I think you are being a little disingenuous here. Cuthbertson looks better here because he has the time to offload as the quality of the defence isn't at the same level as it was in the NRL. He is a good player but he is not at the level of Matt Scott or Jesse Bromwich he is an average standard NRL prop. It would be the same if an average SL player dropped down a level e.g. Lee Gaskill the extra space and time affords them the opportunity to display a greater repertoire of their skills which would be denied by better players.

Whilst you say I am over critical of certain players - and you have a point - it is in response to the over protective posts of these players by some (you know who you are) on here

I would agree with that.



And there I totally disagree, and is simply short sighted of you. It was not a short run of form at all, it was 28 rounds of rugby including Challenge Cup, where he was consistently at the top in all the games played, in many at the top of the voting for Man of Match.



And yet nobody as said what you are saying above. The comparison is this season against individual seasons of others. You were the one comparing to rubbish like Millard. I only gave a greater comparison, clearly stating whether better or not is open to opinion. There is a strong likelihood that without injury, Aiton himself could have been a Harry Sunderland winner this year, considering his form throughout the season, if that is the be all and end all of determining someones season.




And there you go again. If your opinion is not adhered to the tone goes this way every time.

Nonsense. Did you watch us in 2004?

Yeah, and I have been to nearly every game this year too. That's the point.

I think Diskin's 2004 season was better than Aiton's 2015, but the latters isn't far off at all.

Helps that Diskin completed that season.....be different if he'd of gotten injured with around 10 games to go.

Post his serious knee injury I don't think Diskin put in a better single season than the one Aiton is having now

To put Aiton anywhere near Millard and McShane is laughable.

I'd say that's a fair summary. A measure of a player's influence on a side is how much they are missed when they aren't available. Don't think for one moment not having Millard or McShane in the side hurt Leeds in the same way as not having Aiton available has done.

Ailton was out ill for most of last year so to slate him for being average isn't that fair, he barely got started in his first season with a new club.

And I think if he'd have carried on his form this year and not got the injury then he would have been one of the stand out performers this season, and Leeds would have looked a stronger side for it.

I think Aitons spell at Leeds has been quite an unlucky one for him.

Diskin was awesome in 2004. But the injury whilst playing for GB affected his performance after imo.

Yeah, and nowhere have I said he wasn't.

And when he wasn't ill Burrow was mainly used as the starting hooker.
I didn't see much of him when he as Wakey so wasn't really sure what we were getting.

This year he has been immense. His distribution, creating space for the runners, putting people through gaps and he's also been creative near the oppositions line.

Massive shame for him and us that's he's missing the business end of the year because he's been an integral part of the good things we've done this year.

Not having Aiton available wasn't the problem, just as not having Millard or McShane available was never a problem. Having Aiton unavailable and having Burrow unavailable and not having a youngster trusted to step up was the problem.

After Aiton was injured we went three games unbeaten, including beating Wigan and a record CC Final win. Burrow was then injured and we lost 3 straight games with pretty poor performances. Burrow comes back and we beat the form team in the league.

I would be confident in speculating that had we had either McShane or Millard available for those games we wouldn't have missed Aiton to a great level.

Whether you win or lose in their absence isn't the sole measure of whether you miss someone or if they're a good player.

We won big games before with great players missing....Webb '08 GF, McGuire 2012 playoff vs Wigan, Buderus the 2nd half of 2009 to name but a few. Are those 3 guys journeymen or average players because we were able to find a way to win without them?

Definitely not

I agree with that Diskin in 2004 was every bit as influential as Buderus in 2011 and Aiton in 2015