That's unfair Al, we had this by PM at the time. My view is simply and always has been that Smith is the best back at the club, and that opinion I have held for the last 4 seasons. You even came back to me and said it looks like my view was correct on Smith not that long ago.

Hall had a wonderful year last year, and it was before that that I accepted I might have been a bit critical of the lad, and took it back.

This year however, having praised him whilst doing well, it is only fair to have an opinion that is different if not doing well. Hall had a shocking game on Friday, but he was even worse last week at Wigan. But that is two weeks on the trot, following on from offering no attacking threat whatsoever so far this season.

Does this now make Hall a bad player? no it doesn't, but it does mean he should be further down the pecking order until he rediscovers his form, and whilst peforming like that open to critisism.

I know i agreed with you not too long ago about Smith. I think he has the potential to be a very important player for the club over the next 7/8 years.

I was referring to Hall though.

Whilst he has been caught out of position a bit recently and made a couple of costly handling errors, it is my opinion that he has been no worse than the majority of the team. Mcguire's defence on Nero was shocking, yet no mention of that.

I just think people tend to forget how young Hall is. No matter how well he played last season he is still only in his 3rd full year, second as a definite first choice. He is bound to make mistakes, only experience will help him iron out these errors and therefore i think he should be encouraged and not slammed.

He is one of our genuine threats with ball in hand and is capable of full lenght tries. Quite simply we are not creating chances for him at the moment. When we do i have no doubt he will score the tries and his defence will improve with the confidence gained from that.

Interesting tvoc.

I think i would use last seasons back line
Webb
Donald, Smith, Senior, Hall.

One thing is for certain when all are fit whoever misses out will be putting the pressure on to get back in and that can only be good for the club.

I think a fully fit Delaney (which I don't think we've really seen yet) will prove to be a strong, organised defender and a better winger's centre than Smith. I'd leave Senior and Hall to rediscover their partnership and form (which was Leeds' strength in the outside backs last season) and I think Webb is improving game by game at the moment at the back. That leaves me with a choice between Donald and Smith on the wing and Smith's 100% enthusiasm secures that position.

Coach tvoc could be wrong though.

Coach's dream/nightmare depends which way you look at it.

My choice is based on Donald being a firm first choice who has let no one down during his time at Leeds. I see what you mean about Smith and his 100% nature. I think and i guess there is no proof that Donald is faster accross the open ground which gives him the nod for me.

If Delaney gets himself fit then i guess i would have to take another look. I wonder if it's in preparation for Senior not been around next year? or Donald for that matter.

Don't be altering the criteria you set for the original question now.

Might the return of Smith herald the much predicted move of Senior in to the back-row towards the end of the season ?

I simple don't understand where this notion has come from. Senior once said on a Lions DVD he was taking over Ellis' number at Leeds but apart from that (which I presumed was a joke anyway) why would he wish to make life harder for himself.

Besides which, as it stands contract wise, it's not exactly a weak area within the present squad with Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Ali Lauitiiti, Matt Diskin

, Greg Eastwood, Ian Kirke, Carl Ablett, Jay Pitts already competing for the three/four spots in the full strength 17 this season.

Perhaps there'd be scope in 2011 if Lauitiiti doesn't re-new his contract for Senior to eek out yet another year of his sensational club career.

There are a few things to consider for next year regarding the back 5.

Mainly the fact that Donald is OOC end of the season as is Senior.

Assuming Donald re-signs and gives the possibility of a Donald, Delaney, Smith, Hall with Watkins back from injury and BJB back from Quins, if Senior doesnt retire does the club offer him another deal even though it might not be in the clubs best interests considering the options we have in the pack as well as backs or does the club owe Senior another year?

It's just a situation which may or may not arise that I wondered what people thought. Whilst he has been a fantastic servant to the club, does the club necessarily owe him an extension if he doesnt voluntarily retire? Would the club not offering him an extension effectively force his retirement? Would he get a 1 year deal elsewhere? If so, would he take it?

All the above is assuming the fact he doesnt earn an extension with his form this season (currently not at his best, but then who is recently).

If Buderus, Ali and Donald all leave end of the year, that could free up a fair amount of cap space and with youngsters like McShane, Pitts etc

Any thoughts from anyone or should I have kept all this to myself :p

Edit; having said all the above, it occurred to me a lot of our success has been based on minimal swapping and changing in off seasons personnel wise. Retainment of players has been a large part of the reason we have done so well imo, does this come into play when we talk about the amount of people OOC at the end of the season and does the club feel that way too?

ha ha, i'm tieing myself in knots!

Yeah, in that case i stand by my original pick. I take on board what you say about Delaney, i think he would probably create more for Donald than Smith. However i think Smith is probably better going forward and scoring tries himself than Delaney.

I've already said on other threads that i hope we keep Ali,Disko and imo that Senior should call it a day.
With Smithy returning i wonder if that has implications on Donalds future also.
I guess the club have enough to concentrate on to get this season back on track but there's some big decisions to made re-the squad.

Now this is a very interesting question.

Presuming that we have a fully fit squad (…and just to add to the mix) all playing at their best, who would your 1 to 5 be?

I’d have to go with:

Webb, Smith, Deleany, Senior and Hall.

But I really had to think about it.

Why would you keep Lauititii and get rid of Senior?

Both have been s[ihi[/ite but both have the talent to improve and have fantastic last half of the season.

They do your right but i personally think that Ali has more "left in the tank" than Senior.
Again just my personal opinion and i think Ali started to look a bit like his old self on thursday especially in the 2nd half.

You wouldn't have donald?

He has more pace than hall and smith and is as a good a finisher.

It's really hard to pick it.

It's a tasty backline though huh? certainly a good dilemma to have.

Lauititi was one of our best players on Thursday.

So you agree keep ali and get rid of Senior?

Yes.

Based upon the season so far, I would not offer Senior a new contract. Based upon the season so far that is but that could change.

I would not hesitate in offering Ali a new contract. He is a genuine game breaker and can do things nobody else at Leeds can. He's a real threat.

How long do we have to wait for him to break a game this season?

Shouldn't we reserve judgement until October?

We could go back in time before Thursday and wait for his performance in that one. Otherwise we could look back on it and think he played really, really well.

He did, you are correct.

That's one good game this year then. Not really good enough. As one of the senior players he needs to stand up when we have the injuries we have at the mo.

He had an excellent game against Harlequins.

Flat track bully then?

What happens in October?

Are you expecting a medical breakthrough in brain transplants?