Yes very early on like the first five minutes he looked sharp after that he slipped in to the old routine.

I saw a very disappointing Deacon today. He looks injured too. So why is he playing?

Beacuse you rely too much on him - bit like we do with Briers. Both our teams totally different ( for the worse) when these two are missing.

Good win for you today, see you all next week - should be a cracker. We are playing with some good form at the mo

Deacon wasn't playing in either of the two impressive wins the Bulls have managed this season.

Dont believe that! If so, fair play to you but you do rely on him as we do with Briers. Your a better team with him than without. Put it this way, I hope the little f%%er is dropped, rested whatever next week, it makes our game that little bit easier

to be fair he took an almighty hit after 15mins or so and struggled therein after ... maybe he should have been brought off who knows, but he was going OK up until that point ... hey what do I know!

That seems to be the script for most games, sadly!

Sadly he doesn't have an impact either way anymore.

Durham Giant,

Allow me to put this in a way you'll understand, since apparently you managed to assess Deacon's performance without actually seeing him play today.


Think to how when Chris Thorman was playing fullback for you. I saw quite a bit of Huddersfield in that year or two, so know what I'm saying here.

Let's say there was a match where you scored 5 tries and got 3 kickable penalties. Thorman, as first choice kicker, kicked 4 goals from under the sticks, 3 goals from fairly decent positions, and 1 from the touchline.

Did that make him a good fullback?

Answer? No. He was god awful as a fullback. But hey, since he kicked a bunch of goals in a game, he should have got man of the match right?

You're right.

I await the revelation that Deacon played against Leeds and Saints in full body disguise, in place of one of his team-mates.

Perhaps he got a bit tanned, donned a fat suit, a wig and a scrum cap, then wore number 26 on his back.

Oh hang on, he was injured too wasn't he....

Oh dear.

as has been said by others, he was good for about 4 min in open play and his goalkicking was excellent. But he also throw out some very slow dodgy passes, placed at least two grubbers into the hands of wakey players only about a meter in front of him and generally looked right off the pace and showed no creative spark at all. but yes he clearly won the game for us

can't really add much to that pretty accurate assesment

He was terrible on the radio.

Didn't hear him on the radio , but he was not good on the field, amd thats awefully sad but true.
End of an era and demise of a legend.

Im not looking to critise deacs in particular and I'm not trying to "stick the boot in" and I say that as a previous defender and admirer of deacs. He has been great for us and was part of the reason we won so much with him at scrum half. (I've never bought the nonsence that we won so much [idispite [/ihaving deacs at 7)

But he is not the player he was and hasn't been consistantly for some time now and had another nightmare overall today, now, if thats because he cant function as well without a dominant pack, or he's taken one or ten too many serious bangs to the head such that his confidence has gone, or hes just having a poor season like so many others are is open to debate. But I fail to see any debate in the fact that he is clearly not playing up to the standard he has and can (?) play to. And to suggest he won the game today suggests the OP was not watching the same game as I did.

His passing is getting worse and worse, and I agree, he took on the defence early on, but then in attack he was virtually non-existant. On a more positive note the other major underperformer (Langley) had a good game today and broke the line several times. I just can't help thinking that if he hadn't bulked up so much he would have had the pace to score them, instead of relying on the BEAVERRRR



. Please stay on another year Menzies, you are a joy to watch.

Awesome reader of the game and positional play to score today + Great tackiling.
Maybe with Morrison back then Beaver to centre.

Ten tries in his last thirteen, and joint second top-scoring import in SL.

I started the thread in response to some of the stuff i have read on here in the last two weks. Deacon has been a great servant for the club and was as important in his day as were Lowes, Vainikolo and Fielden.

To see some posters cast him as a nobody behind a big pack is wrong and disrespectful to a brave and loyal player.

Maybe he cannot do it now and his body has given up on him or his heart cannot take anymore big hits. But he desrves more respect than he has been given on here and just seems to be a scapegoat for a lot of other poor players or bad club decisions.

If this is his last season he desrves to go out with his head held high and a big round of applause wether you win the GF or are last place in the league.

Some of our fans did the same with Thorman and it still leaves a bad taste he won more games than he lost for us.

Maybe you're not a doofus. On this.



Totally agree. And TBF most Bulls fans couch their criticisms with an intial appreciation of what he has done for the club. I think he must be one of the unluckiest players going - his greatest games ruined by Russell Smith denying him the chance to win the title with the last kick of the season and Nigel Vagana almost killing him. Got quite a trophy collection to console him though.

I know what you're saying. I always have time to applaud Deacon, because most of the time you can tell he's putting the effort in, even if it's to no avail. He has done brilliantly for us over the years : that deserves recognition, but there's a time in every players career when he has to look what he still offers to a team and whether it's time to consider retirement.

You've no idea really have you mate?

I have never rated Deacs that highly and I personally believe he was carried along the way by more skillful players such as Henry, Robbie Iestyn and Jimmy. There is no doubts that the Bulls haven't ticked aswell though when Deacs has been the main playmaker and shot caller over the past few seasons. Having said that, thanks for the memories Deacs, you've been a loyal, commited and hard working member of our club and youve won us many games with your outstanding goal kicking in our most succesful period but it's time to call it a day with each other and move on.

I would disagree with you one point I did rate Deacs highly for many years as a tactition, place and field kicker and an oustanding tackler.
Sadly have to agree with your latter comments. A once great force now a spent one, though still deserves a place untill we get a better kicker.