Disappointed he didn't play today, it would have been nice to show him our respects, been a fantastic servant to the game and I'm highly surprised to see him not in the team.

I've yet to see anybody put up well constructed argument for his exclusion. It's just wrong on many levels and needs to rectified sooner rather than later, if not this could turn very sour, very quickly. I bet Saturday can't come quick enough for the Giants.

Maybe the reason is again the issue of whether Sinfield/McDermott feel like he's big enough size-wise to play back in the middle at loose. He did a couple of games back there but maybe didn't feel like he was capable of doing it weekly, which might mean it's a halfback spot or nothing.

He is smaller now than when he last played at loose and most teams do go for an extra big guy there now. during pre-season he'll been conditioned body-wise expecting to play the season as a halfback. Hopefully his non-selection is a plan to give him a few weeks off to help bulk up a bit to play in the middle of the pitch again.

With a better front-row rotation, Sinfield could quite easily play in the middle in the same way that O'Loughlin does for Wigan.

Problem is, Leeds have two props on their last legs (Peacock and Leuluai), one who is either fantastic or terrible (Cuthbertson) and one who is very, very ordinary (Singleton). Behind that, it's players out of position or kids.

Hence having a lighter loose-forward simply isn't an option, because the third man in that middle unit needs to be a bigger player like Delaney or JJB to cover the deficiencies in the front row.

If Leeds had front row options like Saints for example, then Sinfield could play a role at 13. As it is, he plays six or nothing in the current structure and McDermott has wedded himself to Sutcliffe and McGuire. These two are now basically undroppable, because there's no chance of McDermott ever admitting he got it wrong.

I don't believe Sinfield is incapable of playing 13 in the current structure, but even if we say he is then he's not so small he couldn't fit into today's structure at 9...defending next to the winger and making 3 tackles a game...and still be around to make smarter acting-half decisions, manage the game, the team and the referee, and reliably convert tries. All of that offers a lot more at the moment than the guy who got the shirt.

if he's going to play 9 and defend next to the winger making 3 tackles a game - who's going to make the 30 tackles you'd expect aiton to make???

You can't compare Sinfield to O'Loughlin size-wise in terms of playing at loose. O'Loughlin is significantly bigger and will have be conditioned with the plan of him playing there, whereas Sinfield hasn't for several years now. And it's one thing for him to play there in a few games, can he honestly do it for the next 20 weeks or so?

A bit extreme as well to say Sutcliffe and McGuire are un-droppable in McDermott's eyes in terms of bringing Sinfield back in. It's been all of 2 games he's not been picked for (the way some are going on you'd think it had been 10 games). He didn't pick Burrow at the start of the year for the grand total of TWO games....he's been back in the side ever since. It was also only a few weeks back everyone was full of praise for Sutcliffe and McGuire so why would they have been dropped before today's game? A poor game against Wire and disappointing 2nd half vs Hudds for the whole team and the halves should be dropped even though they were playing behind forwards who were losing the battle?

True and I think Burrow is the one who should make way for Sinfield to return to the 17. However whilst my plan would see Sinfield do a stint at hooker, Aiton has played well enough that it's been right for him to be out there for about 60 mins a game sometimes. Would be a waste just to have Sinfield on the bench just for a 20 minute cameo at hooker (I know their's an argument that it's a waste to pick Burrow for that same reason which I agree with, but it doesn't mean we should repeat the trick with Sinfield) so for me if he's in the 17, whether starting or not then he has to do a decent sized stint at loose forward defending in the middle.

This one.

Sinfield not big enough for 13, don't make me laugh. Suppose Burrow's not big enough for SL either? If he doesn't play next week it's clear there is a personal clash.