Well Bellamy certainly built much of his game plan and pre match practice in targeting Sinfield. He even had a player wear a shirt with Sinfield's name on who was the main target for hits. On the night Kevin was dumped on his backside without the ball quite a few times as proof of their respect.

Interesting that you put Mcshanes tackling technique as a "major reason" for our loss yet dont mention Burrow bombing a "sitter" or his at times slow and low distribution from dummy half and dont even mention Achurch's involvement in the missed tackle or Watkins getting thrown off like a rag doll.
Mcshane has better passing from DH imo and could prove to be as good a 9 as Lunt given the chance his lack of consistemncy is as much about his lack of gametime as anything else and even in a sh## Widnes team he showed he can comfortably perform at SL level and influence games nowt wrong with being good for a lower team is there afterall you have a penchant for Cross.
I'm not in any way saying he is a better RL player than Burrow nor that he's gonna be the next Buderus but Burrow was having a poor game disttribution wise and also imo was poor at Cas and outplayed by Mcshane v Salford that's where i say starting spots should be earned.
As for reading the options when we were at cas Burrow consistently ran "blind" passed to players not even expecting the ball and imo had a mare Mcshane came on and got us going forward ripped cas at PTB and again passed much better.
Burrow is quality i'm not saying otherwise just that on form i think Mcshane should have had more gametime at 9.
Now again i dont need a run down on Burrows merits or his outstanding achievements i'm talking current form here and now nor do i think Burrow should be ditched but he's not been that good at 9 thus far an BOTH his AND Mcshanes errors on friday played a pivotel role in costing us the game.
G1-RE-The Burrow comments. Has he been top notch in your opinion and should his undoubted quality and past achievements make him exempt any kind of criticism when not at his best??

I wouldn't bother entertaining his comments, they are ridiculous.

To criticise Mcshane on Friday and making an attempt to excuse Burrow is bewildering.

It wasn't just the bombed try, lot's of players that happens with every week. The problem was that wasn't his only handling error. His distribution from dummy half was shocking, his continuous attempts to run for himself rather than his team mates yet the Melbourne defence had him in their pocket.

Burrow has been poor in 3 out of 4 games so far this season, 2 of those games worse than any other performances he has put in, in his leeds career. To ignore that is just naive, he is not excusable from criticism.

Leeds vs Melbourne = Man of the Match
2008 - Kevin Sinfield
2010 - Cameron Smith
2013 - Cooper Cronk

Oh

Agreed Burrow is a good tackler but when has he been tasked with defending down the middle?



Leeds - like most teams - defend with their starting half-backs out wide, one on either side inbetween centre and wing. Leeds - like no other team I've ever seen (including Leeds prior to 2012) also defend their regular starting hooker out wide. It's a positive to have your game-breakers on the field as much as possible but it can also be a negative if it places additional defensive duties on tired over-worked forwards.

Under different coaches Burrow has played at 9 and I remember he did defend down the middle quite well but as I said the opposition forwards targeted him to slow him up.

You have overlooked one important point. Leeds - have achieved remarkable success with the policy of playing our regular starting hooker out wide like no other team. I do not agree with your inference that this means we have tired overworked forwards. You overlook the fact that in keeping Burrow fresh to attack it allows him to make some of the metres that the forwards would otherwise have had make let alone putting on match winning plays and most importantly it keeps him on the field for the full 80. This tactic has been proven to work very very well.

How good was JP? Awesome.

Anyone worked out the value in playing Clarkson for just the final 10 minutes. He has been on a good run, return to form etc. I'd have used him more. Especially seeing as our forwards on the whole looked a little 'leggy'.

I have mentioned Achurch and both the Burrow sitter and also the Mag one which you did not. After these misses the scores were still equal at half time. In the context of the game Mcshane's miss (and then Achurch) put us 6 points down and IMO gave them the all important momentum to gain another back to back try. Hence I maintain the McShane missed tackle was the most crucial as having got back into the game it became a turning point.

Pattern forming quickly this season - Kirke and Achurch can't be trusted to build on the good work the 2 starting props have started.

Remarkable success? WTF

We have played one season this way, and won the one trophy. Only by changing the way we started the season playing by bringing on a proper hooker and playing him for more minutes than he was previously doing did we achieve that success.

Which barrell do you scrape these arguments from?

Which coaches before Brian McDermott have played Burrow as a starting hooker at Leeds ?

In what circumstances did they select him there - was it as an emergency fill in or 1st choice?

How successful was the move, did he cement the position ?

I have to say I'm unconvinced, without you can provide examples to back your claim, that he was ever tasked with defending around the ruck which IMO represents 50% of a hooker's duty and is a specialist role within the pack and not one easily delegated without causing disruption.



Not remarkable by this group's high standards.

I'd have said another fifth placed finish is more disappointingly ordinary than remarkable although thanks to the inadequecies of the current play-off format I can see why they'd rather finish there than third or fourth. 2012 pretty accurately mirrored 2011 and I don't recall Burrow starting any games at hooker in 2011. Continued success is a testament to the team.



There are two aspects to the game. Your Burrow comments tend to overwhelmingly focus on only one of these - while you appear quick to point out McShane's defensive weakness.

On Leeds' first defensive set on Friday Burrow was outside Sinfield on the right with McGuire outside Moon on the left. On the second set McGuire had joined Sinfield and Burrow on the right leaving Leeds' left edge completely exposed with Ward, who was defending that set outside Moon, isolated as the last man with Hall dropping deep. Thankfully for Leeds Melbourne completely missed this opportunity but the defensive alignment was a shambles.

Confusion on only the second defensive set of the match. Melbourne may have missed that early opportunity but it was noted as on the next set they run a pet play down that channel which the disorganised Leeds defence couldn't handle.

It didn't end there either despite the 1st set alignment being re-established for the next few sets it happened again in the 11th minute only this time Burrow switched sides to double up with McGuire leaving this time Sinfield exposed on the right edge basically guarding a third the width of the pitch.

Who is responsible for these alarming defensive alignment flaws ? Is it helping Leeds trying to effectively accomodate three starting half-backs - possibly four when you note Ward's position outside Moon on only the second defensive set. Is it asking too much of the remaining forwards ?

Can't have it both ways Gotcha; if he was continuously running for himself he couldn't have been passing from dummy at all. But yes, I'd agree that his distribution isn't the most potent weapon in his armoury. I'd be more hesitant in criticising his attempts at making the break. As you say, the Storm defence had the measure of him although I think if they'd switched off he'd have exploited it. But they didn't.

Achurch maybe, but Kirke? no. Kirke came on at about 15mins, or slightly before, and played about 35 mins. The platform and stability in the game coincided with him being on the pitch. When on he took the ball up well, making what seemed like decent yardage with each carry. Kylie did put some shots in early doors, but seemed to be stopped too easily with the ball.

Aside from Peacock, none of the props were brilliant on Friday, but Kirke was definitely the best of the rest

Agreed.