Webb at SO; McGuire at SH and Smith on the bench and I would wholeheartedly agree with you. Still think Hall might make a good centre (Chisholm looks promising enough to potentially be his replacement winger)

Burrow continues to be great on spirit, tackling ability / defence...but on attack he reminds me of the best shirkers at work who were always able to convince the boss of their worth by continually looking busy.....but were actually never doing anything genuinely productive.

Is there really nobody in the acadamey who could 'step up' and be given their opportunity ?

Watkins should be given a run at left centre, and a proper run at that. He may gain more confidence playing on the wing, but not experience. Lets be honest, unless a whole heap of players start playing to their best, this season is heading for mediocrity at best. We'll get a boost if/when Peacock/McGuire return, but if the rest of the team waits for them to change things we'll win nowt.

If you look at the table it is quite believeable that we can still be in contention. If you look at the performance, particulary defence we look nowhere near. Hopefully both will be back soon, but the other players need to start raising their game and performing

Not that I disagree with the proposition in the thread but interesting that our saviour at left centre is the same young player being roundly slated just a few weeks earlier.

Not for flip flopping are these Rhinos fans. No, not at all.

Errors or not he was groomed to be a LC when he joined our acadamy and i think he's seen as the no4 in waiting so i personally reckon the time is right to make that change.
Like many other players young or old he'll make mistakes but surely now is the time to give the kid an extended run in his perceived rightful position.

Agreed. Watkins is going ok on the wing but if we see him as left centre nows the time to be letting him play there

I don't disagree but then again I wasn't one of the posters a few weeks ago sticking the boot into young Watkins.

How old is Watkins. He's been in and around the 1st team for 4 years I think. ok, last year was a write off, but he should really be given the chance to sink or swim in his correct position

About 20 at a guess, he has been arround first team a few years, but think from early age.

Watkins has shown up pretty well when played on the wing. Would it be fair to say all his best games have been on the wing throughout his career to date?

Perhaps, just perhaps mind, that position suits him best for now.

Even his ball security is finally improving out there, presumably he's finally been told to keep hold of it by Coach McDermott.

Not by me! Id never slate him down. Ive LOVED the kid ever since I saw him rip Wests Toyota Cup team to pieces a few years back (playing at 4 funnily enough)

He's the most exciting player to come out of our academy since McGuire. He may even be the best.

I disagree with leaving him on the wing. It's got to be worth a proper look at him at centre on his preferred side of the field. That means a decent run, with the ability to put him back on the wing if it doesn't work out.

If he doesn't get a run this season, when the heck will he? Next season from the start with no other experienced option? I'd say this is exactly the time to be trying him out there, whilst we have Senior as an (increasingly dodgy) option. If it doesn't look like he'll ever be anything but a winger, then we have time to look at options for next year.

He turned 20 last month.

This is his 1st full season playing 5 in '08, 13 in '09, 6 last year and every game so far this year.

A lot of the "knock" on Watkins is his supposed defensive frailties. In that regard, is he really any worse than the current version of Senior, prone to doing his own fair share of ball-watching and lacking in mobility?

Exactly.

Those that are saying with the loss of BJB, Hardaker and Smith what option do we have but to retain Senior in the threequarters ? What message does that convey to the likes of Wilson and Chisholm ? Senior at the moment is not even a better option than a mannequin dummy.

I repeat the mantra if you're good enough you're old enough.....bring on the kids this season. We need to start blooming the future team NOW for a good start to the 2012 season.