You know full well what my reply was.
It amounts to the same thing imo he asked for something the club didn't think he was worth he left and we got another try machine who has played a key role in us becoming back to back to back champions even though you'd rather see him ditched because you think we have a "moral" obligation to a system that cannot and never was enforced.
He's gone and has never hit the "Leeds form" since his departure which shows that he was part of a very good team who have moved onto bigger and better things without him.

And do you stand by it?

Heard a rumour he might have a option to join his brother.

What as, His cleaner?

Hmmmm Might be time to ditch the spade Rhinoms. That hole must be half way to China!



I was sorry to see Calderwood go, but was looking forward to seeing what his replacement could do.....just a shame I had to wait so long. Any objective RL supporter could see that Donald was totally off the pace in his first season here, and indeed for around half of the next one as well.

Possibly the longest period of jet lag known to medical science?

No spade just opinion he thought he was worth more than he got offered and left and history shows that we've done fine without him.


That first season Donald was here the team as a whole were not as good as the last 2 Calderwood played in,like i said a transitional period.
When Donald has played in a team of equal quality as the one Calderwood left behind he's done just as good if not better than Calderwood.

Maybe harsh given the figures supplied by D but it amounts to the same thing.
He thought he should of had more,the club thought different he left we moved on and achieved an unprecedented 3 in a row with Donald providing pace and finishing whilst picking up a couple of dream team selections.
Whereas other than the odd game or 2 against us Calderwood hardly set the world alight in a Wigan team than won feck all.

yes

I'd have no problem if Burgess went to the NRL. As with Mathers and Tansey. If he did go he'd need to work on ball security and general mobility to become a regular.

from the odd rumour I heard at the souths game souths back up pack aren't that hot. Garrett crossman got a game on Monday night!

With the dollar strong they could pick burgess on the cheap and see how he gets on, it would also give Sam a friendly face.

Why would he need to do that?

You do realize it is a complete falacy this ball security issue of Burgess? people have seen him drop a couple of balls and suddenly thats his game.

You get people going way overboard on here about Bailey who is at best an average prop. Nowhere near as bad as oppossition fans make out, but nowhere near as good as some on here make out. An average prop that is needed in the team, bringing qualities that other's don't.

Burgess, who does not get the same recognition, has made a 100 more metres than Bailey despite playing 2 games less, he's also made 10 more carries than Bailey despite playing 2 games less. He's made 5 more offloads than Bailey despite playing 2 games less. He's made 4 more tackle busts than Bailey despite playing 2 games less. He's made 8 more marker tackles than Bailey despite playing 2 games less, and despite some saying he can't tackle at marker. He's made 1 more clean break than Bailey, and yes you guessed it played 2 games less. He's missed 4 less tackles than Bailey, missing 1 tackle per game with Bailey just above that. He's made only 4 errors this season where Bailey is 6. He's also conceeded less penalties, although I do think there is an agenda against Bailey there.

People can talk about unseen stats all they like, but clubs put a lot of emphasis on stats, employeeing people specifically for it. Burgess's stats match up within the top 5 props in Superleague. He would not have to improve anything to play in the NRL, he is 100 times better than the likes of Ryan Tandy.

you must be the only person who thinks his ball retention is good then. its something he does need to improve althought to be fair it is getting better.
his biggest problem is he plants his feet,and when isolated struggles to get the tackles in. this has been seen on a few occasions.
what he does do it hit the line and tackle harder. the potential is there, its upto him to realise it

I never said it was good tad. It is avearge, the same sort of rate as any other player. But it is not a problem. Yes, it could be improved, but it is not a problem.

He makes less errors per game than Bailey for example, despite carrying the ball more often and doing more work offensively and defensively. Luke Ambler is getting some praise and rightly so, but he too has only made 2 less errors than Burgess despite playing 4 games less. JJB's made a many more handling errors, but do people think he has a problem?

i think jjb dropped a couple against wigan because of poor passes iirc. i also think he was trying to hard, he was trying to lead the pack. no bad thing but it affected his game

You think? JJB has dropped the ball 15 times this season, Burgess 4. Which is exactly my point. Does it mean he has a problem with ball retention? does it bollox. Just as I think the label put on Burgess is also bollox.

Burgess wasn't a fan of Mclennan originally and the younger Burgess twins hated their time at Headingley.

In that case why did he stay and sign a new deal when Bradford and others wanted him?
I think Danny already posted that the twins hated at HQ but i didn't think there was any problem with Luke.

Maybe people stay in jobs where they don't like their boss?

But he had a lukewarm relationship with Mclennan in 2008. I've no idea how or if that has changed.

Luke's own view in 2008 was that Mclennan didn't rate him.

I suppose been in and out of the team didn't help.
I hope he stays i think he's got plenty of potential to be better and if he doesn't we will need reinforcements in the front row with Kylie and JP not getting any younger.

Maybe at that time this was true and things have improved for them both since then.
Let`s face it if half the Leeds Supporters were the Coach they would have dropped Donald after the first year and JP would be playing for Crusaders now.

Burgess, Bailey, Ambler, Amor, Pitts (he'll end up a front rower eventually, his feet and hands aren't quick enough to play second row).

Leeds have already put plenty of time and effort into identifying the future of the club front a prop point of view.

I stated the other week after Amor's bad couple of games that it was too early to write off and see how he is working full time after a year.

I kind of changed my mind after seeing that Whiehaven v Barrow game last Thursday. My god he was shocking. Missing tackles and errors. He looked out of his depth at that level even, despite having such a good year last year.

Was it a fluke last year? Has been with the Leeds coaches had a negative effect on his game? He certainly as a long way to go to be ready for week in week out superleague.

I'd agree with that, but I'd say that he looks similar to how Ambler looked when we first signed him. Ambler looked way out of his depth in the pre-season games he played when we first signed him and I worried for his future at that time, but he's done really well so far this season and hopefully Amor will do the same maybe after an extended period out of the first team.

That could well be the case.

Harsh imo mate.
This is his first time in a full time elite enviroment and the lad himself admitted he was dissapointed with his cameo appearances in the 1st team.
As for having a bad game for Haven i'd say that's the 1st bad game he's had in a very long time and you should stick by your original thoughts of giving him at least a full year in this enviroment and the same with Coady.