Agree with this, I thought Widdop was the most disappointing player on the night and many would have him nailed on for the 6 jersey for England for only one reason... he plays for the NRL champions

it is only one game at the start of their season so i wouldnt write him off just yet.

That game is why ours is the best sport in the world. Great spectacle. I think Kevin Sinfield is a very fine rugby league footballer but he went 'missing' on Friday night.

I agree, I thought Widdop was very poor and looks like an average player in a very good team. Melbourne need cheap, and lets face it average, players like him in the team so they can keep the Slaters, Cronks and Smiths. Put him at a Hull or Bradford and no one would even be mentioning him for England.

Reed is another who is massively over hyped, every game I saw him last season he was poor and weak defensively but he plays in the NRL so lets make him a shoe in.

When Leeds needed him in the last 20mins he couldn't step up to the plate. A sign of a truly great player is to dig your team out of a hole and win the game. Sinfield is a quality player but not a great player imo.

He's done that in plenty games for Leeds, just not this one. He is a great of the game, and history will prove this. He has actually won MOM in a win against Melbourne.

He's done that in plenty games for Leeds, just not this one. He is a great of the game, and history will prove this. He has actually won MOM in a win against Melbourne.

Oh look, it's the old English sporting disease again.

The good players are brilliant, until they have a bad game and then they're rubbish.

It's waiting in the wings for the likes of Joe Root and Owen Farrell, it'll be their turn for it soon.

Sinfield has stepped up in countless big games for Leeds. Last Friday wasn't his best performance in a Leeds shirt, but it was far from being as bad as some are making it out to be.

In direct comparison to one of the other contenders for the England number six shirt in the World Cup, he looked like Lockyer and Benji Marshall combined. I'll give Widdop another year at Melbourne before he's hawking himself around SL looking for a deal

Hear hear to this. Don't ever be any good at what you do, because you'll finish up with more critics than admirers. I am not, and never will be a Leeds fan, but Sinfield for me never lets them down and has won many a match for them.

My god all these people agreeing with me now after I was slated a few weeks ago for saying the same kind of thing. He's a great goal kicker no doubt but it's only because he has a decent team behind him that he wins all those accolades. The amount of last tackle kicks he puts out on the full, the amount of knock ons and forward passes he throws will never make him a worthy Golden Boot winner. I said there would be at least 50 NRL players worthy of that title before him and we saw 17 of them in a Melbourne shirt on Friday. For those that say it's for his leadership skills then where are those skills when the Rhinos have been getting beaten on a regular basis for the first 2/3 of the season in the last 2 years. While we have him as an England captain we won't have a cat in hells chance of winning the world cup.

And he won MOM in last seasons Grand Final against Wire yet Ablett was streets ahead of him in that game.

Care to provide anything resembling evidence for these ridiculous statements? I'd love to know what proportion of his kicks go out on the full, I would imagine it's miniscule, and I would imagine also that his forward passes and knock ons would compare favourably with most. I'm willing to accept I'm wrong, once you provide the mountain of evidence you've obviously used to come to these conclusions (don't forget to include comparative stats for other players, wouldn't want you seeming like an agenda driven crackpot now would we...)

Just because you think every member (I've got that right haven't I, every single member?) of the Storm squad, including the 3/4 line who were outclassed by their opposite numbers (including a second rower playing out of position) are better, along with at least fifty others, doesn't make it so. Likewise your baffling insistence that he isn't a great leader because we lost a fair few early in the season - am I to assume that Cameron Smith is therefore rubbish because the Storm lost five on the bounce at the back end of the season? Even with (at least) 17 players better than Sinfield in his team? He must be a dreadful captain. But then, when it mattered, both led their teams to the top prize didn't they, so maybe they know what they're doing.

Swap Sinfield with his opposite number in either of the GF semi's or finals in the last two seasons and I'd wager the opposition would win. He makes the right decisions on an overwhelmingly regular basis, he's an exceptional kicker, he's a great reader of the game and I have absolutely no doubt he is the best leader we have in England by a huge distance - if you can't see that then, in my humble opinion, you're either biased or you don't understand what he does.

Course you are.

Were you worried about Widdup's display, as Sinfield's main competitor for the 6 jersey?

Leeds had three players on display on friday that have and can play half for England. If I were you I'd be more worried about your club pulling it's socks up and doing it's share to produce players for England....as an England fan of course.

Colour me delusional then because he looked pretty good in those Grand Finals in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011. Were you at any of those?

I've watched Kevin his entire career. Nothing but class. I really can't understand the vitriol such a fine sportsman garners from certain "fans" of our game. He's a great ambassador for the sport.

Yes Widdops performance wasn't the best, but he's not the England captain. Sinfields has done the business for Leeds in the past. Aginst the Aussies he's always struggled, then again so have many other players. But the stage was set for him, he is named England captain, he controversially won the golden boot, the Aussies were in up roar, here was his chance to prove he can do it against Australias' best, he is the man to lead England in a WC final, he is worthy of the golden boot.... and he went missing.

I've just been so frustrated in the past where we all get our hopes up we're going to beat the Aussies, then we get let down and the players don't perform. It was just de ja vu for me and i can see the same thing happening in the WC. Reason i singled him out, he's the captain and been made the main man by Mcnamara. Time he stood up againt the Aussies.

Which is one reason I think for putting him alongside Brough in the halves perhaps.

This thread is pathetic. No wonder no-one beyond the M62 takes the sport seriously.

Totally agree. Sinfield winning the Golden Boot has made our sport a laughing stock.

You're either an idiot or a troll. If you're an idiot then our sport has plenty already, so please go away. If you're a troll then this message board has plenty already and they're better than you, so please go away.

Translation: I am a Bulls fan and I hate the Rhinos and their hugely successful captain.

I don't know if you're convincing yourself about your motives but apart from the idiot Ponner I doubt you're convincing anyone else.

Thanks for proving my point, Ponner.

I'm looking forward to Sinfield playing the leading role for England in the RLWC.

Very much so in fact.

And you'll no doubt produce endless statistics to show why you are looking forward to it.

Sinfield is a good solid Super League Player.