Agree 100%. Against Wigan we only looked to have one fit forward in Ablett. He was the only one who looked like he could possibly apply some pressure and grit to the Wigan pack. Add Watkins and McGuire playing with a leg a piece and we were doomed. That is the problem with McDermott, its his strongest possible 17 every week. By Strongest its not fitness, its surname. This year more than ever we will need squad rotation to be anywhere near Old Trafford or Wembley, hopefully McDermott has leant some lessons.

I wasn't debating McDermotts selection policy, just that playing with broken ribs is a totally different proposition to playing with an ankle thats hanging off

But I was. Look at page 1.

I think the point is that Kirke was asked to play by his coach and went out and played in what would have been considerable pain - on top of the usual pain involved with playing a game like RL at the top level. Those of us who have played and played with rib injuries will be well aware of what it feels like.
Somehow that's still been used as an opportunity to have a dig at him.

I can't see many digs at Ian Kirke. Maybe another chap though perhaps.

Not correct, Ian Kirke is just a pawn in the argument. The issue is to do with the knobjockey who selected him with broken ribs, as opposed to a better player in the stands without broken ribs.

It has been repeated several times and by several different posters.

You've certainly repeated it several times I'll give you that.

A pity the coach didn't watch the final league game of the Regular season at Wigan where Singleton had arguably his best game yet in a Leeds shirt before relegated to a bit part then no part during the Play-Off series - unless he was even more injured than the rest of the pack.

True, I was just pointing out that a rib injury is less fundamental to your ability to play the game than an ankle injury.

I agree with the original point that people with proper injuries should not take the field. To ask the player to do that is reckless. For example a broken rib could end up puncturing a lung if hit again. Also, wasn't Chev Walkers broken leg as a result of playing with a hairline fracture for a number of games

Kirke was in pretty decent form at the end of the season. If anyone was injured who didn't perform, it was JJB and Delaney. Singleton was bieng kept out by those two

Hush with your voice of reason. You know better.

And still doesn't change the point I made. One person still made a silly decision.

Singleton was one of the better forwards when he played last season. Him being dropped was a mystery. He would have been more effective than several members of our pack that night at Wigan

What actually happened IIRC was that Singleton had taken Bailey's spot in the team at Wigan in round 27 after the latter was banned for tangling with a winger in one of the least disciplined acts of the season - and that's probably saying something in his case.

Bailey returned from his one match ban and Singleton was dropped to the bench for the Warrington game and given the usual limited opportunity from there, then out of the team altogether for the final two play-off games.

The coach sent out a message there - I believe it was the wrong message though and would rather see good form and good discipline rewarded.

Kirke claims it's his 8th and 9th ribs that are the problem. There's very little muscle attached to these and they're too low down to puncture a lung. Credit to him for stepping up when asked despite being in some discomfort. It's clear that with painkillers he was capable of playing to his peak so I'd be inclined to give McDermott the benefit on this one.

Raises serious questions about the decision making of the coaching staff, especially after JJB-Gate in the playoffs.

No doubt Jamie Peacock would be sent into battle for the full 80......on his death bed........for a run of the mill game.......against london........at home..........with a position in the league already secure.

That's our Brian!

I think he probably did watch it.

You're probably right in the sense that he was present and his eyes were open.

I Still found the under use of Singleton in the play-offs a bit baffling given the quality of his performance at Wigan in Round 27 while other arguably undeserving/ill-disciplined/just plain crocked were given the opportunity in his place.

You can have endless debates and deliberations over statistics and merits of individuals if anybody is that way inclined



BUT this IS the most pertinent point.

The incumbent coach treats his team like fellow grunts in the field of battle: he prefers to be in the thick of it with those he has known the longest rather than making an impartial, detached decision as to who might be better placed to fulfill a role.

Wow. A coach who picks the players he thinks he can trust most to do a job for him.

It'll never catch on.

No it won't. Main reason that other coaches do what's best for the side and club, rather than what's best for him. Not surprising though that it would be you daft enough to come out with that.

And when one of the players (if not the actual player this mostly applies to in this particular situation) is an ill-disciplined sort that IIRC you would happily have dispensed with already you must be delighted with the coaches decision to ignore form and stick with his favourites?

Not that you've always backed the coaches call on his big men - this from early 2009 -



How right you were - he's robbed a living ever since.

I have said it before and will say it again. Look at Gilders posts, he contradicts himself so many times in his patronising arrogant manner. His views all depend on which way the wind blows, and which way posters are leaning towards.

This was not the a Gilder of previous. It's like someone else posts as him for last couple of years.

There was also the post tvoc, when Peacock got his extended contract in 2011 which he completely poo pood, telling everyone that Peacock was finished. Now the new Gilder as the nerve to have a go at posters who criticize long deals for lesser players of aged status.

Every coach, good or bad, makes decisions because they think they're the right decisions.

The successful coaches get most of those decisions right.

IMO, McDermott's decision to play an injured Kirke (leaving aside the merits of a fully fit Kirke) over a young, fit and on form Singleton was the wrong decision, whether McDermott thought it right or not.

Do you have an opinion on whether he got it right?

You mean since Peacock took himself out of the representative arena, extending his off season and rest time and thereby prolonging his club career?

Had he not done so, I'll stand by my opinion. He would have been done and dusted by now with his boots up on a shelf.