G1 is correct in stating kirke has hung on the coat tails of top class props for many years.i ask all those defending mr kirke,would you be happy with him and for that matter moore being our starting front row when kylie and JP retire? Because to me,that is a scary thought after witnessing their respective efforts over the last few weeks.kirke can only hope JP lasts another 2 years so he can keep pulling the wool over certain short sighted fan's eyes.

Apparently I'm a Kirke lover because I don't think he's the devil incarnate. At the start of the season he was a steady 4th choice prop who was hopefully going to be challenged by Singleton.

That I questioned the theory that Kirke (a prop) was stopping us from giving an academy 2nd Rower more money apparently made me have 'blue & amber glasses' on. He's been given a contract.....Griffin & Lee Smith had contracts and mid-season left recently, that Leeds re-signed him was keeping an option open, it doesn't mean he'll see it through or be starting 17 every week (but with Vickery now out of the scene Kirke is the poster boy for blocking ALL our academy players.)

He is selected every week regardless of others availability, regardless of form, regardless of other players.

The picture you paint is quite different to the real one.

Since somebody else mentioned him....has there been any word/sighting of Vickery since his last appearance?

I saw him eating with Mitch Achurch a couple of weeks back at a Leeds Rugby Foundation fundraising night. Really nice blokes.

It's not though is it. If people noticed he's been on the bench whilst Moore and Singleton have started of late. When Leuluai and Bailey return he could possibly be 6th choice prop. Yet some still seem certain that he'll definitely 'block the path' every single week for the next 2 years.

Kirke is a cog in a GF winning machine.

Go and remove some unspectacular part of your car's engine and see how well that works.

Smith, Webb, Buderus, Lunt, only as examples have all been cogs in GF winning sides. They have been replaced. Did the car fall apart?

I would liken Kirke to a Wheel Trim.Remove it and my Car works just the same as it always did,infact you would never even have known it was there in the first place.

More like the furry dice

More like 7 month old empty starbucks coffee cup and other litter lying in the footwell of my passenger seat.

It's there but really it shouldn't be.

Nope. The mechanic is good.

Was going to post something but then read this and thought, "why bother - tad has said exactly was I was going to say"

no, but they have been replaced to a certain extent. And by that I don't mean that Kirke is irreplaceable, just that he has his role, and he does it well enough to keep being rewarded.

He is a frustrating player, who I think should do a lot more, but I think the problem is that people think that just because he's is a prop he has to do certain pre-defined things, and I think that is far too simplistic.

When Peacock leave I don't think the club see him as a sucessor. I would expect either one of the youngsters to take on that role, or a marquee signing to take that place.

Given the fact that he has consistently been played by not one but, three coaches, you have to conclude that there must be something that we ordinary Joes can't see. I have to confess that, I have in the past and continue to fail to see what that something is.

On a positive note, as others have already suggested, I thought young Foster was a revelation.

Such as carry the ball every now and then and when you decide to do so go forwards and not backwards with it?

Maybe Kirke is a think outside the box type of player and I am just a luddite.

Maybe Kirke's out there to do things that you can't see from your seat?

Maybe he's McDermott's on field assistant and is passing on the coach's advice but by wearing a kit and dressing up as a player he doesn't get sent from the field like a trainer would?

If you hear hoofbeats, think horse not zebra.

Maybe he's just a big pile of steamingly average turd.

maybe he is decidedly average, but if he wasnt he wouldnt be 4/5/6th rotation prop at Leeds, he would be leading the line elsewhere.

maybe not making loads of errors, not being too much of a liability, being a good squad player and a good pro and being steady on the field is the best we can ask for from a 4/5/6 rotation prop on not very high wages.

i'd hazard a guess that if Kirke added running his weight and skittling opposition forwards to his game he would be asking for a lot more money and a lot more game time.

I'd agree with this - and he's happy doing what he does (albeit not a lot) for what we offer him (again, hopefully not a lot).

He is a perfect example of a squad player. Not going to set a game alight, but more than makes up the numbers and doesn't often give away penalties or costly errors. I've just given up expecting him to do much more than run the ball in now and then.... but as Smokey says, that's why he's down the prop roster.

He isn't the 4/5/6 rotation prop though is he? where does this come from?

He has been selected every game where he is fit enough to play, sometimes not fit enough to play. This was even when Peacock, Kylie, Bailey, Moore, Griffin, Singleton were all available to play.

He is 4th choice at least, and even then he usually makes the 17 with four other props.

This particular SL era shall be historically recorded as a truly great one, as evidenced by Ian Kirke's collection of 5 SL rings and Ryan Bailey's collection of half a dozen... with room for several more to yet be collected.

I feel honoured that I was around to witness such greatness.

And, in twenty years, when Kirke and Bailey look back on their careers, they'll reflect wistfully: "I wish I'd have spent more of that period posting third-rate sh it on an internet forum..."

How can you say he isnt 4/5/6 rotation prop then that he is? You arent making sense.

Kirke is behind Peacock, Kylie and Bailey every day of the week. Griffin isnt here, Moore isnt very good and Singleton is very young. If/When Singleton pushes on, Kirke will drop to 5th, if Moore wasnt such a liability he could have knocked Kirke down a spot, if Griffin was half the pro Kirke is he would have knocked him down another.

So he isn't 5th or 6th choice prop that you stated.

You tried to defend his position by making out he is only playing as he is a squad player and we have a lot of injuries. The point is that is not true, and Kirke is in the 17 each week no matter what. His form has not deserved it, and we have players at the club who put in far more, and would be better taking that spot.

That is the issue with Kirke that posters have posted. There really is no defence as to why he is seemingly guaranteed a spot.