Agreed, I think Burgess has played well enough in the last two games to justify his reselection. Set up 2 tries against Quins and another on Sunday.

Hull KR: Briscoe, Fox, Welham, Webster, Colbon, I'Anson, Dobson, Vella, Murrell, Clinton, Newton, Lovegrove, Galea, Watts, Fisher, Wheeldon, Cockayne, Netherton, Hodgson.

I've thought for a while that Ali might be a useful centre "stop gap"

The evidence is clear for all to see, Leeds and Leeds alone, out of the 14 SL clubs, have been singled out by Stuart Cummings and the RFL for unique treatment.

We've already had the alleged Craig Bellamy video meeting and Mick Potter's 'dodgy dossier' with Brian Noble intimating that he may need to do the same to receive a favourable refereeing performance. Worrying times.

I hope McClennan isn't left behind in the race to fill the 'mineshaft gap'.

I do agree that both the Craig Bellamy video and Mick Potter's dossier need investigating and the RFL need to give us some answers and become more transparent in respect of ref'ing issues in particular. When it comes to McClennan getting left behind, I am not sure GH would let that happen!

If Coady plays i would expect it to be at centre for Delaney. Unless Hall is missing aswell and Coady and Bush both play. BM has stated that BJB has not been recalled because he is a Fullback and not a winger. So for him to then select a Centre with no SL experience on the wing would be a contradiction.

Overall I thought he had a good game too. The sin-binning was a good call although Brough did something pretty similar V Leeds at Belle Vue and won possession for his team. Small margins.

I do wish Child would leave (what is fast becoming his trademark) at home though or find a better way to manage the players in that situation. Penalising the team in possession (who invariably have a good case for complaint) always looks wrong and is usually a noticeable momentum changer in the game.



Agreed. As soon as Diskin instinctively laid his hands on the ball carrier he immediately released and the tackled player was completely unaffected. A trigger happy decision if ever there was one.

With this new policy in place I guess they'll be no more:

Selecting a prop at second row
Selecting a centre at full back
Selecting a centre at wing
Selecting a full back at wing

All from this season so far.

I wonder who it was that recently said of Tom Bush: [i"He was our Junior Academy Player of the Year in 2008 when he played predominantly at full back but he played on the wing all last season for the Reserve Academy so he has versatility in his game."[/i

I agree.
Which makes the decision not to recall BJB a strange one. If Watkins or Donald were only missing for 2/3 weeks then it would be understandable to leave him at Quins. But he could easily feature in our 17 for the next 10 weeks, a 1/3 of the season.

Some players adapt well across the threequarter line. Others don't.

BJB looks like a fantastic full back when I've seen him play there. He's looked a very mediocre winger when I've seen him play there. It appears the chap who knows best, McLennan, is in agreement.

You have to wonder why the man who, I agree, 'knows best' played Jones-Bishop on the wing not once but twice over the past two seasons at 1st grade level. If he was so unsuited to the position why did coach McClennan need a second look?

Let's wait and see what Leeds have as an alternative to Jones-Bishop being recalled to play in the position. It's always been a case of using all the players at your disposal. At this particular moment in time I think Jones-Bishop is unlucky to find himself behind (for example) a part-time, versatile full-back with far less SL experience.

Wow. Well there we have it. 2 full games over 2 full seasons. Gosh. Mclennan's comments and actions (or lack thereof) speak volumes. Certainly more so than those two 1st grade games on the win over 2 seasons.

We won't have to wait long. There's a game Friday and BJB isn't on his way back for that.

BJB is not behind Bush at all. He's clearly more integral in Leeds plans by virtue of the fact that he'll be a 1st choice SL full back whereas Bush will likely play most of this season in the reserves. That said, If Bush gets a shot on the wing in the current injury crisis and impresses he'll have done more than BJB did in those vaunted two wing appearances over two seasons you mentioned.

Not necessarily Bjb will be better placed playing the full year at Quinns in his preferred FB role which in turn will benefit us long term.
Watkins is a centre who has played wing and covered Webb at FB short term so it isn't a contradiction to play Coady at wing and gaining 1st team experience for a few weeks rather than interupt the vital experience Bjb is getting playing at FB week in week out.
I'd say it's much more of a "bigger picture" view that our coach is taking plus he'd get to work with Senior and or Delaney and see close up how the Centre position is played at SL level.

I'd rather play the hugely inexperienced Bush and Coady than start pushing forwards into the threequarters. Ablett aside none of our forwards look at all suitable for the backline (except Buderus, who can play halfback).

Sorry - of course forgot Sinfield can play stand off too.

I hope you are saying that after tomorrow night!

Agree with you here, but I wonder if that is just lack of experience and something that will change with more SL ref'ing game time.



I am surprised that it has not been discussed more on here TBH, as I understand it did lead directly to the try on the next set, although you can never blame the ref for the try as Leeds defensive was poor and that is what let them over the line.

We talk much about ref's and often about things like ball-stealing not been seen or them seemingly allowing teams to hold in the tackle longer than we as spectators would like or different for both team, but these things are always going to be subjective and we will always be able to find some faults because of that. However, Silverwood has made three very poor calls (for me and which I know of, not being at Hudds), two in the WCC and the one above (seen on tv) that a ref of his experience and supposed understand of the dynamics of the game should have been different. If I had seen Child, for instance, make these calls I would have said they were wrong, but his lack of experience was the key and you can only get experience through ref'ing leading games. The two at the WCC being the Buderus spear-tackle, which should have seen the Melbourne player in the bin at least and also his failure to sin-bin the Mlebourne player who was pinged for holding us down near their line minutes after Silverwood had issued a warning to the captain for the same issue further up-field. As Jo Frost (Supernanny) knows, you only ever issue one final warning, if not you have lost control of the situation.

I agree totally with your assessment on Diskin, he was heading into the tackle and started to commit himself to that tackle as Grix was brought to the deck by the other Leeds tackler (not sure whom now). He instinctively went and laid hands on the player on the deck and realised that he had to move quick as he was a split second late into that tackle. He sprung up very, very quickly and for me mitigated any possible issue with the unintentional 'half-flop'. Silverwood should have both the experience and understanding of the dynamics of the game to realise that Diskin's move was not intentional or designed to slow the game down in anyway, in fact on realising his error Diskin was up immediately, well before Grix had been released from the tackle by the tacking Leeds player and it had no impact of the quick ptb. However, what Silverwood chose to do was ping Diskin for an offence that was strictly against the rules but had no detrimental impact on the game. This, from a supposedly very, very experienced ref, is a poor call. He should have been praising Diskin on the run for being very professional in correcting his error and not penalising him. I think Senior has a point!

The McClennan quote I've seen is that "Ben Jones-Bishop is primarily a full-back."

I'd imagine he might also say "Kevin Sinfield is primarily a loose forward" but I doubt it would stop him selecting either player elsewhere in the team if they were available and injuries dictated.

I imagine he's playing the long term game with BJB. Let him get plenty of practice, particularly defending one on one's multiple times during a game at quins.

Coady was playing at Doncaster last year. We may have a diamond in the rough but I would hope our management would have better contingencies in place than such desperate gambles.

Well, we can hardly base any meaningful discussion upon what you [iimagine[/i Mclennan might say can we. I am not Gotcha. let's stick to what he actually said.

He's never said any such thing about Sinfield and given the many, many times and big games that Kevin has played in a number of positions for club and country I actually can't imagine him saying that at all.

That some players are more versatile than others is hardly a difficult concept to grasp is it?

Quote ="G1"Well, we can hardly base any meaningful discussion upon what you [iimagine[/i Mclennan might say can we. I am not Gotcha. let's stick to what he actually said. '" And what he actually said is "Ben Jones-Bishop is primarily a full-back." Does that mean he cannot play in other positions? Classic positioning on the left wing. www.pinpointimages.co.uk/WARRING ... rge-9.html

Quote ="G1"Well, we can hardly base any meaningful discussion upon what you [iimagine[/i Mclennan might say can we. I am not Gotcha. let's stick to what he actually said. '" And what he actually said is "Ben Jones-Bishop is primarily a full-back." Does that mean he cannot play in other positions? Classic positioning on the left wing. www.pinpointimages.co.uk/WARRING ... rge-9.html

The backline is going to be even less experienced than we think tomorrow if what I'm told is correct!

I find that hard to believe given how the injury list is looking and the players that got knocks at the weekend.
I wouldn't be surprised to see something like .
Webb,Bush,Senior,Coady,Hall.

Aye kid. Take it you've heard aswell? Very inexperienced.