Lew on League (An occasional RL blog by my dad)
Leeds 42 24 Leigh
As expected Leeds defeated Leigh but unlike the away match it was no walkover. By half time Leeds were leading 24 – 6 and it seemed that again Leeds were handing out a beating. Yet within 7 minutes of the restart Leigh had scored 12 unanswered points and by the 60 minute point the scores were equal at 24 – 24. A late Leeds rally saw their extra speed and class tell with Leeds runnning out clear winners, but to the 14,000 spectators it was a distinct relief. Why the loss of form?
The Leigh coach talked about careful planning and spirit. That was certainly there. But what was noticeable was that Leeds were constantly playing men out of position. Tony Smith has been known to say that he likes to ensure that all his men know how to play in a variety of positions. It helps to cover for injuries, but it also improves co-operation and makes for better understanding if the half backs know what it is like to play in the centre and the centre on the wing and vice versa.
Both Mackenna (centre) and MacGuire (half back) appeared on the wing at some stage, whilst Calderwood at some stages appeared to be in the very middle of the field, presumably doing the half back job. One expects this in training but clearly Tony Smith is not afraid to court danger and carry out his experiments on the field of play!
This Friday is a real tester for Leeds. They go to St Helens their nearest rival. The Saints have been suffering recently after the sacking of their brilliant coach Ian Millward, who has now gone to rivals Wigan. However they now have Daniel Anderson, the brilliant Kiwi coach in place and if he can revive their sprits then it is going to be an exciting and brilliant game.
The Saints have an outstanding team who play fluent open football. Leeds for their part have Senior and Bailey returning for action. Presumably they will improve their chances by not trying out any experiments this week.
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