Not been at his best yet this season but more to come from the big man.
Do not think he is a waste of a shirt.

You are Ian Kirke.

Mentioned by Macca so can't have been that bad. looking forward to TMFMISL being singled out for doing the hard yards this season. Luke Burgess, Kirke and Kylie done it this season. Lets see Bailey step up to the plate and we will be blessed!

I'd argue he was at his best on Friday. He is a very useful player to have in the squad and often plays a smaller role. When he had to stand up and be counted he did. Fair play to him.

With our limited rotational options at the KC on Friday IMO Kirke, Kylie and Burgess all knocked it up a level. When we get JP back I don't think we're looking that bad on the front row.

I think this whole we are a club in decline thing is just other fans trying to convince themselves that they don't need to worry aout us challenging, when deep down they know we are a very dangerous team. Obviously it is only two games in but the signs so far do not not show a team in decline, we have shown already we can fight back when losing with little time to go, and graft when badly hit with injuries during the game. Other fans write us off at your peril.

I prefer the "experts" to write us off Sibbs tbh afterall it tastes so much sweeter when we win.

At the moment the experts have wrote us off and the fans have followed, and especially after the appointment of McDermott, who everyone thinks is out of his depth. There is no real pressure for us to succeed this season, which makes it so much easier for a change.

Indeed, i do enjoy this "under the radar" business. Most teams wont admit it but they know that we will have a say this season and should be in the mix at the end of the season. Been pretty quiet on the tabloid side too which i much prefer about Leeds. Last season every other day it seemed there was a story or "non story" coming out of HQ and it did sometimes seem that we were whinging and bemoaning our luck. Heres to the deafening sound of silence and proffesionalism.

I hope you're right but I think we should give it time as the season is only eight days old. Having two wins on the board with a number of fortuitous calls going our way obviously helps the situation as well.

I agree. It is early days, and I think that this season is a transitional season, when I hope to see some our younger players given their head.
Inevitably, they will make errors through lack of experience, and some will perhaps not develop as hoped. This may come back to haunt us in the short term, perhaps losing us some games. It is a long term investment well worth making IMO and may prevent or at least delay the loss of some of the future stars to Union or, indeed, other clubs..

I have a real feeling that once Bailey is back in the squad, Kirke will be dropped out.

I'd rather have the feeling that the squad is picked on fitness and form (rather than out and out reputation) and that no-one is dropped after a good performance in the shirt.

Of course players returning from injury also need an opportunity to step up once they become available.

Kirke's a bit of an enigma to me. At 6 foot 4 and nearly 18 stones, he should be causing a lot more damage to the opposition than he does. That said he's certainly shown willing this season, and on Friday really stepped up his game.

Bailley may have to up his game as well, if he's going to be in contention for a spot. Which means of course, there's some healthy competition at Headingley.

Along with 2 wins against 2 poor sides who are just making up the SL numbers.

I mentioned this on Friday night, I honestly cant see McDermott dropping a player who is on form, to me he doesnt seem that sort of coach

I certainly don't disagree with your comments about Friday's game but "this season" presumably includes his 4 carry display last Sunday?

I suspect that Kirke continues to offer pretty good value for money. You can't fill your whole squad with world beaters. He comes in, covers two positions and does a decent job, rarely lets anyone down (Wembley "tackle" on Atkins being an exception). I think that makes him a valuable squad player.

As for Leeds' prospects this season, it's very early days, but 2 wins in the bank at this stage, out of what could have been 2 fairly tricky games, isn't a bad return. We don't look weak in any position and have a couple of big names to come back. Lots of improving to do, but I'd rather do that improving with points in the bag. Hard to look much beyond Wigan and Saints for the top 2 at the moment, but it's a long season. I seem to recall it being quite hard to look past Leeds until mid July in 2005, for example. I think a top 3 finish is realistic, and I wouldn't rule us out of the silverware at the moment.

Agree with all that El Diablo, except perhaps Saints being an obvious choice for top 2. I'm not sure they look as strong as in previous years, especially in the backs. In fact they are probably at a similar stage of transition to us, ie. Integrating some younger players but still with plenty of quality to be competitive and challenge for silverware.

Wigan looked impressive from what i saw on the SL show last night, some cracking tries with the ball going through lots of hands

Following last years success, with the same coaching structure, similar player and some high quality additions I think they will hard to beat. I don't think they're unbeatable but they are as solid as anyone defensively and have some great ball players going forwards.

indeed.

To be fair, it did look more like the Bradford side from the last 20 minutes at Cardiff than the one from the opening hour of that game.

Going to be a long old season for the Bulls fans IMO - be interesting to see how many of the "new" season ticket holders stick it out.

I dont think Kirke is ever gonna be an England Int (but then again i never though Darrell Griffin would be either) but he puts in the effort like against Bratford and Cas away last season chasing back especially Cas game we had won and there were no real need for him to chase that far but to defend the points against tally. I think every team needs the hard working players!

Wigan were extremely impressive, aided and abetted by some poor Bradford discipline & ball control.

Having said that, their intensity suggested they're very much set on hitting top form for the WCC - they should put in a good showing, judging by yesterday - so it'll be interesting to see how they fare once that focus is diluted.