Couldn't agree more tad, Scotty was moved to the right in order to stabilise our defense on that side of the field, IMO this was due to the fact that since Toopi was injured we havn't had, or would likely to have a regular right on a regular basis each week, Scotty has done well in this regard although his attack has not been as potent this season so far, although i thought that he finished his try last night very well indeed.



IMO the Rhinos are a weaker side when both Buderus and Diskin are in the 17 together. I would never knock Diskin, but the sad fact is that we are a far better side IMO when Buderus plays the full 80 minutes.
If we made the GF this season would Bluey put both in the 17 man squad?

McGuire was again very good on saturday, just as he was the previous week doing exactly the same job for England, his all round game skills have come on this past 2 seasons without doubt, he is a far more rounded team player as opposed to the try poacher that he was renouned for a few seasons ago



Burgess is a young kid who's learning each week, he has had a few mistake ridden games admitedly, but IMO this kid has the ability to be a fantastic player for the Rhinos for years to come.
I'm not as concerned by Burgess' handling errors as i believe that this can easily be rectified, I'm far more concerned by his lateral defensive movement.
He can hit em big style when they run straight at him but he does regularly miss tackles when opposing players run the angles at him.



Certainly is mate

Sinfield is better at 13 than at 6 that's not my point, my point is why do you and others think the side would be better if the mid field triangle of Burrow,McGuire and Sinfield was broken up?
BTW I think you can add Sinfield's name to that list.

McGuire is IMO having his best season since 2004. He's still yet to have a really bad one, he's good for 15-20 tries per season even when he's been injured for half of it.

He is improving his game all the time which is hard at this level. Granted he has other people to organise for him and teams know what he's about but he still finds his way to the whitewash. For me he needs to improve his passing, his brain farts and step in to run the show when the other generals aren't playing well or absent.

What do you think his biggest weakness is?

Take McGuire out of the Leeds side (i.e. for England against good opposition) and you can see exactly what his strengths and weaknesses are. On the plus side he's excellent on his feet, pretty quick, good support play, can read the game and has a better pass and short kicking game than a lot of people give him credit for.

OTOH his long kicking game's not up to much, his defence is not great (again not as bad as some suggest but could do better IMO), because he looks to run virtually every time he gets the ball he is not as good at setting up plays as he could be (i.e. not consistent enough) and he also makes some dumb plays under pressure. I also think that being one of three (or four or five) playmakers at Leeds has probably cramped his decision-making and organising development a bit (compare to Myler at Salford who has to do it all on his own).

IMO most of the weaknesses above could and would have been ironed out had he been in the NRL, but I'm also glad he's a Leeds player. I also suspect that some of the weaknesses will be forced out of his game as he slows up a bit, as he has to compensate by passing more for example. It will certainly be intersting to see if he can make the full transition to 'ball handler' over the next few years.

You're wrong, it depends on the type of gameplan required to beat the opposition. We wouldn't have won last years GF if we'd continued with Mcguire in the natural standoff role.

Don't let that stand in the way of your hatred of sinfield though.

I don't hate Sinfield I just don't concur with those on here - you included - who think he is great half back and should be playing for GB?

As for the GF the game was one with a few bits of individual brilliance and St Helens' inability to handle the rain not as you are suggesting the Kevin Sinfield show.

I've never said that and I challenge you to find anything I've posted of that nature. I've always said he's an option there in certain situations and maintain that we won last years GF by switching him to play a stand off type role freeing Mcguire up to do what he does best of all.



No. it was the Danny Mcguire show brought about by a clever switch in tactics from McClennan.

Come on Tad, that is just ridiculous.

Donald was as bad as he has been all season. Did you have your eyes shut when he flapped at two high balls? one resulting in a try for Quins, and the other giving us a lucky bounce to avoid conceeding.

The try he scored was handed on a plate, and he nearly made a meal of that by going into touch, when he should have scored with ease.

Sure Hall made a poor mistake, but he made up for it the rest of the game.

What did I miss from Donald that made up for his pathetic mistakes?

On the game, I thought Webb and Buderus were simply superb. We need to get away from this two hooker thing (especially the way we do it). Diskin effects our attacking options massively when he is on the field, leave him off it.

Now that is ridiculous. You are picking up on one of the most difficult aspects of the game. Jumping from stood still against two oncoming attackers.

So you think flapping at high balls in defence and conceeding one try and nearly another still constitutes a very good game?

Didn't Hall have 3 high kicks to deal with in the game? and didn't he take them with ease in the same situation?

I never said he had a very good game.



Was he challenged?

The Quinn’s player who had the momentum and the height on Donald and still couldn’t take it, I honestly can't see your problem with Donald on this one, he came in to cover for Smith because of the overlap (the correct decision IMO) and apart from grow 6 inches I don’t see what more he could have done.

[iHanded on a plate, and he nearly made a meal of that[/i

How did he concede a try? If he had not gone for the ball and left the Quinn’s player an unchallenged walk in would that be Smith who had conceded it then?

Regards Hall, No.

TBO, much as I feel that Donald's role in the team should be as water bottle carrier, I wouldn't bag him for that particular Quins try.

It was a beautifully flighted kick and he was in a 2 v 1 scenario, and he did at least get off the ground and attempt to compete. I'd rather give credit to the try scorer on this occasion for a well worked move.

Had we not won that game, and continued like we had started the game. All we would have seen on here is more threads again about how bad Donald was.

Now we have thread stating how well he played. When in fact his performance was no different to what we have seen so far this season.

To you and others it appears, his errors are excusable when we win by a canter. Yet when we lose they are not.

To me, when you make mistakes and dont improve your play, it doesn't matter what the result is. Infact, Donald could have scored a hatrick of tries on Saturday, like the one he scored, and I would have still not excused the pathetic attempts at the two high kicks he did. Had it been one, then yes excusable, but two in a short period is not. He has become the second worst winger in super league when it comes to defendin high kicks.

That's not really a counter argument to my post just another chance to call Donald pathetic, thankfully professional coach's can tell the difference between form and class.

Donald was improved but not 'very good' as some people have suggested. The try he scored should have been taken much more comfortably. It's so blatant he doesn't like finishing in that corner. Last season he squeezed himself in to some impossible spaces in the left corner, and never looked like not scoring.
His workrate was better on saturday, and I don't think he can be blamed for the try, but I don't think we'll see much more of an improvement from him whilst he's playing on this side. Does Bluey dare swap the wingers over though? Hall was (one shocking read in defence apart) very good again.

Massive overreaction if you ask me

Well I dissagree with you. I still think you would have been one of the ones critisizing the player had we lost.

Anyway, regardless of that had a thread not been started praising a player without justification, I wouldn't have even commented on critisizing a player. Whom whilst still the worst of the side on Saturday did put in a bad game, other than the poor attempts at high kicks I mentioned.

Whilst we are giving thoughts on the game. The player I would critisize the most would be JJB. Not because he had a bad game overall, he was all action, but because I thought he was incredibly lucky. We talk quite often on here about the amount of penalties we conceed. This lad is incredibly lucky not to get penalised a lot more often. He is by far the slowest of our players to get off a tackled player, and really pushes the boundaries beyond.

Really? other than Ainscough could you name me another who has struggled as much under the high kicks this season?

This I completely agree with. He's clumsy when getting off the tackled player, often going back for a second snap. I'd say he's our biggest offender in the penalty stakes, and often when he's dominated the tackle to the extent he doesn't need to slow it down at all.

Why? when have I done that before?

It all depends on what games you have seen I guess. Personally I think that Meli is poorer under the high ball. No others spring to mind, but then again nor did Donald.

Donald had made 17 errors this season before Harlequins. Meli has made 8 errors.

I am not wanting to continue with putting down Donald, his performances do that alone. But how can his not spring to mind to you, if you are watching Leeds. Fans are clutching their butt cheeks everytime a kick is put up to him.