££££ ploinerrhino!

Guessed that in some form , but was it Widnes who would not match Leeds figure for Mcshane or his wages or Leeds who would not match Huddersfields figure or Lunts wages , because at the end of the day BIG MAC has never wanted little mac at Leeds so unless there was a massive gulf in the figures then it seems a strange one to me that we are supposedly back in the running to sign Lunt for next year given that his value must have gone up with this seasons performances

The chance to sign Lunt has already slipped through our fingers I'm afraid. That ship has long since sailed due to the fact we offered the lad no where near what he was already on at the giants. If the figures banded about on here at the time were true (as opposed to just simple rumour......as this latest one about us still getting Lunt for next season is) then I'm hardly surprised he stayed at the Giants, as if the rumour is/was true, our offer to him was an insult.

Given his form this year and the fact McShane has still not made the 9 role his own, I bet its a decision the club have regretted ever since.

IIRC Lunt has still 2 more years to go on his contract so IMO we have no chance of signing him before then and given how happy he is where he is now and how well the Giants are doing...why would he want to leave.

For all intents and purposes we had him. He had fallen out of love with the game at the Giants, came here and won a GF ring, settled in with the lads, wanted to stay with us but I think GH tried to use those factors to get him on the cheap and it backfired big time.

IMO had we made him a sensible offer he was ours

It is a difficult one as we try and use the fact that players could earn more money elsewhere but we win trophies tactic which has proved correct.
But there will come a time when that wont be the case and good players will slip through our fingers and we will be left with players who used to be good.
A club like Leeds should be able to spend a bit now and then to get the right piece to fit the jigsaw.
I can not believe we are anywhere near our full cap or have been for the past couple of years.
If Lunt was the right man we should have got him same goes for Clark at Cas.

couple of years? i'm not sure we have ever been near the cap.

but we should be

To win more GF rings because he'll win nothing with Huddersfield Giants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where does this insistence come from that Leeds ever had chance to discuss terms with Lunt?

He was a contracted Huddersfield player. Unless Leeds had first agreed a fee with Huddersfield (unlikely, certainly once Anderson took over given his high regard for Lunt) they shouldn't have been talking terms with the player at all.

[urlhttp://m.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/leeds-rhinos/loanee-lunt-wants-permanent-leeds-rhinos-job-1-5002524[/url

Lunt says he wanted his manager to sort something out with GH

That could suggest that a fee between the clubs had already been agreed

This problem with the hooking berth should have been sorted out months ago. I would expect this to be the number one priority once the season is complete . In the meantime now the business end of the season is looming I hope this positional problem does not cause us to miss out on another grand final win. Or even getting to old trafford .

Re hooker, our main problem seems to be that McShane's gone backwards since his Widnes loan. Plus, he's frail. Had Sinfield avoided injury I suspect we'd have seen him given more of a run out there.

Like the coach I don't fully trust McShane.

However, I have no doubt that we look a better team with Burrow at 7 so I would hope the coach tries somethinmg other than Burrow at 9 if he won't play McShane.

I also recognise that McShane is in the category of player the coach has little or no faith in and so, unlike some of his colleagues, McShane can leave little room for a poor display or he will be on the outer. Shame the coach doesn't sing the axe more readily when other players put in raspberrys on a far more consistent basis.

I was never that impressed with Lunt when he was with us. Having said that I haven't seen Hudds play once this year so maybe he's playing better?

McShane should know the score, he has no leeway, he has to go out and perform every week. If that's not motivation enough for him then maybe he isn't the right 9 for us. I personally think he's got the ability, but if he can't deliver it consistently then he's not going to make it.

He's the perfect Leeds player: good signs...indifferent signs...bad signs. Then come the play-off play like a hero. Some of the defensive hits he put on in the Wigan away and Catalans away in the play-offs I haven't seen him replicate since.

Last year I thought Lunt started well, faded to average for large parts of the season then came good during the playoffs. Certainly was less consistent than McShane has been, IMO, interestingly, given people are happy for the axe to fall on McShane after one poor outing.

From what I have seen of Lunt this year when Hudds have been on the telly he has really kicked on. Looks very impressive.

I feel that McShane has had a poor deal from the coach, it is clear he does not rate him. He will drop him after one poor game, which is wrong. This season Leeds have been a better side when Burrows is back in the halfs and McShane is playing. It appears Hood career is going nowhere at Leeds which is terrible, I fear if we let these two go they will come back to haunt us in the same way James Lowes did.

My biggest concern with McShane is that he still looks like he has fitness issues to me. There may be other reasons than fitness, but he seems to fail to get to DH too often for my liking. No doubt about his talent, but that makes me wonder (in an idle and speculative internetty way not privvy to any inside knowledge) about his application.

I was told last week(spontaneous info) that PMc likes to eat his way through the off season....should this be the case that doesn't send the right vibes to BMc of commitment.......also told that BMc has told him to basically just pass left/right at PTB,DONT scoot..is that an indictment (if true of course) of player or coach being lacking?...personally I wonder why after so long in the squad we are seeing a player who is so inconsistent in a key position after getting max play time while on loan....

I can confirm what you have been told regarding the coaches instruction about passing the ball left or right and IMO this is bizarre surely the players should be allowed to play whats in front of them
I will also say that maccas been told not to worry about attack just make sure you do the right things in defence then has been taken off the field and balled out for not being good enough in attack then when the games been reviewed on the monday the coach has had to apologise to him for taking him off as he was having a solid game and this has happened on more than 1 occasion I know people will say its all just rumour and supposition but some of us happen to be privy to alot more than others

Who in there right mind tells the hooker not to look for runs? especially considering some of the tries McShane has scored this season.

This information if correct, backs up the theory on not letting Sutcliffe play his normal game either.

Truely bewildering instructions from the non coaching manual.

If true, which I doubt, it's probably "innovative" like not using your subs.

Lot of unsubstantiated claims in this thread - ATEOTD McShane has had plenty of time to push on and command that number 9 position but has failed to.

We need to address the hooker position before the start of next season. Even if we win the GF this season with a Sinfield/Burrow hooking combo, it's not a long term solution IMO.

Hypothetically, of course, if he's blowing out of his a**e getting to the rucks, maybe adding more running by scooting isn't such a good idea. Hypothetically.

As usual a bit of unsubstantiated rumour sets off the usual suspects keyboards clicking with some more anti coach agenda.

IMO McShane has shown throughout his time at Leeds that he has some ability but often takes the wrong decision in favour of a bit of self glory. Sometimes if comes off and often it doesn't come off as we saw against Wakfield. Add to this his suspect stamina and defence and you can see why his coaches lack the confidence in his class shown by the anti-Burrow brigade.

Ninety odd percent of his carries are from dummy half as are his tries so I doubt he has been instructed to only pass. What is more likely is that he has been advised to play heads up rugby and be aware of other options before going on his own. I don't think he was dropped just for one bad game more that after a bright start earlier in the season he has dropped back into his comfort zone (or perhaps comfort food zone

) McShane never dominates a game and doesn't get in positions often enough to assist with the attacking kicks of which I guess he makes less than 1 per game. So all in all not the answer to our needs.

I don't think Paul McShane is the long term answer to our hooking problem, but moving Burrow from Scrum Half only makes the situation worse.

Generally I agree with the point that you need your best players playing in their best positions, and don't make multiple positional changes to cover one problem area.

I don't however buy into the theory that you need your best players on the field as long as possible to win a game. What if your best players were all backs, should you sacrifice forwards to get them all on the field? What you should do is have a gameplan that the players can execute and that is capable of beating the opposition, recognising that this plan will need to change depending on who you are playing.

The stuff about PM being told not to run sounds like Chinese whispers to me - he's probably been told to run less and be more selective about when to do it. By the time that's filtered through to here it comes out as being told not to run at all.

Just on Sutcliffe, if he's been told to concentrate on his passing that IMO is a good thing. Far too many young halfbacks are stars in juniors because they can run and get through gaps on their own. As a result they never develop the most basic skill of a halfback - passing.