It has to be one of the worst first 40 minutes play I have seen for a long time! Lee Smith was also playing in the Acadamy game and must have been shattered.

Its the chopping and changing I don't like. Halfbacks should play the full 80 minutes at halfback unless they get injured. Whether that's Sinfield/McGuire, Sinfield/Burrow or Burrow/McGuire it doesn't matter. There's no other team I can think of that rotates halfbacks regularly like Leeds.

The problem is we used to get away with "carrying" a half back at loose forward, but over recent seasons our lack of go forward from the forwards and backs has really stood out. I don't think, particuarly given the strong packs of Weegan, Hudds, Wire & St's, that we can afford to have a single pack member who doesn't take the ball up aggressively. Sinfield has to play so 6 is the obvious postion.

I'd agree with your point but it's not a problem that we've only had this year and this is why (for all his faults) I can't see why people think Sinny at 6 is a BMcD brain fart. The modern game has moved more and more towards workhorse LF's and away from playmakers - to get away with not having a big 13 you need a dominant pack.

The messiah that is Tony Smith also had the same issue eg Furner played at 13 in the 2004 Grand Final - I guess the enabler for Sinny playing more at 13 would be that we brought in Ellis and then JP meaning we had a pretty special pack - our pack in 2007-2008 must have been one of the best Leeds has ever fielded (...and didn't Kirke play in both those GF's )

I do agree with the issue of Sinfield at loose forward weakening our pack a bit, although Clarkson is hardly a human wrecking ball either. Unless Ali is fit we severely lack power forwards. Next season we look even lighter in that area - we won't have a single forward that really tests the opponents' line with the ball.

Having said that, its not as if this issue has been unknown for a long time. Eastwood was supposed to help fix that, and the gradual decline of Lauti'iti, Peacock and Leuluai hasn't helped - our front row has gone from being very solid to struggling for parity. That in turn has highlighted the averageness of our back row IMO.