He didn't get caught, he passed. Had he just dived he would have scored. I don't dissagree with your general feeling, but do think he is worth persevering with to develop, as a back up.

On the other hand I have the same feelings with Sutcliffe, who in comparison should be much further ahead in development with all the games he has under his belt. With the ball in hand, I thought he looked good Friday night, and I like that extra link. But his pace , and inability to be in position, is a massive risk to take on someone playing that position. He might improve it, but that is a might, and you only go with one out and out fullback. Hull exploited his positioning Friday, and every other team will watch that and do the same. All the best fullbacks have like a magnetic effect to a ball, and always seem to be there catching when a kick is put in. He however constantly seems to be turning around. Not sure how they will improve that. Like I have said many times as a squad utility back he is a great asset, but as a first choice position I just can't see one. Unless of course they do improve that positioning massively. It seems to have worked for Gaskell though, his like for like.

Sutty can and will improve his positioning and general full back play the more he plays the position. Whether he is the answer to that position tho im not 100% convinced. I do think Sutty is a talented player and is a Super League player im just not sure where. I would like to see him take on more tactical kicking duties.

Lilley, for me, just not good enough but we have no cover at halves and nobody really in 19s to slot in as back up so will have to stay there. Yeah he passed at death but he only passed cos Hull player caught him. For me Lilley is going to end up a decent Championship scrum half at best.

I will start this post by saying I'm a Zak fan.

I wouldn't right off Zak being our number 1 next season. Without being totally $hite on his full debut (at fullback), Zak was miles off the pace. He looked knackered and like a rabbit in the headlights. He will need to be a $hit load better to get a contract down here.

Unimpressive.

Thanks Biff ,
Correct Achurch has been a disaster and a couple of decent performances (when he is probably looking for a contract somewhere) do not make up for many lack luster performances .
Regarding Sutty , well yes much improved at full back although his positioning left alot to be desired so i am still in the doubting camp on him and god knows why he is kicking goals when Lilley is playing .

As for my comments that Hull are not a good side , i never said they do not deserve to be up in the top 2 , i just think they are one of the best of a really bad bunch .

I dont really mean it as a criticism of Briscoe, he is a very good player imo and would be knocking on the door for England selection bar injuries. But in an SC league, especially one with such a low one as SL, can we afford to have two highly paid wingers when we have Handley in reserve.

Or looked at another way, if we didnt have Briscoe and he was coming off contract at Hull at the end of this year, would you argue spending money there was a priority for this side?

The thing is, Lilley is far ahead of the likes of Gale, Sneyd, etc were at his age. Gale was playing in League 2 at this age and Sneyd wasnt really playing more than game here and there for Salford. Matty Smith didnt really make a position his own until he was about 22.

I dont think there is a 19 year old scrum half in the country who is 'good enough' to be playing week in week out for an SL side, i dont think there has been one for a while. Danny Mcguire was wasnt, Matty Smith wasnt, Sean Long wasnt, Danny Brough wasnt.

Lilley needs a prolonged spell in the same team so he can get used to leading it around the park and dictating play. Swapping him around between Leeds and Featherstone every other week isn't helping his development.

If another half is brought in, he can be sent off to Featherstone for a year (injuries permitting) to work on those leadership and game management aspects of his game.

Agree with this.

I think he gets a lot of stick for a youngster who shouldn't really have so much put on him this early. Mags getting a few injuries has been un lucky but He and Burrow just haven't been able to step as up we needed them to. Sutcliffe is still young and coming back from a serious injury and now has been put into FB where he looks ok atm.

As i have said elsewhere, If sutty keeps FB then that's him sorted, We still need a new HB that can kick/organise us while Lilley learns his trade a little. If that means losing Burrow or Mcguire then I am fine with that. My preference would be to lose Burrow out of the two as despite his form he just isn't what we need and seems unable to do what we need from a HB.

When McGuire was out earlier in the year and we knew he'd miss several weeks I think that helped Lilley as he knew he was going to get a run of appearances together. Not sure how many games McGuire's going to miss this time but Lilley just looked a little over eager to take this chance as it was his first in several weeks and might be last for the remainder of the season.



Think this is spot on. Young HB's lasting at big teams (or not being switched to FB) are a very rare breed because they aren't given the time to develop under the increased spotlight at bigger clubs. It wouldn't surprise me if Lilley ends up following a similar path to Gale and then when he's 25/26 people ask why did we let him go?

We should be looking at keeping Lilley for the next few years at least.
Signing Oledzki and Ormonroyd when we have Mullally as a project is interesting... I assume they are academy age?.

but we aren't so you can't say that. handley needs to bulk up a touch. another year or two with plenty of games and he'll be ready

Ormonroyd is older than Mullaly isn't he?

I don't know. With Galloway, Garbutt, Singleton,Cuthbertson, Mullally and Baldwinson ? that's alot of props.

I can understand what you say with Briscoe but we would need a better first choice winger than Handley.

Baldwinson is going to Fev as part of the deal isn't he? With Singleton sometimes named at loose then we have a good number of props I think.

One of the brighter spots of this season has been the performances of Garbutt and Galloway. Yes the latter got off to a slow start to his Leeds career but has become a solid performer and Garbutt makes more metres per game than any other prop in SL this year. This without a top quality hooker either so room for further improvement if Segeyaro stays and helps the forwards perform. If we can get Cuthbertson back to somewhere near his 2015 form as well then that particular area looks good.