Create what exactly? He runs around himsself for himself, then when he does pass he passes 90% of the time forward.

All we do is move someone around who is not a proper hooker, to not a proper scrum half anymore even.

He is better off doing what he does best, but at a period of the game when it works best, 15 minutes at end of each half. That is an area he excels at.

Plenty half breaks, yes, but Hudds defence was happy to let him run, preferring instead to disrupt any support runners safe in the knowledge that if they prevented the pass then he'd be easily run down. Anderson's not the only coach to have realised this but he deserves credit for ensuring that his defenders never panicked. Link up play's becoming a major headache for us: McGuire is excellent at finding the gap but is now tackled too quickly to fully exploit it; Hardaker has the pace that McGuire lacks but has no eye for the telling pass. The one genuine threat is Watkins but he's too far from the action when out on the wing. And without Ward we're lacking back rowers with any pace either. If/when we have the team fully fit these deficiencies will lessen but a pacey 2nd rower added to the squad wouldn't go amiss (that's assuming there'll be no changes of personnel in our halves for the foreseeable future).

Leeds spent most of their energy levels busting a gut to keep Huddersfield deep in their half. For Brough to ping us back onto our own goal line. He's a hell of a kicker he will do that (got speed and footwork as well to avoid being totalled by the attempted charge downers). So maybe next time let them soak up to the half way line / just into our half and not be as keen to run them down. They'll kick away and its the Status Quo. Just a thought.

Leeds dropped too much ball, too early in sets.

We needed a score after half time but looked lacklusture in creating much.

Macca dragged off after a poor stint never to be seen again. But Achurch wasn't given the same treatment and was brought back on. Clarkson got another pointless stint (10/12 minutes) when the game had gone. As for Kirke....blink and you missed him. Alot of forwards played alot of minutes on Saturday and we didn't the result on this occasion.

Burrow looks as comfortable playing hooker as I do round the in-laws.

burrow at 9 does not work burrow starting the game does not work.Neither does rotating the same players every week kev is a legend but if i was picking England
squad i would have brough over kev at the moment .He needs a rest but will not drop himself imho our squad needs an injection of fresh legs a few new ideas in attack and a bit of youthful enthusiasm . We have these things at our disposal they are called the u19s

How about the opportunity he created for Watkins 1st try?

Regardless, shifting the attention away from McGuire and onto Burrow doesn't alter the fact that McGuire has looked shot for quite some time and creates absolutely zilch these days. It appears that other than me the only other person frustrated with McGuire's decline is the lad himself given the petulant side of his game lately.

McGuire might well create the odd half break but as has been said defenders are happy to let him have that, because he will usually go himself and can't get through any more. Reminds me of Iestyns latter days at the Bulls.

Will he?

All I ever seem to remember him doing at 7 was running down a blind alley over and over again and also choosing the wrong option the majority of the time. I don't have an agenda against him and have enjoyed his play from time to time out of dummy half, but as a 7, Burrow is average these days.

When did he last play 7?

Our 7 has been below average for quite some time. I can't recall anything of note he's created in a game not involving Cas or Salfod.


I've no less an agenda against McGuire than you have against Burrow but, honestly, if the best defence of McGuire's alarming dip that people can come up with is to attack Burrow then it speaks volumes. Nobody has yet replied with an example of superb play on McGuire's part have they?

Ironically some of McGuires best touches this season have come from him 'picking and passing' from the hooking position.

As has been stated earlier on the thread multiple times, neither Burrow or McGuire had good games. Both killed moves when Leeds appeared to be in a position to hurt Huddersfield. Don't forget that Sinfield didn't cover himself in glory either. But why must we turn this discussion into a peeing contest that pits one player against the other? If we want to compare their relative merits, the immediate aftermath of a defeat is the worst time to do it.

Let's not turn this into another Smith vs McClennan, Diskin vs Buderus, Kirke vs whoever's not getting picked etc etc.

If there's a problem, it concerns how to accommodate McGuire, Burrow and Sinfield and use them effectively. We all know their strengths and weaknesses:

Sinfield is a tremendous leader and kicker with a great rugby brain but possesses neither the speed nor the size to function as a traditional 6 or 13.
McGuire has a good footwork, instinctive support play, an eye for a gap and a good short passing game but increasingly lacks the pace to do it all himself. He's been getting more petulant in the last couple of years which is an issue that he should be able to sort out.
Burrow is one of the most devastating runners in SL but needs to be protected in defence to keep his workload down and to minimise set-plays where he has to defend against bigger opposition forwards. This means he must either be spelled from the bench or the other halves must do more tackling to accommodate him for 80 minutes.

It is not a case of either or, but how they all fit together, and for the most part the coach seems to realise this, even if it doesn't come off in every game.

I agree Exter but whenever I critique McGuire's increasingly dissapointing half back play others introduce Burrow into the conversation, failing to recognise that for quite some time he has been denied the opprtunity to play there, McGuire being preferred.

I'd be happy to discuss McGuire's efforts in isolation. His defenders don't seem capable.

The other issue of course with Burrow at dummy half, is that he's only going to be effective off the back of forwards winning collisions.

At the moment, only Delaney and Leuluai are doing that with any consistency.

Peacock at times looks like he needs lifting gear to get him up off the floor. Bailey spends half his time trying to pull the tackler on to win a penalty rather than concentrating on getting to his feet.

Off slow play the balls with set markers, Burrow's deficiencies in terms of "proper" dummy half work are exposed.

Good points Exeter and i agree with all.
Thus far this season we've responded to defeats well and not hit the "blip" of the last 2 years so the next 3 games will show if we have it in us to bounce back and not dwell on a well desreved loss.
Fair play G1 Mcguire has been way off at times as has Burrow ,Watkins and others i suppose its down to the coach to either have the balls to try something different or rely on us bouncing back again.
To be fair imo saturday was the 1st game in ages when our golden triangle failed to perform all at once and out of teh 3 the 1st one i'd rest is Mags and put RB on the bench or 7 with Mcshane starting and a place being found for Sutcliffe.
It's only suggestions and opinions though not OTT reactions to a loss and its a bit unfair imo to label posts knee jerk if they sugest 1 or 2 changes or chances for Kids who are ripping it up in their respective teams.

I guess that depends on how you define 'superb play' and whether it's necessary to set the bar at that level.

Viewing a re-cap of some highlights from the opening game of the season I note - the kick through for Sinfield's opening try, two thirty to forty metre breaks, a determined run at the line for his try, the pass that put Clarkson clean through for his try and another pass that released Clarkson again for another thirty metre break.

That was in game one of the season - likely to find many more examples similar to those in the next fourteen also - whether any qualify as being superb play is difficult to say but they contributed to an overall good opening night of the season.