Hall's lack of tries is symptomatic of a poor attacking structure. In today's SL a guy his size in a good team ought to be averaging a try a game, which he was pretty much on until Joel Moon arrived. What he can which none of Trinity's wingers can is bang the ball down in the corner with just half a yard of space and close in.

I really don't understand why Leeds for several years haven't focused on setting up tries that way - he needs far less space than a player who relies on speed.

In any event, whilst he's a bit long in the tooth to try the move, Hall would be top of any (very short) list of Sl wingers NRL sides would look at. One area where SL is literally miles behind is sheer physicality in the backs.

Golding
Briscoe
Watkins
Moon
Hall
Mcguire
Burrow
Galloway
Parcell
Cuthbertson
Jones-Buchanan
Ablett
Ward
Sutcliffe
Singleton
Garbutt
Ferres
Mullally
Handley

Baldwinson not even in the 19 then.
Maybe he didn`t play that well in the last few games?
Is Handley in as cover for Golding not being fit?

First time this year could be a 1-13 starting line up?

Total Bull$hit! All the best wingers in the world are huge and powerful. Being able to bring the ball out of yardage and relieve forwards is as if not more important than the eye catching finishes.

Even the smaller wingers in the NRL made Hardaker look like a kid fresh out of the academy in terms of size, strength and speed.

Although they may both play on the wing, Hall and MCB are totally different players.
MCB in space will score 10/10, Hall may get caught.
Hall, 20 metres out, with one (or two) to beat will score 9/10, MCB 7/10.

MCB is speed and agility and Hall is speed + power.

The way that TRinity are playing MCB probably suits them better than Hall would although, the opposite is probably true for Leeds.

We'll have to wait until Saturday to see who's right but, Leeds look close to full strength, with Wakefield a few short of their first 17.

It will be a very close game and I'm hoping Wakefield sneak a win

Most people are funny, but you're not - you're just bitter and spiteful - oh and have I already mentioned it, a liar.

I remember quite a few seasons ago when Trinity had Atkins in the centre and Leeds had Senior.
A number of Wakefield fans opinion was Senior was over the hill while Atkins was on the up and on top format.
Come match day Senior came well out on top in fact it was a little embarrassing for Atkins.

Forms unpredictable.

It really got to you that you got found out didn't it.

There's more to the game than that. More to a wingers game than that. Hall is simply in a different class, bringing the ball out, finishing, work rate, under the high ball.

I've always liked watching MCB because he is a livewire and exciting to watch but quality wise he just isn't there. That's why he will revert to Wakefields 3rd choice winger behind BJB who I've watched for years and again isn't a patch on Hall. Johnstone definitely looks like he could get there though

Wakefield might win on saturday, personally I'm not confident either will make the top 4

Yes, of course there is far more to playing on the wing than scoring tries and again, you couldn't use MCB as an extra forward to bring the ball out of defence but, he can make more metres using his pace and agility, particularly if hes up against slower defence.
As I said, different types of player and Trinity would be well advised to keep turning Hall round and try and take some energy out of him.
As I said, we'll have to wait and see.

The one certainty is that IF BJB or MCB are in space, Ryan Hall wont be catching either of them

And both would get steamrolled one on one with Hall near the line

At the same time.

Take your point but that would be a first this year. Both clubs wingers suit their respective clubs style. Sure we will see plenty of action out wide despite the weather.

Half a yard of space ??
You need to watch MCB or BJB' s highlights.
They have both been scoring tries with just the ball on the ground and being fully airborne.
The pair of them only need inches, not half a yard



Hall is nowhere near as athletic as either of them.
Power and strength, Hall wins every time but, speed and athleticism, he's coming 3rd behind the Trinity pair.

Golding/Sutcliffe
Briscoe Watkins Sutcliffe/Handley Hall
Mcguire Moon
Galloway Parcell Cuthbertson
Ferres Ablett
JJB

Mullally Garbutt Ward Singleton

Burrow Handley/Golding

Heard that Burrow has a shoulder problem.

If Leeds went with Sutcliffe at fullback and Handley centre they wouldn't stand a chance.

Also heard Burrow was out.

I couldn't agree more Gotcha, but that's what McD will go with as you know pretty well yourself.

Becomes even bigger, either team could be eight points clear of Wigan. That's big at any point of the season.

Yeah it's getting tougher to see Wigan making the 4 now, they're running out of games and the gap is getting too big. Next league for them is Hudds away, on current form you've got to fancy Hudds and that would leave Wigan scrambling to avoid the bottom 4.

WRT the Leeds team I suppose it largely depends on Golding's fitness. McDermott did say post match last week that Burrow jarred his shoulder so probably good chance that he is missing as rumoured.

If we have to go Sutcliffe FB and Handley Centre it's not as strong as Golding FB Sutcliffe Centre but it's hardly to the extent of "don't stand a chance" which is the usual OTT stuff.

wrencat - BJB used to play for Leeds remember? He's a good finisher, but my point still stands. If either of your wingers wanted to go to the NRL they'd have to stack on muscle just to compete. Hall OTOH could fit in straight away because in terms of what is needed from a winger in the NRL he's got the full package.

TBH its a bit sad that smaller fast wingers aren't as valuable as they were (Regan Grace is lovely to watch but he needs to bulk up hugely to survive). I genuinely think the game's a bit poorer for it. Even an Offiah would struggle nowadays, although he'd no doubt specialise in the acrobatic finishes.

offiah didn't need acrobatics or power (although watch some of he's tries is is deceptively strong, not like hall)
he has so much pace not no if we will ever see anyone completely redefine what pacer means in the game like he did ever again. i mean there we quick players around, Keith fielding Des drummond both set records in 100m on BBC super stars, offiah could have easily be a world class 100m runner and with is swerve and balance could have been awesome over 200m.

Is the problem if you bulk up too much you lose some of your pace which defeats the object of having a fast winger.
I know it is part of the modern game but I still think it is a shame that modern day wingers have to act like an extra forward at times.
As you rightly say the likes of Offiah would struggle in today's game, but seeing him in full flight was a great sight, which is something we have lost from the modern game to an extent.

The thing is though that overall speed doesn't really matter as much as it used to because there isn't the space to use it. What matters is acceleration getting up to speed over 10-20-30 metres and that comes from power. Even Rob Burrow with his height and low centre of gravity doesnt have great top end speed.

Frankly having s winger that has great pace over 100metres isn't all that useful.

McDermott confirmed both Ward & Goldong back in tomorrow.