Brilliant! Thats made my day already!

Well, the name "Reds" might have appealed to Comrade Kevin...

I know what sparkles was getting at - because Noble didn't pick Sinfield for the 2004 Tri-Nations after he had just captained us to the Super League title. He did pick Harris though, who had been back in RL a few months....

Read last night in a SBW article that Salford are allegedly preparing a £1,000,000 offer for him to leave Roosters!

Sinfield was selected several times by Noble in 2005 and he failed to live up to expectations in each role. In 2006, Sinfield himself chose not to tour Aus/NZ for the Tri Nations claiming he was injured. Therefore the oft-repeated claim that Noble never selected Sinfield and had it in for him is steeped in mythology and based on the flimsy evidence of his non-selection in 2004. But who should he have been selected ahead of that year? Harris at stand off? Farrell or Sculthorpe at loose perhaps?

Yes, in front of Harris.

Because IH was never even close to the standard he reached before he left for union - and certainly not in those few months at the back end of 2004.

Actually he should've either picked McGuire at stand-off (the man in form) or put Scully there and Farrell at loose.

I am probably Sir Kevin's biggest fan, but both Farrell and Sculthorpe were ahead of him in the "13/6" pecking order at that point.

But I don't understand what Harris did after he came back from WRU (looking a little, erm, husky) to merit selection.

From what I've heard him say I think Noble rates Sinfield very highly (he's singled him out as Leeds' main man more than once when I've seen him as a pundit on Leeds games) and I'm sure he'd love to have him at Salford.

Not happening though.

He had signed for Bradford , nothing more .

Woeful selection .

Still, it's not like we'd have won with a different selection is it? Unless an alternative player would've scored 41 points in the final...

They have changed there mind about sinfield and signed Jason Walton from Batley instead

I thought you were going to say that but you are allowing your bias to get in the way.


It was never a simple choice between either Harris or Sinfield for the GB stand off position in 2004. In fact neither of them should have been considered for GB at stand off as there were others ahead of them. If anyone should have been aggrieved at not being selected at stand off in the Tri Nations Final that year, it was McGuire who was at his peak and playing better than he's ever managed at international level ever since.

Indeed.

Sinfield's non-selection that year was justified IMO. He was competing primarily against Farrell and Sculthorpe for GB selection rather than Harris. The one thing we know about that series is that Noble couldn't make his mind up on the best combo to play 6 and 7. He started off with Scully and Long, then switched to McGuire and Long, then Harris and McGuire and finished off with Harris and Long.


Yep, all this Noble hating Sinfield/not rating Sinfield/never selecting Sinfield is nothing more than urban mythology which has developed into a tangible opinion among rhino fans as a consequence of their peculiar brand of hard-done-by folklore but it isn't true at all.