Senior is focused on 300/400 games - he can only achieve this through playing every week - in Senior's world he plays the player he mentors watches!!

Signing him again is madness

I'm just saying I think he has abit more in the tank and to be fair, the whole team were playing Cr@p at the point he was been slated on here.

He may not be the ideal option but I would suggest 'madness' is a bit strong.

Madness would be playing SR Forwards as Centres to be out-classed most weeks.

In the absense of a suitable replacement or the same past or present ability, he is a sane option.

He was being out classed most weeks - he will be slower than he was following his injury - signing him again is crazy

We have better options in Hardaker, Smith or Ablett

If other sides saw some potential in him he would now have another deal following the Crusaders debarcle - the fact he hasn't speaks volumes

You mean like Wigan!!

J. Tomkins and G. Carmont?

J. Tomkins might have 12 on his Back but has made the move to Centre due to his Pace and Power and G. Carmont was always a Centre iirc.

Joel Tomkins is as much a centre as Carl Ablett!! or as much a centre as Delanney is a SR forward.

I think most people would agree with you. Any idea if GH thinks the same and who is available?

Funny thing is that if the club had re-signed senior before it had been mentioned on here there would have been uproar! Fans, how very fickle.

You are of course correct that fans are fickle.

However, you also need to deal with the cards as they are dealt. Re-signing Senior a few months ago may well have been seen as stagnating. But then, a few months ago we were all skipping through the fields blissfully unaware that as we approach the end of the season we would have lost Cross and Burgess (not many tears shed) and only signed .... drum roll please ....... Richard Moore.

The facts as they currently appear are that we will not be signing some great new centre. If that is the case then Senior offers us an alternative, an option and options are good.

You only need to offer him 1 year so GH can get back out looking. He knows the club, the players, the systems.

Of course, if GH has some great signing up his wizards sleeve then thats great. But right now it doesn't look like he has.

Had to laugh at Seniors tweet this morning


"received a parcel from Gary H. Note said it's my cup final suit for Saturday. Opened it. F*****g Ronnie the Rhino outfit"

I don't have Senior's career stats but he played 365 total at Leeds plus 92 SL games for Sheffield. So that's 457 + pre SL Era at Sheffield + Challenge Cup games with Sheffield (in excess of 50 combined?) + Internationals (in excess of 40?)

That would place him around the 550 mark in his 1st grade career so if he has a target in mind it will likely as not be 600.

Otherwise I agree, I don't see Senior willing to return in a mentoring role at least not until he has reached his target/retired from playing.

Has he said he has a target? Can you point me to said article?

Yes I believe he has.

No I can't point you to said article at this moment.

Do you wish to state that he categorically hasn't? That could motivate me to find it for you.

[urlhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyleague/article-1353632/Engage-Super-League-2011-Keith-Senior-gets-hobby-horse-charges-600-match-mark-Rhinos.html[/url

Thanks for that Tony, saved me the effort.



Is that a euphemism?

Spot on you handsome young man.

Ablett and Tomkins, J having put in some top quality displays in the centre position.

Why pigeon hole players? They're playing centre, they're playing well, therefore, for now, they're centres.

Something folk on here seem to have difficulty with in general.

See also the discussions over Sinfield not being a stand-off and McGuire not a scrum-half. Has where they are named on the team sheet radically altered the role they have been expected to play in the side (other than Sinfield defending a couple of spots wider)?

The game is very different now to twenty and thirty years ago. Players are very interchangeable.

In the 80s wingers were skinny and fast, forwards were big and slow and the really fat, big slow ones were props the others were second rowers.

Full time professionalism and the aping of Australian tactics has meant Rugby League players is far less specialised than in the past.

Whether that is a good or bad thing is another discussion.

This is true.

I think it's more important that certain roles are filled, and there are still variations in the physical attributes needed to fill them.

For instance, the need for a number of players who can lump the ball up the field in an uncomplicated way persists. You need these because this is where platforms are laid, and the slower, more predictable way in which this is done is efficient and actually allows a stable platform to launch a move from. This requires a solid build which withstands repeated contact and easily builds forward momentum. In the past there was more fat than you see now, but the need for big units persists.

Similarly there is still a need for players who are fleet of foot and coordinated. These don't have to be smaller and more slender, but finding those traits in a big unit is more rare. So slighter, more wick players are still found.

Where these people pack down and appear in the defensive line is more blurred, but the roles still exist.

Quite why scrum halves are still always under 5'8" is a bit of a mystery...

Right ...Kirke shall henceforth be called a prop and Burrow a hooker.



So as not to be "pigeon holed" what would you refer to a player's position as when he consistently starts on the bench ?

Erm, no they won't, because that is pigeon holing them.

Kirke is a player who has played 2nd row earlier in his career but this season has exclusively played prop. His coach considers him a prop and he plays prop. Ergo, he's a prop.

Burrow is a fantastic scrum half who can also do a good job spending time at dummy half.


You're struggling with this concept aren't you? I wouldn't pigeon hole them as anything. They will play a position within games. They may play a couple of positions.