GRAHAM POULTER wrote:

"This week’s topic is our choices of a few of the most underrated players to have played for Leeds Rhinos over the years.

First one for me is the man who played prop, Ian Kirke. When he first came into the team a lot of fans were unsure about him, a few said that they wouldn’t trust him to be the water carrier.

He definitely improved as he got more game time and matured as a player the older he became.

He proved it by helping his team-mates to qualify for and then go on and win Grand Finals."


No Graham, he was a big fairy who couldn't knock the skin off a rice pudding!

good player apart from last couple of seasons. underrated and a vital squad player. but unsung hero? no

Oh God not more Ian Kirke ranting. When will it end?

Time to move on me thinks.....

Ablett unsung hero for me

Yep Ablett should not be an unsung hero , he was part of the glue that held the side together , more skill than most forwards , got under the skin of the opposition and turned up in big matches .

As for Kirke , watch some of the old games , he was far better than most people on here say and put in a great stint in the 2007 Grand Final especially . For the money he was on to me he was great value .

If we are going back pre super league, then Carl Gibson for me. Always played well above his size both for us and GB one if the few real quality players we had late 80’s early 90’s 93 tries in 250 appearances including a then club record 91 consecutive appearances. That seem unsung hero to me

Carl Gibson was rocks and diamonds. one minute tracking back to stop Offiah scoring a certain try and the next trying to make an impossible pass in his own goal area. For the most part more diamond than rock but not so sure about unsung!

He was expensive too

I was a big fan of Jimmy Keinhorst. He had a good rugby brain and a great work ethic.

His slight step before passing to Walters in the 2015 GF was a tiny thing but it wrong footed the Wigan defence. Never got enough credit for that.

Ryan Bailey got picked consistently

As others have said Kirke was a decent, at times very good, sub prop.

Ablett absolutely an unsung hero, same goes Delaney for me. Neither quite got the praise they deserved in my opinion. They were a massive part of the treble win, held the middle of the field with massive work rates of good quality defence.

Also some who isn’t really an unsung hero because he rightly got plenty of praise but I still don’t think we fully appreciated at the time just how good Brent Webb was. Watching some of these games back and his movement both on and off the ball was superb and his passing put us in for some great tries as did his support play.

Brent Webb Unsung Hero? Work that out.

Brent Webb the most over rated imo. Great attack but defence was woefull (mostly)

forgotten how good mathers was. would have been interesting to see how he would have gone on had he stayed

Ablett was quality at Centre or BR much more skillful than he got credit for imo.
Injuries finally caught up with him unfortunately.
Kirke was ok for about 3 years but thats it.

Kirke was very poor in final 2-3 seasons.
Agree on Ablett and Delaney.
Scott Donald and Joel Moon were underrated for me.

Lee Smith
In his prime would have been a certain starter for most other SL clubs either at FB, wing or centre. Would have done a decent job in the halves & hooker. Stepped up big in grand finals for Leeds. One of the most talented juniors to emerge from our Academy in the past 20 years.

You could guarantee he would run10 yards along the line then step to try and get through.Though he did score 2 good in YC final,1988?

Must have missed that all the years i watched him

Injury meant he was never the same again

We used to try and guess when he was going to make his step. All the season ticket holders around us would shout "NOW" at the same time

DEAN BELL. (hugh mcgann) DEAN CLARK. LEFT IN THE MIRE, THEY PULLED A SILK PURSE FROM A PIG EAR. Great achievements.

Lee Smith played in a good team, but he was definitely " Johnny on the Spot" in the GFs of that period .

JP was rightly recognised but it some of Kylie's hits must have left players struggling to remember their own name. Great front row pairing.

wasn't kylie recognised as a hero not an unsung one