www.therhinos.co.uk/matchdaytv/ Watkins and Sinfield for the 1st try ,Watkins and Mcguire for the second!!

www.therhinos.co.uk/matchdaytv/ Watkins and Sinfield for the 1st try ,Watkins and Mcguire for the second!!

It's not unique at all - someone has to defend out wide in every RL team.



Is Sandow a starting hooker though? I always thought he was a half-back.

Why are you comparing Sandow's defensive role who you describe as a 'hopeless defender' with Rob Burrow who IMO is an excellent defender - for a half-back?

In the NRL most half-backs (it seems to me) defend between second-row and centre on either side whereas in SL they often defend one position wider between centre and wing.

Not many, if any, starting hookers (bar Burrow) in either comp or in the history of the semi-pro/pro game have defended one in from the wing though.

Watkins errors in defence and in handling have nothing to do with Burrow. They are part and parcel of the player and are his own responsibility. Centres these days have to do a lot of tackling and Moon has made over a 100 more tackles than Watkins, more offloads and clean breaks from fewer carries. They both have the same number of missed tackles and Watkins more busts and are they are within one try and try assist of each other.

Some folk are still stuck in a time warp regarding the positional job descriptions. Hooker is really a half back role. Traditionally hookers put in a high tackle count around the ruck. However Leeds have proven that there are other ways (outside the box) to accomodate your best attacking players. The Leeds pack share between them the extra 10 tackles or so per game that the 'traditional' hooker would have made in return for the extra attacking effort that Burrow supplies. He has made more metres, more carries, more tackle busts and attacking kicks than any of the leading hookers. His dummy runs make up about 60% of his carries whereas the typical hookers dummy runs make up about 85%-90% of their carries. So Burrow is able to make a further 25% or so carries that are away from the ruck which makes him so dangerous. He must also be easily the fastest hooker in SL and regularly makes inportant one on one tackles out wide that a trad hooker would not make. So we should look at the overall benefits Burrow brings to the Leeds attack. In addition his ability to switch from hooker to SH/SO and back in a game provides Leeds with great flexibility and causes great problems for the opposition teams

Watkins has played several games this year at FB and Wing which would account for the lower tackle amount than Moon.

Regarding the Burrow/McGuire/Sinfield issue in defence. What happens is Sinfield is always on the right side and Burrow the left, whereas McGuire does swap sides from time to time. This must at times cause confusion to the guys next to him wondering and trying to remember whether or not McGuire is on there side on this particular set.

tvoc - Burrow's a halfback, as is Sandow. They are both small. I picked on Sandow as he's the only NRL example I can think of where a halfback consistently defends in the centre position - even supposedly poor defenders play one in from there.

Given the fact that being uthlessly targeted in defence by big centres simply running straight at him helped consign Sandow to the reserves in the worst team in the NRL, I don't think its a particularly good tactic.

If Burrow is a half-back why is he starting games, offensively at least, in the dummy-half position. 5.36572265625:5