I created this in a couple of minutes using Spell with Flickr. I also heartily recommend the Numa Numa dance if you haven’t already seen/heard it. (Double hat tip: Nick Gall.) PS I am still in Leeds. Heading south in a couple of days.

Bradford Bulls 12 v Leeds Rhinos 42

On Thursday Leeds were at Odsal to take on the old enemy, the Bradford Bulls. It had seemed that the match would be a close one and indeed the first half ended Leeds 12 Bradford 6. However it was noticeable that whereas the Bulls hurled themselves at Leeds, expending masses of energy, the visitors remained calm, absorbed the pressure and waited for the fury to expend itself, playing well within their capabilities.

In the second half gaps started to appear in the Bulls’ defences and Leeds began to unleash a series of attacks involving slick passing which quickly cut the Bradford defences to ribbons. When Bradford attacked, the Leeds tackling was ferocious. What was apparent in the defences was that whereas the Leeds’ players shared the tackle count a few Bradford players undertook the burden of defence whilst others where not around when they were needed. In the past, Bradford have relied on a huge pack backed up by hefty backs who wear down the opposition. With the loss of Anderson and the increased weight of opposition packs, Bradford now need to change their tactics, but do they have the right players at the moment?

St Helens seemed to be Leeds’ main opposition for the League leadership. But the following day, lacking the leadership of Paul Sculthorpe, they lost narrowly at Wigan. This means that early in the season Leeds are already four points ahead of the second placed team. The question now is will they lose momentum later in the season, or will they continue to increase the lead to finish as runaway minor premier winners. With McGuire and Diskin still to return from injury the portents are good for Leeds.

Tonight Wakefield visit Headingley. This should be a walkover, if we take current form. I doubt very much whether this will be so. Leeds were on fire against Bradford because it was such an important game. They had made heavy weather of Salford just before that game and there is likely to be reaction in this next match. In the end the score should be a clear cut victory for Leeds but they will be made to work for it by a Wakefield team which has a heavy pack and some clever players who will punish any slackening off of the Leeds effort. It is rumoured that McGuire is returning for this match. If so he is sure to be on the bench and will take it easy as he comes back to fitness.

Home again and already getting my full dose of rugby league action. Everything is wonderful — except this blog! I’m not sure which version you are looking at now, but if you’re viewing this on a PC using Internet Explorer then chances are my sidebar (which is full of links) looks empty to you and the site in general looks exceedingly messy. Yesterday I couldn’t even log in using Internet Explorer because the login buttons had disappeared.

I’m going to try a fix in the next couple of days in between work and weddings and jetlag, but I’m not sure what the solution will be. In the meantime, if you have Firefox installed (which I recommend anyway) then I suggest you view EINY using it -or Safari or anything but IE. You can download Firefox here. It’s a whole different world!

I really shouldn’t be doing this when I have a flight to catch in a few hours, but Felix Salmon’s demolition of Galia Gichon’s Mediabistro (finance) class for freelancers is great. Here’s a taste:

Today I came across one of the most egregious such quacks, in the form of Galia Gichon of Down To Earth Finance. Ms Gichon is teaching a MediaBistro course next week, where, for a mere $65, she will dispense advice on how to “get a grip on debt” and other such staples of the personal-finance pages. Judging by her Q&A on MediaBistro today, however, you’d be better off spending that $65 on getting blotto in the nearest bar. Certainly, any halfways-decent personal finance book will be much cheaper and much more useful.

I’m flying to the UK today, so blogging will be erratic for the next two weeks. What better time to recommend a few of my favorite reads?

For some excellent –if caustic– comment give Heather Armstrong a try at Dooce. She just won four awards at this years Bloggies and is one of the best bloggers I have ever read.

For Brit wit of the highest caliber (I know, I know, “it’s calibRE”, but I’m still in NY — as of tomorrow I revert back to “RE”) try Blognor Regis.

Complete Tosh and Clive Davis are both entertaining and extremely informative (this isn’t meant to be a hard sell — try them, I guarantee you will go back for more).

I don’t neccessarily agree with what they say, but I do enjoy Biased BBC.

I do agree with and I thoroughly enjoy my local blog Daily Heights.

And I think much more attention should be paid to my blogging friend Anguswit.

That should be more than enough to be going on with, except to say that I think blogging has reached an all-time low here and here, with two discussions on how long an adult can survive in unarmed combat with a roomful of five year olds.

So there I am, happily typing away when I hear a clip-clopping outside the window. It’s only a bloody cowboy riding down the street.

But first…

Salford 12 – 30 Leeds Rhinos. Again this was not an easy game for Leeds. Salford were unable to put out a full side due to injuries. I did not see this game but the reports suggest that they gave Leeds a hard time in a somewhat scrappy affair in which Leeds did not show their usual clinical finishing. Leeds were without McKenna and Ellis as well as the long term injured Diskin and McGuire. Nevertheless they had sufficient strength in depth in their squad to put out a team that should have been capable of matching the strongest in the league.

On Thursday, Leeds are at Odsal to take on the old enemy, the Bradford Bulls who now seem to be coming back to their old form. I did see their match with Hull who themselves are a very good side and although Hull did match them try for try the Bulls seem to have more of the possession and Deacon’s superior goal-kicking gave them the victory. They have now won three games in a row and the fact that they are playing on home ground will give them a slight advantage. Leeds for their part, when playing at their best look to be the superior side. They seem to have a more controlled defensive set-up and when under pressure appear to be able to strike back from any part of the ground like the St Helens sides of recent years. The game may depend on which team can produce their best form on the night or which goal kicker can produce the better form. Personally I expect Leeds to produce top form for this game and win convincingly. But then I could be wrong.

Talking about St Helens they do seem to be the form team at the moment. Having been beaten by Leeds in the second game of the season, they have since been unbeaten, with each game showing an improvement in form. On Saturday, playing at home, they thrashed Wakefield by 64 points to 16. I saw the first half and though for twenty minutes Wakefield did seem to be matching them, it was clear that St Helens were faster all over the field. Finally the Wakefield defence collapsed and the Saints proceeded to tear them apart.

If tomorrow Leeds were to play Saints and each showed the form they exhibited at the weekend, then I feel that Leeds would have lost their unbeaten record. Vinnie Anderson, the New Zealand international, has at last been able to show what a fine signing he is, Cunningham is back to top form and centre Jamie Lyons has struck up an outstanding partnership with winger Darren Albert. If they can do things like this on the soft grounds of winter, what will they do when summer brings the hard grounds? I think that this season is going to be an even contest between Leeds and St Helens. On Friday they travel to Wigan. It should be a blinder.