Is he still on the payroll?I saw him at HQ at one of the Easter games and I read in the program notes that he accompanied GH and some other people to a function in the southwest

I'm not sure but it wouldn't surprise me.

Hopefully that is a good sign and we will be seeing him with Double Digits on his Back in a Rhinos Shirt before long

Just over 12 months ago Jamie Peacock was being re-introduced into Leeds' 1st grade team after knee reconstruction surgery. Earlier this year he and Leeds agreed a two year extension to his current contract keeping him at the club until the end of the 2014 season by which stage he will be pushing 37 and unlike Senior he's playing long minutes right at the coal face. Beyond that he's an iconic figure of SL, England RL and Leeds RL. He's rightly up there with Keith Senior.

These players are machines and not to be confused with mere mortal beings. If Senior holds his hand up and offers his services I hope the club treats the man with the respect he deserves.

I agree re the reputation, that also extended to putting up high kicks in his direction too, opponents knew if they kicked it his way one of two things would happen, he would very rarely make an attempt at a catch and as a result he would either give a penalty away blocking or leave his winger completely exposed.

The likes of GI and MR are only focusing on one element of his game and I completely agree it is also inconcievable that Senior could provide a less impotent left side attack than we have currently. Attack is only half the game and that is the real issue here.

I believe you are suggesting his Defensive Game is poor. If Senior had such a poor Defensive Game, why was he Leeds Rhinos Left Centre for 12yrs and Great Britain/England Left Centre for 10yrs?

At the top of his game he was a pretty strong defender, although I'm sure Keith Swiftcorn will point to some international performances using the words turnstile. As he aged, and his mobilty went with it I think he became less and less of a strong defender, and more and more of a weak link. At times last year that left channel was wide open, though I acknowledge that it wont have all been down to him. Centre is a hard place to defend requiring speed, strength, agility & reading of the game. on the evidence of last season he only had 2 of those in enough quantity

No McGuire. He's not rated as a defender by people who only see what they want to see, but he covers left side at the moment and makes sure Hardaker doesn't look like the wandering defensive gap he actually is. I guess Burrow would have done that in McGuire's absence last year, but as he was playing off the bench "hooker/half back/whatever" he wouldn't have been there either. Senior made around 25 tackles a game and regularly handed the likes of Gidley his 'arris.

I am a massive fan of Senior.
But to think he can do a job after being out of the game for so many months and at his age is asking a great deal.
He had many a defensive lapse towards the end of his career and was being exposed by the opposition too often for my liking.
Whilst he may have handed Gidley his arris that was well in the past and I doubt for one minute he could emulate those strengths now.
I would love to see him do it as there isn`t a centre in the game like him and I would gladly eat my words.
But for me it is sadly time to move on and let Keith go to pastures new.
The only thing Senior could offer now is a decent pass to his winger and maybe he needs to have a word with Hadaker about that skill.

Some might say that in itself is enough, given the quality of Hall that is criminally being wasted at the moment.

You could be right mate. But his pace and defence might outweigh that skill.
Don`t get me wrong I would love to see Senior in a Rhinos shirt again playing like we know he can. But my fear is he wont be anything like my memory thinks he is.
If Hardaker can learn to pass the ball then we might all be happier.

As has been stated in this thread many times what were the options at left centre for GB? The Aussies weren't exactly quaking in their boots at the thought of facing Keith.

Even Senior's most loyal supporters would admit his defence - especially in the last 2/3 seasons - his defence wasn't his strongest suit. Most are calling for his re-instatement because of the lack of any attacking threat on the left hand side not because of Keith's defensive qualities. I would not have him in the side, great player that he has been you have to move on at some point.

The Aussies rated Senior when he was at his peak. FWIW I always thought his reading of the game in defence at that level was poor, primarily from not playing against such high quality attack throughout his career - i.e. exactly the same problems every other SL player faces against Australia.

For this year I'd let Senior prove his fitness, and if he's good enough pick him. I personally doubt he'll crack it - at 36 he's on the physical downward path. He's not a prop where losing a slight edge of speed makes a lot of difference - where he plays and how he plays it could make him a far inferior player to what he was. But, as with tvoc, I think the guy deserves the chance to at least prove himself with Leeds, given his service to the club. What that doesn't mean is picking him regardless of form etc as probably happened in the past - in a selection sense he should be treated as if he were a kid trying to crack the first team.

I just don't understand why Hardaker is getting worse rather than better. The games that most worried me in terms of his development were the likes of Salford and Leigh where we won by cricket scores. The second half of both games were heaven-sent opportunities for BM to get the word to Hardaker to focus purely on setting up Hall for the remainder of the game, and not to worry about messing it up.

Part of the reason I raised this whole non-passing thing early in the season was because I can't recall seeing a centre who started off being unable/unwilling to pass developing into a really good winger's centre. Is it lack of ability or is Hardaker perhaps one of those players who simply can't play on the 'wrong' side of the field?

You would have thought passing from right to left would be easier for most players even Hardaker - unless he is left handed?

i just think he looked far more comfortable on the right. put ablett to the left and move him across

My son is right handed and spins it off his left hand, but he's 9, he can also pass off his righ hand, he just doesn't spin it yet. But he will.
Hardaker is a professional rugby player, he should be able to pass 5 yards to his right as easily as his left. The real difference is for long cut-out passes when there can be a difference from one side to the other due to the ability to spin, but I still can't understand why people trot out the argument about being able to pass better one way (usually left off the right hand) is an excuse as to why the ball doesn't go right as often as left. Any half decent rugby player can throw a pass right 10 yards right as easily as throwing one left. I would go as far as saying that if you don't pass as accurately off either hand then you shouldn't be at pro level at all.