I'm very bored of people coming on here telling us how they won't be going anymore because the regular season performances aren't good enough. If people don't want to go anymore then just go it and stop coming on here threatening to do it acting like you're making a stand against some shocking injustice and you've seen the light and others should follow. And the whole rip off of money, lets face it £15.50 a game if you have a ST isn't exactly bank busting, yet people go on about value for money as if they're forking out £100 a game.

I'm very bored of people telling other people what they can and cannot post on a rugby league message board. Particularly when they're posting about attending or not attending rugby league matches.

If you're bored with reading those posts, don't read them and, even better, don't reply to them.

To be fair G Sinfield has said on numerous occasions his favoured position is 6 now im not gonna dig up old interviews but i do know he's stated that as his preference many times.

[I wouldn't swap finals and trophies for consistent league performance,
El D i dont think anyone would but from my own pov playing sh## mid season doesnt mean we'll always come good in August/September i just had the opinion we could and should have been better in those games win lose or draw.

A player stating his favoured position is a million miles from what TVOC claims is happening.

Fair do's!

Didn't TELL anyone they couldn't write about something, but perhaps instead of saying it on here clearly looking for others approval they should write a letter to GH explaining why if they really want to highlight why they won't be attending until things improve. I also find it laughable when people compare their 'effort' of turning up to a game and watching to the effort of players who actually go out and put their bodies on the line every week. It's a bit hard to ignore them when so many threads are allowed to drift into the same subject time and again.

It's a Rhinos message board. Someone posts their views about Rhinos matches, positive or otherwise.

It's exactly what the message board exists for.

Back in the day, they could have thrown their season tickets at Alf davies from the Paddock. Now, we have Southstander.

Reported as IIRC a directly attributable comment by Noble - speech marks and all that grammar type gubbins wraped around it for good measure. I can't say for certain but there is a reasonable possibility that the comments were featured in a YEP article sometime after the Grand Final, so - October 2004. It's also likely I read the comments via the YEP website at that time. Unfortunately I didn't keep a record of and can't recall the URL address (I think it started http but it's only vague after that) and much as I obviously should have I didn't anticipate having this discussion eight years later. D'oh.



Doesn't mean it didn't happen. You might not recall eating several doughnuts last night but it doesn't neccesarily mean it didn't happen although on this occassion it's possible that it didn't either.

You've posted a link to some words from Noble in the Guardian and then to some more on the BBC. Is it not conceivable that they fell short of a verbatim report of what was said on each occasion or perhaps they were from the same occasion ? I'm afraid I haven't bothered checking - I'm happy to accept your word that they don't include the sentiments I've alluded to. Is it possible though that a YEP reporter with more space to fill than either of your sources could have incorporated more of the noise coming out of the National coach and that those noises may have included a reference to Sinfield expressing a preference and Noble seeing him outside the numbers available to him ?



Interpretating comments is what we do on here every day. As you've so far tried to turn up the article and failed my guess is you'd like to see the text so that you can add your own interpretation?

Try the YEP sometime October 2004 - as you've said already there would be a trace.



Perhaps I should but then people might not be as informed as they otherwise could be. What they do with the information and/or opinions is entirely a matter for them of course.

I'm recalling comments made without reference material from eight years ago. Which comments do you believe were not or at least unlikely to have been said?

I will be renewing my season ticket again this year.
I want to guarantee that I retain my favoured seat in the Carnegie Stand.
That is less important for season ticket holders in all the standing areas of the ground.
I don't relish seeing the Rhinos underperform but the times that they exceed my normal pessimistic expectation makes the disappointments bearable.
Having lived through the constant underachievement of the 80s & 90s, I can more forgivably accept the occasional loss to Salford, Huddersfield or Wakefield.
Plus this year the cost to me reduces since I'm now in Rhinos terms officially an old giffer.

I've got a vague memory of Noble saying something along the lines of seeing other players being better than Sinfield in the positions Sinfield plays. I don't recall anything about Noble's view also including any comment about Sinfield limiting himself or even expressing a preference for a particular position.

Hypocrite

One thing that can't be denied is that Noble didn't like Leeds during that period. In fact, for didn't like, read hate! JP alludes to it in his auto biography. That Leeds could only manage 1 player in the starting 13 for the 2004 tri-nations fixtures also backs this up, bearing in mind Leeds were beyond any doubt the best team in SL.

The form of Leeds players was irrelevant to Noble, the face didn't fit.

I'll be blunt.

I believe you have completely made it up.

In fairness you may simply be mistaken. I will state categorically that Noble never made any Comments about Sinfield being excluded because he stated a preference for a set position.

My evidence in support. The complete absence of any link to any such material. Also, the links I have provided where Noble has given his reasons for exclduing Sinfield and they are in no way shape or form like those you have attributed to him.

Like I say to the kids, it's do as I say, not do as I do

I'm guessing that 1 was Senior?
Didn't Walker, McGuire, Ward, Bailey & Diskin also play in that series though? I have a vague recollection of them playing and Diskin doing his knee I think.

Yes, big Keith flew the flag for Leeds, the others had various bench warming roles. The exception being that fateful (& meaningless) match against the kiwi's which started and finished Disko's international career. We had 3 starters in that game with Chev Walker & Danny Ward on the bench

100% agree. I don't think you have to completely swap consistency for being good when it counts. We could have been a good way below our "peak" and still picked up 4-6 more league points, and been a bit closer in some games we have lost.

That said, in defence of the current squad, we're now in our second successive season of playing in every single available competitive round (with the addition of the WCC this year) of every single competition. In 2010 I think the only one we didn't play in was the GF ( or did we get to sit a week of the play-offs out after winning at Piedome?). As a fairly large number of the players have played in the bulk of England's fixtures in that period too, there has to be a toll on the body. How many matches have Sinfield and Hall, for example, played in the last 3 seasons? Versus how many they've missed? We are I think, to a degree, prisoners of our own success.

An extremely valid point. I believe Sinfield played in 42 games during 2011, the GF will be game 38 for 2012. A, frankly, ludicrous number of games for such a tough sport. Given the regular season fixtures are of least importance it's no surprise thats where we fall behind. It's also THE main reason we can't touch the Aussies in my opinion (but that's another story)

Is the same situation happening in reverse? Lots of Leeds players in the squad despite a moderate season (ignoring the play-offs)

Indeed, as much as I would rather not have McNamara as the national coach, he is the only one to give Sinfield an extended run in his preferred position. I assume he sees the big match mentality of the Leeds squad, not their indifferent form

I agree. I think despite people slagging him off he's done a pretty decent job with England

Can't argue with that mate although i do think that could have been handled differently at times with some reasonable squad rotation especially the pack and possibly Sinny had some results gone our way.

McDermott doesn't seem to buy into the rotation idea at all. With McDermott it seems to be all about toughness. We'll be tougher, more intense and play harder. Rotation to give rests doesn't fit in with that. I've heard some scary stuff from London players about what they used to go through. I'm actually surprised our players get water on the pitch


Whilst I don't entirely agree with the approach, you can't argue with results.

I'm not so sure. The only thing that has stood out for me was getting the likes of Reed and Widdop to commit to England, and alongside those two relative successes we've had the likes of Chase and Heighington who have been disappointing.

Otherwise, he's benefited from the availability of better players, especially in the backs, than his predecessors. The likes of Hall, Tomkins, Briscoe, Reed and soon Watkins, Hardaker etc are far superior to the backs available to Smith (Wellens, Gardner, Sykes etc). And despite these better players, not to mention a record number of forwards playing in the NRL, England have shown no sign of being able to live with the Australians or a fully fit NZ team.

As a club coach McNamara did NOTHING to suggest he was anything other than a mediocre coach. His time at the Bulls was littered by records such as the first SL team to lose to Crusaders, and epic capitulations such as Catalans in the CC and Wigan in the play-offs where the Bulls built up seemingly commanding leads. I struggle to see how he motivates the players - his domestic career was pretty average and he hardly comes across on TV as an inspirational coach (e.g. Wane, McDermott) or being particularly canny (e.g. Smith, Maguire).

He's certainly no [iUber[/i coach. Not like tony smith, his former master. Saturday could be Smith's 5th major final win on the trot. In fact the only 2 i can remember him losing are the 2005 finals at leeds. What a coach!