What a miserable set of so called supporters we have - Ian Kirke has got how many Grand Final Winners rings ?

He won't be a high earner and is no where near as bad as made out on here.

The coaches make the decisions to play him (the same coaches who have won four out of five Grand Finals). Go figure.

Get off his back

Good first post this. I'm really getting pretty bored with the Kirke-kicking tendency that seems to pervade every thread on this board. Kirke does a job. It may not be spectacular but it's clearly the job that he's been asked to do and he's clearly done it to the satisfaction of at least three championship-winning coaches.

I've done jobbies that lasted longer than Kirke.

Kirkes performances get the same scrutiny the rest of the squad get.
Read through ANY match/squad threads and IF he's not performed as fans would expect from a 6"+ 17st+ Prop then it gets commented on just as Burrow etc did last year when they were "off form" or not producing.
Whether others get bored or not offer something to the debate that gives a positive spin on his efforts indeed he did ok v Widnes and it was mentioned.
With the size of the squad and the emergance of some potential within the acadamy players will ALWAYS be disussed whether + or - you just have to look back to Seniors last active 18mths.
It's not "bashing ,kicking or witch hunting" just debate and opinions on players within the team/squad we follow.

Webb is so Hit and miss. Brilliant but so deadly when you need him to be brilliant.

So what do [iyou[/i consider he offers that puts him in your first 17 pecking order ?

Is it his competitiveness, controlled aggression, tackle busting ability, rugby intellect, punishing tackling, or high industrious workmanlike performances that impresses you most ?

I actually do think it'd a bit of a witchhunt. gareth raised some valid points about his performance levels last season and I think we debated it at length several times.

this season loads have jumped on the bandwagon to have a go at the easy target but without any actual insight or analysis of why he may be being selected. he's played a couple of gameswhen others have been missing but has probably attracted more mentions on this board than most of the team. No wonder we get called whinos.
he's a cheap option who does a job. why don't proper get that. if he was a better player he wouldn't fit into the squad.

he isn't in the 1st 17 pecking order this season or do you not actually pay attention to the squads on a match day.

Some people seem more blinkered than others......some are more capable of forming an opinion on what they see for themselves rather than accepting the mantra and dogma of others.

Others can speak for themselves but I cannot see what the guy offers above the likes of Singleton, Moore, Amor, Ambler etc etc. Can you ??



He certainly makes it into the first 17 above the afore mentioned....or would you disagree ?

I can see what he offers above Moore but only because they are different types of players. I'm not sure why the likes of Amber and Amor are not given the chance on the face of it Amor certainly seems to be the more logical choice. The only thing I can think is that he's an experienced safe body though that's a very short term view. however I'm happy to trust the experts who have delivered this period of unprecedented success.

Eagle-Whether Kirke is a "cheap option" or not when selected for the 1st 17 he should and will be judged as such.
Now having seen most of pre-season ,plenty of the acadamy games and knowing full well how kirke performed last season i stand by my post and opinion that the other "options" would be better choices.
Indeed at this moment in time i'm pretty sure Kirke earns more than Ambler ,Singleton and possibly Amor and Moore so we'd obviously get "bang for our buck" should they get the opportunity and take it.
No-one is expecting him match JP or Bailey for e.g just play Prop with some grunt and play his weight at this moment in time imo there are many better options within the squad and i see Kirke as someone "holding up" a youngsters progress OR preventing Moore playing who would add more impact and can do more minutes.