i suspect it was close between wardle and watkins? to be honest i can really remember watkins playing that well on the odd ocassions i've seen him.and i wouldn't have expected ablett to be in ahead of, say, liam farrell.

other than those can't really argue with the rest, possibly russell ahead of hardaker?

good shout with wardle...

maybe mcgillvary too??!

crabtree aswell had a top season but so have peacock and hill.

like i have said though we have gone under the radar this season and that suits us fine, love to cause some upsets and shocks

Joel for hall
Wardle for Watkins
Bateman for ablett

3 changes for me

Escare for Hardaker.

Nah - much as he's a nasty arrogant piece of poop I wouldn't pee on if on fire hardaker has had a great season.

Well said sir , whatever anyone thinks of him personally , his all round game is head and shoulders above any other full back in this league .

.... Except Morgan Escare.

Or Matty Bowen. How can Danny Brough win the Albert Goldthorpe medal for a season's achievement and not get in that team is unbelievable.

Millington from Cas cant have been far off.

excellent point about Brough here!

IMO hardaker is a better all round fullback than escare. bowen hasn't been consistent enough. Brough hasn't been a patch on last year but he hasn't needed to be yet...

but the point is he has won the albert goldthorpe medal which is prob on of the best examples of a player playing well week in week out with the way it is judged.

i think brough has gone pretty well this season too... kev brown no complaints with him being picked though

not sure if it's an indication to the selection of the dream team, but looking at the goldthorpe medal table, only 5 of the dream team are in the top 20 of that table,kevin brown at no.2(27 points) daryl clark no.4 (24),matty smith no.10(17) chris hill no.16(13) and elliot whitehead at no.20(12)

no leeds player in the top 20, sinfield is the highest placed leeds player at 24(11)
of the other players
hardaker no.12 (11)
shenton no.29(10)
o'loughlin no.30(10)
peacock no.35 (9)
watkins no.41 (9)
hall no.50 (icon_cool.gif
makinson no.99 (4)
ablett no.190 (1 point

don't forget the albert goldthorpe is a reflection of the player who has most influence on a game. what it shows is that we rely on brough a lot!!!

we didnt on thursday night

maybe it just proves the journos are in love with leeds rhinos

or maybe that brough is actually the best player in super league



you would think though that it would be a good indication of which players play well every week as well though jools?

Spot on Jools, it's a different kind of award ....points for the Goldthorpe medal shows that the journalist covering that particular game thought he was the most influential player to US is that game, Doesn't neccesarily mean he has been the best player ALL SEASON in that position.

no we squeezed past 12 men with a host of their own injuries (albeit with more to play for)

Can't agree there Daz, its the best player on the pitch, and to amass the number of points' he did over the season means he was mom and best player on the pitch more times than Smith at Wigan, maybe they picked Smith because he'd more television exposure.

In the eyes of the journo on the day !! It does have its flaws though cos you could have your forwards bulldozing the way for someone like Brough to run the show against lesser teams etc, ....the forwards have done the hard work so he can do his thing.

People complaining Monaghan isn't in cos he's the top try scorer but if most of his tries have been gifted to him on a plate it doesn't mean he has been a better player than someone who has made lots more metres/made more tackles/more assists etc in his position.

Isn't the dream team selection as a whole a bit premature? I mean for example, if Broughy wins the Albert Goldthorpe trophy(like he has) then when he returns from injury leads the Giants to glory at Old Trafford surely he should be in the dream team. Couldn't it wait until after the silverware has been sorted?

with no halves for the majority of the game and no crabtree, grix or chan

.

like i have said earlier the only players i feel that could have been in with a shout of the dream team were wardle/crabtree and mcgillvary.

with winning the albert goldthorpe medal you could have thrown brough in that too.

and yes i feel the dream team is abit premature seeing as the SL comp isnt even over yet!

bit like the Giants awards dinner too on that score!

It finished last week!
And chan? You mean the player we got rid off because he wasn't making the team? Grix the player touted as being a poor player by half the board? (Certainly not by me!)

did you not notice the wink after chan?

and the premature bit was in reply to what jessiecuster wrote not you.