McShane dropped from 19 vs Warrington after starring for U20s last week. Confusing that he was given a long contract only to be slapped around like this. Either he's rated or he isn't.

It's hard to understand, I put on the other thread about how is he training, does he show poor attitude,poor work rate etc. Other than that it's maybe BM don't like the look of him or Lowes for that matter, makes the long contract even harder to work out.

Did anyone else notice how pi55ed of macca looked when he was subbed in the second half at widnes. Has something been said, resulting in a few weeks in U20's

My thoughts are the same. A good half back should be able to take on the distribution aspects of the hooking role with the other creative players to help out. It is not so necessary for Burrow to put in a high tackle count with the sort of good defenders he has around him and he has the technique and courage to make the tackles as and when required. Rob has made a good job so far and looks confortable with the freedom this dual role gives him.

Pathetic post !! McShane is a great player & certainly deserves more game time & he does not deserve someone like you (probably never played the game ?) to post such a poor reply.

Still - you have the right to your opinion

Spot on post !! Burrows at 7, Danny at 6 & Sinfield at 13 did seem to work when the Rhinos won most of the trophies. The Coach might know something that others do not - but to most people, it seems to be the fact that the Whinos squad is so strong that the coach can do what he wants ? Wait until the Whinos lose a few ??

You are Paul McShane and I claim my fifty quid.

I wonder how much of an influence Bedsy was before he left back home, who he thought would make it

Looking at the forwards we have it seems that BM is genuinely trying to rotate players. He seems to be actually doing that amongst the other forwards as well.

Hood needs some game time in order to be able to do that with McShane. If anything BM has shown faith in McShane picking him for the WCC. Its possible he's just saying that he also has faith in Hood by picking him for a big game against the Wire.

Or it could even be simpler - a case of BM making two good young propsepcts compete for a single spot. Neither is a bad reason for BM to pick Hood over McShane at this stage of the season.

FWIW it would appear that Sinfield/McGuire is the preferred halfback option, with Burrow at 9. Unless our form drops considerably or one of them gets injured it doesn't appear as if BM is going to change that.

Ahem !

...is there where I say I told you so

.

McShane's face doesn't fit (say no more). It does seem a cruel twist to give the lad the no.9 shirt [uand[/u a four year contract.....only to then keep him firmly on the sidelines.

I got that part wrong, not in isolation I'd say, plus I only stated it as a view NOT a fact.
I am surprised though since if McD didn't have faith in Hood against Cas, it's hard to imagine that this week's game will offer greater opportunities to blood Hood.
We'll know by about 21.50 on Friday.

McShane's face does fit, James Lowes told me last year that they rate him very highly, including McDermott in that.

It's just obviously the case that they want to fit Burrow in somehow, and they want to take a look at Liam Hood (whom in my own opinion is better than McShane). You can't have McShane, Hood, and Burrow in the same squad, that simply would not work.

All banter and joking aside I am as confused as you. Logically McShane should have been selected considering his performance against Manly and in the u-20's last week.

Maybe McDermott was convinced enough by Hood's brief cameo appearance to give him more game time this week. Otherwise it is incontrovertibly illogical.

Why would it not work ?

Is Burrow, McShane and Hood a worse option than Burrow, Diskin and Buderus if not Long, Cunningham and Roby ?



Get all 3 on I say........and Sinfield to LF will allow that of course.

If McGuire or Sinfield were injured we'd probably have them all in the same squad, with Burrow at half and McShane/Hood 9/14. Seems McShane's role is first reserve to McGuire/Sinfield/Burrow.

I just hope, if he is rated highly, that he doesn't turn into another Jimmy Lowes, fed up and pushed out at Headingley and coming back to destroy us.

Like you say I don't think that would work with sinfield at 6 which is clearly where he is seen playing at the moment.
I think mcshane was unlucky at not keeping his place, he strikes me as a good player and hopefully he and hood have a good future at the club. I just hope if hood is selected then he is given more of a run out than 6 minutes

Buderus & Diskin were both excellent defenders in the middle of the park. Sinfield was defending in the middle also, and was also excellent. That is not the case now. Hood is comepletely untried at this level. McShane's defence has been questionable, and Burrow can only really defend out wide. Having all three in the match squad with Sinny & Danny at half back makes us too lightweight IMO

You could be right. Concern over defence might well be more logical to understand

However there may also be an angle of too many cooks spoiling the broth. I remember when Diskin came back from injury in 2005, we would play periods of the game with Burrow, Sinfield, McGuire, Duneman and Diskin all on the pitch at the same time. This is not really that different. I remember at the time thoughts being that there were too many chiefs, not enough indians

That was 2005 this is 2012 and the way the game is played as changed. Most teams prefer to have a bigger more robust player a loose forward these days.
Sir Kev has said that he struggles physically when he plays as a modern day loose forward.
Therefore current form and in my veiw ability it as to be,

Sir Kev - SO
McGuire - SH
Burrow - H
Ablett - LF
McShane/Hood - Interchange

With McShane and Hood it's a toss of a coin for me at the moment, however given time I think it will be Hood who will win that battle.

I agree with this. Obviously an injury to one of Sir Kevin, McGuire or Burrow opens up a slot.

Moving Ablett (either if he's injured or covering centre) probably means moving Clarkson into that role IMO.

just seen mcshane training with under 20s at kirkstall when driving past training pitches on way home, punishment for something that has happened? or getting ready for game with 20s as he is out of the first team 19?

Considering he's not in the 19 for the first team it can hardly be described as punishment to train with the team he'll be playing for.

Shirt number should not guarantee anyone a place