the JWH. Having JWH on the Ben h gives you options with substitutions as he is very adaptable to playing different positions in the backs if injuries occur without having to reshuffle everyone

Yep another possibility but if Woody was to be moved from 1 for the Keyes, LJ, Widdop option maybe start JWH in the centres and have McComb for the cover on the bench as I think Woody offers more of a threat and is the likelier of the two to get injured at any given moment and you wouldn’t want to have sub a sub in short order.