I'm perfectly happy with Hall as the best winger in the comp (IMO) staying on the wing.

I think Watkins will emerge as a fine centre. There are areas he can improve upon but he has rare natural ability.

I think Atkins is big and strong but even now, at his peak, nowhere near as good as Senior was even a year or two past Senior's peak. I think Yeaman is better than Atkins.

I think Smith will be a very adequate centre and would be intrigued to see BJB or Hardaker when they fill out there as well if not now.

These are my opinions.

If Smith wants to be a centre (or long-term anywhere) he needs to get back to the build and style he had before he left for Union. He did a reasonable job in the centres in 2009 without being big at all.

copy this
Anyone see smiths twitter from the other day? might explain a few things....
so happy my friend @lukeburgess87 is playing out of his skin in aus and taking souths to the play offs, couldnt get a game at Leeds Mmmm
Direct quote....

I can only see Twitter having the potential to impact a player's career in a negative way.

What does Kevin Sinfield have to say on his account?

Seems to be mostly about kitchen design. Can't see it being too harmful to him.

[urlhttp://twitter.com/#!/kbbdesigner[/url

Disappointed this one isn't the real Leeds captain: twitter.com/#!/kev_sinfield he appears to talk a lot of sense.

Disappointed this one isn't the real Leeds captain: twitter.com/#!/kev_sinfield he appears to talk a lot of sense.

Noticed that @Brent_D_Webb79 got into a bit of a shemozzle with a "fan" yesterday...



After Bailey led the way you'd have thought the players would be exceptionally careful about what they write.

i'm with g on this.
i didn't want shenton at leeds and have seen nothing to change my mind since his saints move. very average

We don't need to sign a centre.

We have delaney and watkins.

Outside of that we have ablett and smith who can play there.

We must have plenty of cap space, we must use it on:

- A quality, quality hooker to replace buderus if he leaves.

- A top class front row forward

- A line breaking ball handling back row.

For me, we have too many good youngsters in the backline for the need to sign anyone in that position.

when half the team dont want to be there, yes we do.

Only Watkins out of that wants to play in the centre, but Ablett has been quality in centre. And Delaney wants to be in the second row.

Quality, Quality hooker will not happen, unless were getting James Roby or Cameron Smith

Any point in this when we have Bailey, Peacock, Leulaui, Moore, Griffin, Kirke, Ambler.

Lol, just had a look at that account, if you read the tweets, he actually tweeted at joey barton saying he should be embarrased for the way he went down after he got slapped by an nal player.

then some random fan jumped in and started talking smack because of that tweet.

We signed delaney as a centre, isn't that his position?

If he doesn't want to play there then we can get rid of him, then sign a centre in his place.

If no quality available this year, keep hold of buderus.

Yeah there is a point. Leuluai is retiring next year. Peacock hasn't got long left. Griffin hasn't been announced has it?

Kirke ambler and moore are all average. If we take your advice and don't sign a quality front row, in 1/2 seasons our front row could be well and truly shot to sh*t.

End of the day, Delaney isnt even playing in the centres at the minute, and the way were playing with him in the SR/Ablett in centres, why complain?
Griffin has not been announced you are correct, as it cannot be announced untill after 1st September. I cant see another forward coming in after him. Leulaui is retiring at the end of next season, correct, but then Bailey will be in number 8 imo, both Griffin and Moore are on three year contracts apparently, so there going to be here for the near future.

Great, that means we'll be stuck with average for 3 years. These type of players are the 'supporting act' players.

You know, the players who help give depth and spread the workload for 'gun' players. They're fine if they're playing around 'gun' forwards like webkce and that type of player.

Pretty soon we'll have no big guns in the front row.

Are you from 2008? That time is already here and has been for at least 2 seasons

You're saying it was already "shot to sh*t" in 2009?

Smith - Our least value for money player.

Many on here know my opinion of him so it would be rude for me to not contribute to a thread all about him! I was glad to see the back of him (ask anybody that stands anywhere near me), and I was gutted when he came back. He had a cracker on his return, and I was all ready to admit that the Union mistake had taught him a lesson and he was a new man, but no. He didn't let me down.

The main problem with Smith is that he's in it for the wrong reasons. Rugby (League especially) is a lifestyle choice. The fame/glory/admiration that comes with it is very much a sideline and not a given. I've always had Smith down as in it for the fame/glory/admiration and not for playing the Rugby. He strikes me as one of these lazy kids at school that was always popular because they were good at sport. He got the opportunity to play pro-RL and though... "A professional Rugby player? Yeah, chicks will dig me, I'll get to go on Question of Sport, and maybe date a pop star, and be a celebrity. I'll go for that". You all know the sort. Which is why (IMO) he has a habit of scoring in big games. Big games = more press coverage = more viewers = more glory and he tries harder than his usual lazy self. It is also why I wasn't shocked in the slightest that he moved to Union. Of ALL the players in SL I would've tipped Smith to a move to Union above any of them. But, it turns out that Union is actually pretty hard work too. There's far more players for a start. It's harder to stand out. He was going to have to work hard to prove himself from the Wasps reserves and his appearance on QoS wasn't an automatic given like he thought it would be. Lazy boy decided that he'd rather be a big fish in a small pond because being a big fish in the much wider covered Union game would require a certain amount of effort, and Lee Smith doesn't do effort.

I can imagine that his report card was one of those ones that said... "A talented boy, but Lee needs to apply himself".

How much is he on?

It doesn't matter. There isn't a lazier player in the squad, thus whatever it is that he's on we're not getting value for money. Unless he's playing for free or paying us to play. In which case, I stand corrected and I'm happy to revoke my statement.

HTH.

I disagree.

If Ian Kirke, for example is on around £100k per season and Lee Smith is on, say £20k per season then I would argue Smithy doesn't represent the least value for money.

Without seeing a full payroll list, it's impossible to say

Ok mate. Fair enough.

This is an opinion forum after all.



My opinion is that Smith is an attention seeking, money grabbing, glory hunting, fame monkey and NOT a rugby player.

I wouldn't argue with any of that nowadays anyway

What you've got to understand is that "Big Game Player" is code for "Good enough to do it, but can't be a[ir[/ised doing it unless there's loads of people watching or your photo is going to go in the paper with a trophy."

And as good a "Big Game Player" as Lee Smith is, I'd rather not have in the squad thanks.

There were times in 09 when we really struggled to make yards! The signs were there. 2010 was on the cards, peacocks replacement needed to be sourced and a changing of the guard needed to happen with peacock playing back up to the next Leeds pack leader! Giving peacock less workload. That player is still nowhere to be seen. The development of the team to maintain success has lapsed big time! Especially in the front row! Moore who I think isn't a bad player and griffin are not the answer in my opinion. The fact Kirke and kylie are here is a sign of a near future without success.