Can't believe the focus is on Mullally here, at least he has shown glimpses.
Walters???
I just don't understand. He is slow and cumbersome, often weak in the challenge, both defensively and offensively. Retiring back into the line after making a tackle he is soooo slow and leaves the defender either side of him in two minds as to what to do. He does not seem to read the game very well at all either. I know he is cheap, but I still think you could drag a kid from the Championship on less and get more from them. At least a hungry guy would have enthusiasm.

That's because Walters is a minimum wage, squad filler, who only fills in when we're massively down on numbers. He's about 6th or 7th choice and an a salary that reflects that. Mullaly unfortunately now is one of our frontline props.

Sorry but you don't know what Walters is on, so can not just assume that. To be honest it wouldn't matter if Walters was 10th or 11th in the pecking order, it is wrong to do that. He is holding back someone else for no need. Never of the right quality.

Why is it wrong? Who's he holding back? He comes in and does the job McDermott needs/wants him to do. I'll trust his view on Walters capabilities over yours and whether a different kid should get a go ahead of him. There are plenty who bagged McD for his continued selection of Kirke - that didn't work out so bad for us did it?

As for his salary, no I don't know exactly what he's on, but I do know through contscts he's one of the lowest paid in the squad. His salary is meaningless/insignificant in terms of the club's ability to attract a different player.

Kirke was woeful & retained 3years too long his continued selection only proved the Coach had his favourites.

Ah right so you are one of those hypocrit fools? You come on slating Mullalley, who is continually picked by Mcermot, but when some one else comments on another, the excuse is he does the job of the coach and you respect the coaches View on him.

You don’t see how hypocritical you look?

I'm far from a Kirke fan - for his size, he was nowhere near as strong in attack as he should have been, but he was excellent defensively, missed very very few tackles and made very very few errors. There was a period where he'd not missed a tackle or made an error for something ridiculous like 10 games. Granted he played a very minor role, but his job was to come on, make a few drives, make lots of tackles around the ruck and give JP a breather so he could come back on and do his thing. So slate Kirke all you want, McD made it work for the team and we won multiple championships - what more can we expect.

Kirkes final 3 years were quite baron actually, only a Championship, a WCC and breaking our challenge cup duck in his final year to show for it.

Me thinks some people have gotten spoilt!

Not hypocritical in the slightest.

I don't rate Mullally, I didn't rate Kirke, but Kirke could do the job he was asked to do, and it worked extremely well in the end for the team. I think Mullally is slightly better than Kirke in attack once the ball is in his hands, and he's nowhere near as effective as Kirke in defence.

There's some differences in the roles the players are required to do, which stop my points being hypocritical.

Kirke was almost a 2nd tier forward, there to do.his specific job. McD got the best for the team out of using him. I didn't rate Kirke, but it worked for the team more often than not. I thought many times we had better players in the squad than Kirke, and that he was lucky to get picked ahead of them, but it worked, so well done McD.

Walters is far from a top line player, but he comes in when required and does the job McD sets of him (otherwise he wouldn't be picked again). Again, I think there's probably more skilful kids out there, but McD trusts in him, and he did score a GF winning try - well done McD.

Mullally I don't rate, and because of the current state of the squad, he's one of our main pack men. I don't blame McD for picking him, because he's got no better options in the squad currently. So my point is, we need more front line props of a much better standard than Mullally. If he was only required to do a bit part job, then he'd not be so bad. But with the age of our other pack men and the state of Super League squads in general, a player of his standard is too high up the pecking order for any super league squad in my opinion. His wage will be irrelevant, as I doubt he'll be a big earner.

listen to you two arguing over two players who shouldn't be anywhere near a team with top 4 ambitions. both are garbage. walters scored a gf try. great. he's awful. dreadful.

Erm they were in a team that finished 2nd last year (walters was in a team that finished 1st aswell)so your point is rather daft.

You can't have stars in all 25 squad spaces, so you've got to expect some lower quality down the pecking order. But would agree, the standards of those lower quality players are slipping dramatically, and lower quality players are creeping higher in our squad than in a long time.

The salary cap can't be an issue for Leeds, as this squad should be nowhere near the full cap spend, and if it is, someone's royally F'd up. So then the question is why aren't we - is it simply we can't attract players of the calibre that are worth spending bigger money on, or are the club really tightening the purse strings due to the building works. Either way, it's a worry....

But I still wouldn't write the team off just yet this year. While ever they are a mathematical possibility of silverware, they've got a fighters chance. And even though I'd be less confident this year than for probably the last 15 years, I'd still back them in a knockout game against anyone - even with Walters and Mullally in the team. Realistically, Challenge Cup is doable - 1 of 2 major trophies ain't a bad return, but the squad needs massively investing in.