Like they have done to Ward, he was a talented ball handling pivot, he is now a second row tackling machine - such a waste.

And looks what it's doing to his body. Two serious shoulder I jury's in as many years

As I never tire of saying the balance to the team is all wrong, as you remark ward is a smart footballer and we get him trying to punch holes in the opposition defence. I am worried for the lad, two operations for a young lad is serious .
At the risk of repeating myself some of our problems started when buderus left, we then got Lunt who whilst not as good as buderus was playing well. Unfortunately we let him go,be interesting to see the line up against cas. They will be fancying their chances.
If all goes to plan it could be late July early August before we get a full squad back.

Leeds didn't "let" Shaun Lunt go anywhere.

Lunt was contracted to Huddersfield and allowed to go out on loan because Nathan Brown is an idiot.

In order to sign him, Leeds would have had to pay a significant transfer fee given he still had plenty of time left on his Huddersfield contract and Anderson wanted him back as his starting hooker.

A blessing in disguise although I hate to say it!! He was awful and has been or some time now, the problem is as someone has already stated is the Coach who will move Burrow there which at least gets him the hell away from 9!!

Wishing Danny a speedy recovery, hate to see players get seriously injured whoever they play for. (Hull fan) and good luck for the rest of the season, I still wouldn't be surprised to see you lifting the trophy come the end of the season

Hoping for a quick recovery for Danny and he's back on the pitch soon. We all watch RL for the great players and Danny is one of them.

Its those rugby league gods again, obviously.

Nice one Phil

I seem to remember a London fan warning us that McDermott would fill his team with second rowers. So much so he's converting play-makers to the position.

A terrible shame for Danny. His pace appeared to have gone before this and I hope he can bounce back.

I'm certain I'll be in a minority but I think it's no bad thing for Burrow to slot in at 7. In fact, it may be a positive. We went from one of the fastest half back pairings in the league (Burrow and McGuire at his peak) to one of the slowest (Sinfield and McGuire now) and we've lost some sazzle as a result.

Hope it's not a bad break and he's back before the end of the season. A fit and on form McGuire are crucial if we are to win the GF.
Regarding the blooding of youngsters, we have a good track record and the coach gets unfair criticism IMO. Ward could turn out to be a great 6 but he has been given time to settle into the team without that responsibility of playmaker. Someone on here made the excellent point that when Sinfield was starting out he was given a similar role. He could have picked up shoulder injuries in whichever position he was playing. Watkins seems to have had his share of injuries already despite playing centre/wing most of his short career.

As for throwing young lads straight into the halves.....note Saints, Lomax is now at FB and Gaskell playing centre at Salford.

And Tomkins is playing fullback at Wigan. Gosh, I bet they wish they had never given him a go at half back too.

Yeah hopefully Stevie Ward will be starting FB by 2014!

That's yours and more importantly England's problem, Sinfield seems to be currently seem as untouchable at stand off where as there's many other players more suited/capable of playing that position, not only in the Leeds team but thorought Superleague!!!

Sinfield should be playing Loose Forward his best position by a country mile, you should have a specialist half back at 6 and if he us one of the youngsters then so be it.

As much as I cannot stand McGuire for his petulance, we in RL are a family so wish him a speedy recovery.

Cheers.
Whilst many will point to the fact we have won a zillion GF`s with Sinfield at SO.
I can not for the life of me see it as his best position.
Surely you need a bit of pace to play there or am I out of touch?
I think he needs to stay in the team but not at SO.
Burrow maybe should get a bench spot but at the moment is killing our attack at hooker.
I am also a big fan of Hall but at the moment he is missing tackles cant break a tackle and has not even scored many tries from 10 yards out like he has done in the past

Where Sinfield/Sutcliffe are listed on the teamsheet is irrelevant, it's how they are expected to play.

Sinfield will not play as a ball-carrying loose forward, and neither will he defend in the middle of the field. Hence Sutcliffe, whose game is suited to neither of those, is being used in that way despite being much better suited to operating as a pivot.

True. You have to bear in mind that whatever the team sheet says, whether Sinfield is at loose or SO, he's playing the same role.
The more tangible change was that the tactics went from pivots at 6,7 and 13 to pivots at 6, 7 and 1. Sometimes it's 6, 7,13 and 1. Sinfield plays the same role in attack as always anyway.

The question would be can any coach be able to say, "Kev, we want you to do this - defend in the middle because you haven't got the pace to cover out wide, fill in at 9 while we spell our hooker and on attack carry the ball and use your offload game and kick our goals. And, we'll spell you as well so you won't play the full 80 - you haven't got the gas for it anymore. We want to look at other options at 6 and use another playmaker".

He was excellent as an offloading 13, he defended superbly up the middle as he was tireless and smart - always reading the attack beautifully. You can't go back in time, but I believe if a coach with big b""lls came along and was brave enough to spell him he could play like that again for 60 minutes every week. Then we could get some speed in the halves again and look to develop the next generation of pivot players while extending Kev's career for the foreseeable future.

Finally someone has said it!!! I have been alluding to this for a while but dare not say it outright as I am not a seasoned threader and feared I would be hung outside the town hall if I dare mention utilising our captain in his strongest position and not the one he plays in for in internationals .
Your right though McDermott will not do this they are too close . Makes you wonder who wears the trousers

Bad injury hope he recovers quickly.

Sinfield will never go back to 13 with this Coach in charge, shocking, spineless, predictable and tactically inept.

And one of the most successful coaches we've had.

You're an absolute plank.

The dust hasn't settled on McGuires injury and the usual knee jerkers have destined McGuire for the scrap heap.

Classic.

Welcome to Southstander.

Beware of twitchy knees, ringpeices and bottom lips.