Having lost Buderes do you guys, having watched him play a lot more than me, think McShane is up to the job of replacing him? Or would you rather a fresh face had come in having freed up some money under the salary cap, with the departure of Budures, Lauititi and Senior?

Im sure there was the odd hooker moving clubs in Australia who may have been tempted, were any approached or was McShane always seen as a replacement? I would imagine he has learnt a lot with Buderes being at the club.

Thought buderus was only going if we / newcastle found a replacement or did that change ?

More importantly ... How many mis-spellings of the name of our illustrious recently departed antipodean rake can you get in one post ?

Mcshane is ready imo but just like Hardaker in the 4 shirt they should be judged on their own merits and not by who they've replaced.
Macca is still pretty raw but has shown enough potential and all round awareness to earn his place and of course we always have Burrow to interchange if that's what Brian Mc chooses to repeat although i would like to think Hood would get a few chances this year and that kid is very exciting at DH and he and Macca should compliment each other well.
As for Senior and Ali i think both had served their time with us and both are rightly regarded as Rhinos legends i think we have an exciting back-line next year with plenty of pace and skill but still young enough to learn and improve.
We have depth in the pack but i don't think we have a ready made replacement for Ali yet and may not getting one but we have cap space should someone of quality become available.

McShane reminds me very much of a young Dick (and no this post is on the correct thread!)

not quite the same girth though

There was only Cameron Smith in the game who could have replaced Buderus sufficiently, but that waan't going to happen. So it was either what else was available or go with what we have.

Mcshane will never come to close to what we had with Buderus, but we can only hope that his standard is sufficient to do the job.

Despite his size, he does have the ability to squeeze into a tight hole

I have no idea whether McShane will rival Buderus over his entire career and predictions about whether he will or won't are little more than guesswork at this stage.
Nonetheless, what I've seen of him has been enough to suggest to me that he really deserves more opportunity (i.e. game time) ... that's where and how you really become a player.

Burrow is not and never will be an interchange hooker. Last season, when he played that role, it cocked up our defensive patterns and intensity when he came on because he is not physically capable of defending as a forward and our whole line had to shift to cover.

However when Burrow played as a substitute HALFBACK the impact was very good. For our two best performances of the year (Wire in the semi, Saints in the Grand Final), it wasn't with Burrow as an interchange 9, rather we had an actual hooker playing at hooker for the entire 80 minutes and Burrow coming on to play 7 with Sinfield to 13.

I'd still like us to sign an established 9, possibly to rotate with McShane, for the coming season. I have no idea how good Hood is or isn't at SL level but even if he's going to be a superstar it won't do his development any harm at all to go on a recallable loan to mid-SL club to get good experience while making any rookie errors away from Headingley. We'll get a better player back.

However he performed in "interchange hooker" role isn't rellevant to what i posted i was merely pointing out it was an option should the coach choose to repeat what happened last season.
As i was there at Wire AND the GF i know full well where he played.
Also with Mcshane and Hood as recognsed 9's within the squad and the coaches preference for Sinfield at 6 and Mcguire at 7 to start with where do you suggest another 9 fits in?

I'm not going to debate the merits of Burrow as an interchange hooker with you. I hope next year he's playing 7 again for 80 mins a game. However, I will dispute his introduction from the bench disrupted us. In fact, no, Brian McDermott will dispute that.

At the Leeds ex player's dinner last Sunday Brian singled out Rob coming off the bench half way through the season as the necessary turning point in our form and singled out Burrow and this tactic as the main reason for our title. He also pointed out Burrow was vehemently against the tactic and wanted to start each week and each week they would have a heated discussion. However, Burrow would take the decision on the chin and make the best of it each week. McDermott was full of admiration of Burrow and praised him. Burrow was present as were a few other current players

As for next season I would hope and expect that the role will be shared with McShane and Liam Hood and don't see the need to sign anyone.

I would say you're being a touch critical but there is alot of truth to that.

Whilst Burrow offered alot in attack we did suffer defensively. I think alot of this was due to Buderus, one of if not our best defender, now sat on the bench. We saw in the semi and Grand Final we didn't lose the intensity in our defence or our tremendous kick chase with Buderus on the field.

One thing that worried me when Burrow was used as an interchange 9 was that he defended next to McGuire which led to that side being targetted often by the oposition. If Burrow is going to defend at half back then I was suprised not to see Sinfield defend more centrally with Burrow and McGuire defending either side of the pitch.

Back on topic, I'm more than happy to see McShane start as first choice next year. I just hope that us fans don't compare him with Buderus and we have the patience to stick with him if he does lose form.

Yeah sorry about that, i was aware there was a good chance they were wrong.



I didnt expect Leeds to sign a player like Smith or even Farah to be honest, those kind of players just done come to the UK in their prime any more as they are overlooked for Origin and therefore Australia. Maybe just a player like Isaac De Gois as a bit of a swap for Buderus? Not a top class player just one with a bit more top flight experience. No doubt McShane will become a shining light this year though, it seems to be the way of the Rhino youngsters, just look at Chris Clarkson and what an awesome player he is despite his youth.

Just one final point, would you consider snapping up Adam Milner from Cas if the opportunity arose? I have a mate who supports Cas and he doesnt think it will be long before he is snapped up by another club with more to offer.

Don't rate him to be honest. Clark looks a far better prospect although I'm not sure his long term future will be at hooker.

As good as Milner is i think Clarke is the better of the 2 but we have plenty of potential and depth at 9.

It may have been Clarke who he mentioned come to think of it. Im not sure.

We have got 2 very able rakes in the squad. Our coaching staff are satisfied with them do why in earth would we want to bring another in FFS?

Another thought is that our Assistant Coach was a succesful hooker (even if that was at the wrong club) and I would hope a young hooker will continue learning from him.

Tbh lads i think the best young hooker in the super league is that pellisiour or however you spell it from Catalans.

He does look a great prospect. Looking forward to seeing more of him.