Why the hell did we not sign any centres last year?
Ablett.....not a centre in a million years (and poor tackler).
Watkins..will make it as long as we don't burn him out with overplay.
Gibson...not enough time under his belt.

Let's face it the only centre we have is ageing and keeps tripping up over his middle leg!

If Eastwood doesn't come, we should get someone, but who?

Or stick with what we used to win a Grand Final, allowing us to bring Gibson, Watkins and maybe Ratu(although the latter seems unlikely)through. Which is what our current success is based on. Youth development.

Buderus. Eastwood. Ring any bells?

And the way to fix that is by bringing someone else in so he gets less game time?

OMG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not another centre thread AAAAAARRRRRGGGHH...







please see eatswood latest thread for this discussion.

I really don't understand why so many seem obsessed with our centres. We have Senior whom, although he's aging is still one of the best 2 or 3 centres in the league. And we have Gibson, Watkins (and although I'm not a fan of him playing centre) Ablett.

Gibson still has the potential to be quality despite his injuries, and Watkins (despite his rawness in certein areas) looks one of the best prospects this countries had in years, and at times he looks 10 years older than actually is with some of the things he does with the ball.

Whats the point in buying a quick fix? With no relegation for three years this is the perfect oppertunity to use the young british talent. I would personally much rather not win anything this year because of using young players then buying over 30 year old aussies that may win us something quickly but ensuring future success. Take Man U for example they could sign anyone really with their money and appeal but they choose to play the likes of Welbeck, Gibson, Foster and Evans to ensure not only thier future success but english success!

Ramble Over

I agree mate!!

I'm more worried about what happens after Senior retires. He remains one of our most potent attacking threats, and whilst I'm sure Watkins and Gibson have it in them to cope in SL, it is a bit much to expect them both to step up to perform at Senior's level for next year.

And what if the youngsters don't make it at all or get burnt by being overplayed when they are not physically ready and what if the club has money in the bank and space on the salary cap and on the quota?

Do you really want to see Leeds return to the gallant runners-up of yesteryear?

This period of relative success we are enjoying at the moment won't last forever and it's up to the Leeds management to make the best of it while it lasts.

I personally think Leeds should maximise everything at their disposal to attempt to successfully defend their title. They've already come up short once this season and I don't want to see a repeat later on when our understrength squad is shot to pieces for a lack of bodies albeit with healthier balance sheet.

If Eastwood is done then replace him with a centre, which is where the team needed strengthening last season after Toopi was busted and yes I do realise we upset the bookies and every pundit in the game by winning the GF.

what about smith our no. 3?

I'm confident in a fully fit squad he is more than capable than pulling his weight

Centres are irrelevant. The spine of the team 1,6, 7, 9, 13 are what brings success. You spend your cap and put quality players there and fill in around them.

That is what someone very wise said.

Our centres this year are good enough to win the league just as they were last year.

Just imagine Saints without Gidley - no drop in performance or attacking potential!!

I disagree with gareth - the centres are your most potent attacking weapons and amongst your strongest defenders - quality centres are hard to find - the reason why Ablett/Watkins can fill in is because there are no decent centres - Gidley apart in the league - as soon as they came up against a couple of serious centres in Lyon and Matai they didn't look quite upto.

I'm confident he'll give his all in his third choice position at Leeds also. I'd still rather see him on the wing in place of Hall when Webb is back up to speed though.

I'm also confident that I've yet to see him start a game for Leeds at right centre (and only twice at left), so perhaps you'll allow me to hold off from anointing him as the new Syd Hynes just yet.



And I would agree with every word that poster said, he sounds a handsome fella as well.

I would still add though, that when a team is deficient in a position and when salary cap space is available, that I would like to see that money used in that area rather than sat in the bank gathering dust and not much else.

Another issue, besides the fact that we're developing what I believe are two of the most gifted young backs in the country, is that as previously stated, good centres are a pretty rare commodity. [u:20ddljzo:20ddljzoIf:20ddljzo[/u

What's happened to him?


I was really disappointed when he left Wigan scholarship for Leeds.

I disagree with G1 here.

Last year we suffered when Toopi was missing during the regular season and CC IIRC for two reasons. One was defensive exposure - clubs started to target our right side defence and it started to pay off for them. Another was a lack of attacking options. We were over-reliant on the Senior-Donald combination on the left, and offered little on the right, particularly in bigger games such as the Saints CC defeat. Clubs soon realised that if they were able to stop our left side combination the Leeds attack was severelly weakened.

I agree on the importance of 1, 6, 7 and 9 in the modern game (not sure of the importance of 13 outside Sinfield's role at Leeds), but saying that the outside backs and forwards don't matter is ridiculous. Without Peacock and Senior Leeds are IMO a much lesser team - your model misrepresents the situation.

St Helens didn't just hand over Martin Gleeson to Warrington but the move still happened. Players still occasionally move when contracted. I'd be looking towards Castleford (currently looking for funding) to see if Shenton could become available anytime soon for the right price.

Apparently the WCC is a big money spinner to the English club involved (I think someone wise said that on here recently) it would be a shame to see those proceeds just sit in a bank account somewhere losing money.

If looking overseas Australia is literally full of players better than Gibson will ever now become. Plenty of Aussies seem to like giving SL a look up for a couple of seasons.

Didn't he go to Doncaster?

6,7,9 and 13 have been the consistents in this Leeds team since 2004. Outside backs and props have come and gone. 6,7,9 and 13 are contracted for some time to come.

Of course you want quality players in the front row and centre position. However, they're not essential to winning league titles.

We won one with Danny Ward, we won one Chev Walker and we won with Carl Ablett. None of these are the greatest in the world at the positions they play.

Just imagine Saints WITH Gidley - no Grand final wins. Just ghow essential is a centre again?

If quality centres are so hard to find then why are we having this discussion? Oh, and luckily Ablett and Watkins won't have to face Lyon and matain again.

And if Lyon comes back to SL maybe we could get a solid 2nd rower like, say, Chris Mckenna to do a job on him in a playoff game.

If you think Alex Ferguson plays young English players to ensure future success for England then you're having a laugh.

GF Harry Sunderland Trophy winners to 2004.

2008. Lee Smith. Full back.
2007. Rob Burrow. Scrum Half.
2006. Wellens(?) Full back- help TVOC [size=59or shut up if it doesn't help my point[/size.
2005. Pryce. Winger moved to stand off during game.
2004. Diskin. Hooker.

1, 6, 7, 9 & 13 people.

Where's the 13?

I don't disagree with the principle, but Aussies have not proved easy to get over here of late, and even there, the kind of really world class import we're always saying we need to insist on to avoid diluting standards is quite rare and would want a huge amount of money to tempt them here.

Otherwise we'd be relying on prising someone like Shenton away from a rival club, who would no doubt not be keen on weakening themselves to strengthen us and hence we would no doubt end up playing a grossly over-inflated price for the player who came in. There are very few players of anything like Gleeson's quality around, and the Wire approach of chucking huge amounts of money at them to get them in has little track record in terms of providing success.

I'm always in favour of the right player at the right price, I'm just unconvinced that those 2 factors coincide very often, especially at cnetre.