Agree....for god's sake it was a huge bonus for me. JJB is a bit of a character and no worse than listening to the inane ramblings of the Sky duo. (It seems Mitch Achurch is well liked by the group too)

As others have also said, Mitch Garbutt surely staked a claim for a starting position. Maybe it should be Galloway on the bench against Warrington (Singleton and Garbutt props with Cuthbertson at LF)

I'm sure the camp is an important part of the build up to the season. But additionally I think that Leeds are helping to promote RL in the US. By giving the American National Team a game, even though one where they were outclassed, it provides a build up for their world cup qualification campaign and publicity, how ever limited.

I nearly wet myself at some of the dits.
"Lean Kebab" "Stig" but the jewel in the crown had to be "Abbo and Rib Burrow - best mates. Taking advantage of Groupon vouchers for a spa at Oulton Hall

It was the "Burrow is a goblin because he's small and evil" comment that had me laughing.

"They say the two things on you that never stop growing are your nose and your ears.....can you imagine Rob when he's 80! You could pick him up and use his nose to plough your garden"

"Stevie Ward has taken over the 13 shirt, one of the conditions of wearing that number is that he has to be my mate"

Watched the highlights which may not be fully reflective of the game but:
I was impressed by Falloon who seemed to support a lot of the breaks down the middle and looked to step in and offer a makeshift halfback option on occasion which is a useful option.
Also looked like hardaker, Watkins and Briscoe combined well down the right. I felt at times last year we could have given the ball earlier and more often to Watkins so hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

Agree with that. More early ball to best talent Watkins more often has to be good news. Hoping that signing of ferres and when all fit greater 2nd row depth will help Watkins and moon on attack. Watkins was having to do a 2nd row's tackling stint at end of long season which I think then impacted on his test form. He was knackered.

He was having to do a second row's tackling stint because Leeds were trying to hide Sinfield, McGuire and Burrow for 80 minutes.

So instead of defending two in from the wing where your centre normally would be, he was 3 in for most of the business end of the season and making 20+ tackles a game.

Hopefully Falloon can play big minutes and enable Watkins to defend a little wider. All part of the downside of having Burrow in your 17 unfortunately, he can't defend in the middle of the field so one of your centres has to move further in to cover.

Just watched the highlights from a "proper" camera rather than the ones streamed on iPad.

Not a lot to take from it given the standard of opposition, but one bit of classic Achurch for his try.

USA kick downfield. Achurch makes absolutely no effort to get himself back in position to take some carries, instead just hanging around on their 40m line. Handley makes the break on the kick return, and Achurch is then in perfect position to stroll in under the posts unopposed having been rewarded for his laziness.

Achurch has said he hopes to stay at the club beyond this year especially as he has just opened a new business.Wakey or Cas ,Hull KR maybe even Hull his next club

If it was truely Classic Achurch then he'd have injured himself putting the ball to ground.

Even in winning a pre season friendly by 70 points some people go straight to whatever negative can be found. Excellent work by that man....

Agree having a tackling 9 makes a big difference and that we have sought to hide burrow and expect we will do again. I still think what he gives you is more than worth it. The loss of Ailton was more keenly felt and impact on Watkins greater because we in effect were either doing the 16 man routine or playing a sub for 5 - 10 mins and kylie could only play short mins. Hope and expect this year to see subs playing more mins and the work spread around more which will need to include the loss of peacock's huge contribution.

Having Burrow on the bench and playing a certain amount of minutes is fine even if it means a centre having to do more tackles for a 30 mins spell in a game especially if we alternate which side of the pitch Burrow joins.

Problem is if he does it for 80 mins on a regular basis. Yes we still won in the last 3 weeks and Burrow played well, that however doesn't mean we didn't miss the presence of a proper 9.....especially defensively which a lot on here don't even consider and only think of selection in terms of what players offer in attack.

Yes, exactly that. That's exactly what I did, without my tongue being remotely anywhere near my cheek in the slightest.

Thank you for pointing it out though, your contribution is - as ever - invaluable.

from when Aiton was injured last year, in the games Burrow played, we conceded 18pts, 22pts, 0pts, 16pts, 13pts and 20pts, that was against the team that finished 2nd, 8th, the CC final, 3rd, 4th, and 2nd again in the GF

Those sides included the highest tackling player in SL at hooker in Houghton, the 2nd highest tackling player in SL at hooker in Roby, the 24th and 28th highest tackling players interchanging in Milner and McShane and apparently brilliant defensive Hooker Mike McIlorum.

Yeah the first three of those he was sub - starting HB - sub so kinda misses the point on those games. The final three we came through but it took a massive effort from Ward (Hudds) and Watkins (the semi and GF) to pick up the slack that you get from around 30 less tackles difference between Aiton and Burrow. Ok for the final three games, try do that for longer and it's asking too much IMO, the dam almost broke in the middle in the GF 2nd half and we were fortunate that Wigan as usual under-utilised their props in attack (only 8 carries each from their starters in the GF which is criminal given our situation of fatigue) and opted for 2 points instead of running it which probably would've killed us off.

But isn't that exactly the point. Whether named as half or hooker or prop we were still defending covering burrow McGuire and Sinfield and that if slack is created by x player it's only an issue if it cannot be picked up by Y and Z (or a combination of)

The fact is we have been unbelievably successful for over a decade defending with those three players in the defensive line, it's pretty conclusive that it is far easier to cover 30+ tackles a game Burrow can't make than it is to cover the game changing attacking play that Burrow provides.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

How many players have come off the bench in a GF and got mom? I know one for sure.

The defensive weakening caused by trying to hide an extra half-back is fine, providing that extra half-back is providing match-winning contributions with the ball. Don't think anyone would argue that Burrow's match-winning contributions have got fewer and fewer over the last couple of years. At some point the balance is going to tip.

Agreed, but I suspect the club have any number of stats that help them make these decisions and up until now they have got them mostly right. There is nothing to suggest they won't continue to make the right calls and I've no doubt burrow will drop down the pecking order if it's the right thing to do.

It's also not as simple as measuring a player's contribution by just one skill set I.e. tackling.

Definitely agree with that, but I'd say the issue isn't really Burrow's tackling/defence in isolation but rather that it makes us have 3 players we have to cover in defence rather than 2.

If Burrow was coming on for either McGuire or Sutcliffe it wouldn't be an issue because you're just replacing one not great defender with another. But his coming on at hooker definitely weakens us defensively.

Now I'm not advocating getting rid of him, just acknowledging it's a bit of swings and roundabouts with him, and in some games it'll cost us and others it'll benefit us.
I'm also of the opinion the likes of Burrow, McGuire etc have earned the right to go out on their terms and play for as long as they want to (within reason). This is the clubs time to show loyalty to them.

True and they way people go on you'd think Burrow was the only match winner we had in the team. Watkins isn't too shabby and neither are Moon or McGuire and neither was Sinfield all of whom have/had to do more than usual when Burrow was on the field. And whilst Aiton might not fall under the name "match winner" for some because the things he does don't make for fancy highlight reel videos, he had plenty of performances that were integral to many wins in 2015.

That Burrow played less minutes last year (often not coming on until the 2nd half) was clear that even McDermott could see the better balance Aiton gave us who was clearly in our Top 3/5 best players in 2015 before injury.

Because of Sinfield getting 'dropped' (rested in reality) for a few games just before Cup games last year most have forgotten that Burrow was dropped for a couple near the start of the season beforehand. Sinfield was always going to come back into the fold so it would've been interesting if Sutcliffe hadn't gotten injured if Burrow would've even made the 17 as the season went on if Sutcliffe carried on doing well.

Interesting view.

I did not get the impression sinfield was being rested at all. I don't disagree that there was always a view that he would come into the side at pivotal moments/games but I read it as his 'first name on the teamsheet' days were numbered.

To me there was definitely a changing of the guard happening with sutty and we're it not for his injury sinfield would have played much less.

The cynical side of me also thinks sinfield saw this and it iinfluenced decision to move to union.

All somewhat irrelevant now of course.

that balance will tip for any half not just Burrow, nor is it particularly any more pronounced for him than anyone else.

As for his contribution, i couldnt disagree more, People were putting Aiton up for Man of Steel last year, yet when he was injured and Burrow was our only hooker we suffered no drop off, we comfortably beat Hull and Wigan and absolutely destroyed Hull KR, when Burrow was injured we then struggled until his return.

In a treble winning season, Burrow played every important game at the business end and played well,

Burrow's contribution is massively under-rated, not only because of his defensive issues, but also because of his spectacular play outshines the contribution he makes is less obvious ways. His sheer presence creates space, he makes defences nervous and makes them make poor decisions.