He's also just been tagged in a tweet from the bulls regarding our first home game so I'm just going to assume he's staying with us.

From the props we had playing yesterday, the only one who didn't do himself any favours was Fleming. Same sort of input in the 15minutes or so that he had as he did for most of last season. Even Lauaki put himself about more than I have been used to.



The new guys all had a good debut. Especially the 2 youngsters. Lots to be pleased about with that.

Hope Clough is staying but I wouldn't be surprised if a club like Hudders was interested given they're looking a bit light and have cap space.



I'd be disappointed if he went having supported him in his testimonial. Going mid contract cheapens that I think.

I'd also be disappointed if Clough did leave now. While you could understand it, I'd rather him at least see out his contract. If we failed to get promoted and he goes elsewhere next year, no hard feelings at all, despite not wanting him to go.



If he was to go now though, it would be interesting to see who drove it. Would it be more the player wanting to leave, or the club wanting to cash in on him while they can? If it's the latter, hard to bag Clough for moving.





As far as yesterday's game went, I thought it was promising. Sidlow & Kavanagh looked very good. I wasn't quite as impressed with Thomas as some seem to have been, but he certainly showed some promise. Be interesting to see how the players go this coming Sunday though when I've got a better view. Sometimes difficult to judge from behind the sticks at Headingley as you can't always see what's going on down the other end. Not with my ageing eyes anyway!

I Leeds supporting friend of mine was saying Sidlow impressed. He also mentioned that Halafihi went well when he came on which is just what we need if we're going to spell O'B.



How did Lumb and Ryan go on?

Thought Lumb went well considering it was his first professional game and up against the treble winners too. Was very busy and tackled well. Ryan I can comment on as he was on opposite wing to where I was stood so can't really say how he went.

I thought Joe Lumb looked very promising. His coaches spoke highly of him at the member pass event, specifically on his work ethic.



It showed too, big change from the lad who played at West Bowling, bet his dad was proud as punch on Sunday.



Ryan.. Hard to tell. Looked to be struggling for fitness and gasping for breath.



Just as I thought he wasn't geting involved - he did!



Couple of handy runs and one hell of a pass from mid field to wing! Good physique too.



Definitely a better showing than the same game last year.

Reports in Aus suggest Huddersfield are close too signing a NRL prop.

Couldn't agree more on Sidlow, I thought he was outstanding in the first half before he went off. Looked every bit as good as Leeds' top class props. Got Bulls' best player vote from Phil Caplan in League Express too, and rightly so.



Agree too on Halafihi. I've numerous times mentioned on here I don't think he's good enough, but he showed up well in the game time he got against Leeds. Much better than anything he did in a Bulls shirt last season. I'm starting to doubt my original assessment.



Ethan Ryan didn't have to do a whole lot, so hard to judge. Joe Lumb though looked very lively when he came on. A lot of little scoots from dummy half, making a few yards before he passed the ball. Impressive for a young lad who was playing in the first team for the first time against a good side.

Ryan has always been like that. He looks like he is a dead man walking and then suddenly runs the length of the field or makes a wonder tackle.

I've never been quite sure whether he puts it on to throw the opposition, whether he just has that open mouthed look that makes you look knackered or whether he actually is knackered and puts in the extra effort despite being knackered.

The thing with Halafihi last year was that he barely got any game time. O'Brien came on a great deal last year, mainly because he was playing 80 minutes nearly every week and it did tax him towards the back end of the year. The hooker role needs to be better split between the two of them to give both players the time to develop and to ensure neither is completely shagged out come the business end of the season

Just to be clear, the posters are referring to our young outside back Ethan Ryan, rather than Matt Ryan who wasn't offered a new deal for this season.

Agreed. Sidlow, Gaskell and O,brien all looked class on Sunday and completely different players to the ones towards the end of last season (as they were on their knees) We keep our key men fit, healthy and FRESH, then those players can hurt any team.



The pleasing thing for me is the players we kept from last year all looked to have improved and I thought we looked a lot slicker in our attack. For me squad management and injuries will be key. I think lessons have been learnt from over playing out key men last year.

They must learn lessons. I remember our key men looked fresh at the beginning of last season too.



It's crucial Lowes uses the squad more. That might mean a few more losses but we need to arrive in the 8s with the best 17 as fresh as possible.