What is your opinion regarding the chances of a fully fit Danny Buderus ever being dropped by Brian McClennan?.

Slim to none - his performances this season don't justify his selection mind you

Agree entirely

Agreed.

IMO he's been a disappointment overall and he will have to go some for the remainder of his short Leeds career to make that ground up.

It is a shame but it was a gamble that doesn't appear to have worked - this simply looks a year too far - even his tackling is poor

Hate to say I told you so, but I did. He was obviously coming for the wrong reasons and when he got that injury Leeds should have looked for any excuse to mutually agree for it to not happen. Buderus and Diskin clearly wasn't going to be a dangerous partnership and I think you would have been better spending the money on a prop.

We carried him last year and still managed to top the table and win the GF, again, so whilst he has personally been a bit of a disappointment there's no need to uis to be too upset.

No, of course there isn't. But being better than we are doesn't mean you can't make mistakes.

Absolutely.

If a signing doesn't pan out in the way you had hoped it doesn't necessarily mean it was a mistake either.

He's still only 6 weeks into his comback from a bad injury, give him time, he's too good a player not to have a positive impact on the team at some point.

The point is, as ex-Aus captain and playing in one of the most important positions on the field (in the NRL you can ignore 13 as a playmaker as nobody uses loose forwards that way) along with 1, 6 and 7, he ought to be capable of making the team as a whole play a lot better with him than without him.

Personally I've seen no sign at all of that level of performance from him. Rather what seems to happen is that Leeds revert to a slightly different style when Diskin plays, which has been successful in 4 GFs.

That may seem harsh to some, but if we are to sign international players from Aus, I expect them to make a big difference to the side. Otherwise we may as well have signed an average NRL hooker if we needed cover for Diskin.

Are you still in Brisbane?

The basic problem remains, that the two hooker's games don't exactly compliment each other. Has Buderus ever been used in this way in his career and the same can be asked of Diskin also?

Leeds' ability to identify a problem area and then make a signing that doesn't offer a solution is well founded.

The point is tvoc, that given Buderus' track record and pedigree, his performances on the field ought to make the idea of bothering with Diskin on the bench to be a complete nonsense.

are we still on about this
we have two hookers in the 17
woopy f*ckin doo
move on

We should never have signed him. Waste of money, waste of space and now we are carrying a 2nd hooker when othere areas of the squad are weak. Top work by the management.

Just wondering how easy it is to watch Leeds from Brisbane, that's all. I live just a 100 miles from Headingley and I know how difficult that is sometimes.



Try telling that to the coach and CEO. As I said Leeds have a history of identifying a problem area and making signings that don't address the issue.

Leeds need a quality coach - they give the job to an old boy with little experience
Leeds need a right centre - they sign a left one
Leeds need a right winger - they sign a left one
Leeds need a rotation prop - they sign a back rower
Leeds need an impact hooker - they sign an 80 minute one

Of course some other decisions taken make complete sense.

Its a wonder that such a Mickey Mouse management team managed to win us 3 titles in a row, and 4 in 6 years

Which of course I never came close to suggesting.

Do you think every decision they make is correct?

No Challenge Cup win this millenium is a poor return for a club with such a proud history in the competition. Considering this is a 'golden era' for the club that is unlikely to be repeated for a while that's an opportunity missed.

At Leeds it's usually around a thirty year wait for a great set of players to come along together.

Of course there have been plenty of poor decisions. But as they say hindsight is 20-20.

Challenge cup is a bit of a bug bear of mine, but I wouldn't swap one of the 4 titles for it.

Overall you can't question what Leeds have done over the last 5 or so years. There have been some odd decisions though (see tvocs list although other smay disagree with some of them), and signing Buderus is one. I just wonder what exactly the thinking was. Looking at the squad, you could have made an argument for signing a backup or impact hooker. I've just never seen the sense in signing a second 60-80 minute hooker.

leicester_rhino - We don't have a mickey mouse management team but if they make the same mistake they did in 2000 then it is unforgivable. At the moment it looks like they have.

I imagine the rationale is that we need a second hooker. Lets get the best one we can.

I'd have thought that is a naive approach, and this management more than any other would have appreciated that a team is more than the sum of its parts, and having the best parts doesn't always make the best team

What are the right reasons for moving half way around the world to play in an inferior league in sunny old northern England?

To have the opportunity to play in the most prestigious RL Cup competition in the world. Perchance to dream of being able to play in the final at Wembley.

Why anyone would then decide to sign for Leeds escapes me though.