Well lets look at what he achieved in the NRL.

For Manly he scored 48 tries in 68 games
For Paramatta he scored 15 tries in 21 games

I would say this is an above average performance in the NRL




Why do you not accept that this is an above average performance_

OK if you need more.
In 2006 he was the 3rd top try scoring winger in Superleague.
In both 2007 and 2008 he was named in the Superleague Dream Team

Again hardly a record of "a decidedly average antipodean" I am so glad your views are not considered by the Leeds management.



This same player was too greedy in his contract renewal negotiations. I note you have not recorded his tries per 100 games since he left Leeds.

Compare Donalds record against Calderwoods over the same period then try telling us that Leeds made the wrong decision.





oooh you are an angry chappie. I think you are losing it tvoc.

...and how well would Broughton go in a " quality team "...? Considering how good he has looked playing for lowly Salford.

I would suggest he is a better specialist wing talent than either Calderwood, Fox or, especially, Smith. ( much though I like him )

Broughton spent time on loan at Hull mate and the powers that be decided against giving him the deal he wanted or did'nt offer one at all and judging by how our squad looked at the start of last year again i'm fine with that.
lets get one thing straight we have'nt let the next "Jason Robinson" get away and good luck to the kid and although he got selected for the train on squad i take that with a pinch of salt given tyhat it was Mcbanana who picked him.
Btw Gibson has looked more than adequate in the Salford team a player i backed on here for yrs just for many to deem him not good enough but like as has been suggested many times you can't keep them all and but for a horrendous injury list and poor CC final last year the Bjb loan or Broughton release would'nt of been mentioned half as much.
Smith isn't just a winger he's a quality outside back that can perform at a very good level in a number of positions and i certainly would'nt swop him for Broughton or any of the other players mentioned.

Then you are far too easily pleased when recruiting what should be a limited resource. At almost 26 above average would be City V Country selection, State Of Origin Squad Selection, Australian Squad selection, Rothmans medal selection etc and certainly not reserve grade selection.




Wow amazing. The player he replaced was the top try scorer (as well as top winger) in SL.



And the other wingers were

Quite true because if they did we'd have lost the services of Worrall, Gibson and Bush. Oh hang on a minute.



Feel free to do so. It'll be higher than Donald will achieve.



The comparison I'm interested in, is did the potency and involvement from the right wing position improve with the change in personel from 2005 to 2006. IMO (take it or leave it) it regressed and markedly so.



You said it.

And if say Calderwood wanted £5K more then Leeds were offering they would still be right in digging their heels in and showing him the door, yes?

Brad Godden left the club alledgedly for such a piffling difference in valuation.

I can imagine what you were thinking about Godden at the time, **** him, am I right, I'm not wrong am I.



Followed immediately by desperately getting the shot to pieces Leeds defence into some sort of order. Screaming at Smith where he wanted him.

Nice to see someone who takes a pride in their performance and clearly cares about the club getting his chance .... finally.

Mark Calderwood justified a pay rise after become a great all round player by his final season for Leeds. However there’s the salary cap to consider and the fact that one person doesn’t make up a whole team. If money wasn’t an issue, we’d probably have all the better Leeds born players playing for the Rhinos today. However we have to make do with what the rules are.

In no way should the above be used to demonise Scott Donald or Gary Hetherington for that matter. If anything the RFL should be cursed.

Let's not forget that Donald was signed to replace Marcus Bai, not Calderwood.

According to the Leeds CEO he was signed as a direct replacement for Mark Calderwood.

You don't even have to take my word for it, here is what he said in the YEP on the 20th June 2005 under the banner headline Rhinos Land Aussie Ace.



If you no longer have the paper copy you could all nip down to the library to check it out ...... if you're quick.

As if there could be any doubt that Calderwood was being replaced by Donald you'd also have to take issue with Coach Smith

The only question I have is: Would Leeds lad Calderwood have stayed around for the money given to Aussie ace Scott Donald?

I don't know the answer but it would have been interesting to find out.

Just to be a pedant but Calderwood is one of them there Londoners and not really a Leeds lad.

Did he eventually win a contract with Quins for this year then?

Still there on a trial basis.
Tvoc.
Brad Godden wanted to stay but Leeds signed Senior now i may be wrong but i seem to remember Godden saying as such but he was'nt offered a deal.
Now as with Innes and Godden i was sad to see both leave especially Godden who was one of the best centres i personally have seen in the Blue and Amber but we ended up with Big Keith and as much as it hurt to see Brad depart i would'nt swop the service we've had out of Senior for an extra 2yrs out of him.

Donald may well have been 'average' in the NRL (although his strike rate compares favourably with many 'better' NRL wingers), but no 'average' winger would have scored his 2007 GF try. I doubt Calderwood would have either. Those kind of moments are what watching sport's all about.

Calderwood scored his share of breathtakingly good tries also (the hand-grenade try at the JJB springs to mind here where there was an audible gasp from the Wigan faithful as he stuffed their full-back) and on the biggest stage in our domestic game he almost single handedly shut out Bradford's biggest threat in the '04 GF. He ran the legs off Vainikolo with his kick chase, aided by the pinpiont accuracy from Sinfield's boot obviously.

Whether Calderwood would or wouldn't have beaten Wellens with an acre of space and Webb as a decoy I think is arguable (I'd suggest he would have) but I definitely saw no evidence in Donald's Leeds career that he could have bottled Leslie up quite so effectively.

__________



I know you are technically correct but as he was also a product of the Leeds Amateur Leugues (Stanningley ARLFC) prior to joining the Leeds Academy I'm claiming adoptive rights on behalf of the city.

For whatever reason I think you're downplaying Donald's ability.

For at least half his time here,I think the only person who didn't match up to Donald's abilities was Scott himself. A couple of truly outstanding tries simply illustrates that particular point.

I thought he was also a reserve player for the latter part of his NRL career?......and he certainly performed like one for his first 18 months here.