OK, so if McGuire were to play 7 next year (and it's no disrespect to Rob Burrow that I personally think McGuire is the better player of the two) then all you've really done is shift the problem of finding a better 7 than Burrow, to the slightly more complex problem of finding a 6 who is a better 6 than Burrow is a 7. If you see what I mean. Unless you see Sinfield as a full-time 6 (which I don't, I'm happy enough with him as a 13) you still need to find another half-back from somewhere to improve the current situation.

Mayhap. But if we're talking about my own personal preferences, I'd rather see home-grown players given the nod unless there is something significantly better available from overseas.

Our lack of success against the antipodeans at test level, while a many-faceted problem, won't be improved much if we can't get our best halves playing at our top domestic level.

Plus, part of the satisfaction I got from watching the 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009 championship winning sides was derived from the number of academy products in key positions in those sides. While I would still have cheered a more antipodean-led team winning the title, it wouldn't have been as good.

Ashley Gibson is nothing like Greg Inglis and Jodie Broughton is nothing like Jarryd Hayne but there again he didn't really need to be as an alternative to Scott Donald in 2010 at Leeds.

The Opta thread for the Crusaders game will be along just as soon as the SL website post the updated figures for the weekend. www.engagesuperleague.co.uk/stat ... eason=2011 It's not looking like it'll be anytime today now. I'll try again tommorrow.

The Opta thread for the Crusaders game will be along just as soon as the SL website post the updated figures for the weekend. www.engagesuperleague.co.uk/stat ... eason=2011 It's not looking like it'll be anytime today now. I'll try again tommorrow.