In that case then I concur

Barber is a one trick pony - a bit like Burrow - coaches in the NRL will work him out and next season he will not be quite the showstopper he is now.

Slater's reading of the game is second to none - that is why he will be the Aussies fullback for the next 5 years - by which time Barber will be a distant memory.

Barba is only 21 and this is his 1st full season in first grade. Players defensive capabilities generally improve year on year from when they are introduced. Also, there arent many Billy Slater's out there so when he leaves the scene they will hgave to go for the next best thing.

Oh and BTW, had Slater not been around who would the QLD fb have been in that time

As for Cooper, he is more than a defensive centre and to compare him to Brett Delaney is crazy! Delaney wouldnt get anywhere near Cooper.

Boyd now i'll agree but Bowen would have been before that. And Barba will develop in D. All you have to do is look closer to home and see what a difference a season in FG made to McShane's defensive ability. At times last year he looked totally out of his depth but this year has improved that side of his game out of sight.

Just going back to Barba though, what you are saying is what people said about McGuire for years. Also he's more than a runner. He creates so much and puts as many people through gaps as the breaks he makes himself. I know if we are chasing the game going into the last 10 mins though he's the player I would like to see touch the ball as much as is humanly possible

I wasnt directly comparing them. I was just saying a full year in SL helped him develop his D, as the same will be for Barba. Have you seen all of our games this year anyway? The Melbourne game was the worst we have played all year and no one had a decent game. He reads play pretty well most of the time though.

He hardly played last year - so perhaps it was just a natural progression plus having Buderus and Lowes around can't hinder.

The Bulldogs are on again this week so it will interesting to see how he goes

Wasnt he at Hull half of last season? Then he finished off with a few games in our FG.

And yeah, Big game against our nearest and dearest rivals. Need to right a few wrongs from last time. Not that this is really the place but what do you reckon to Idris as a centre? Id prefer to see Lafai there and Idris at SR personally where his edge defence isnt exposed as much.

I love the "work him out" line, always makes me giggle

Would you say Burrow is effective now as he was 5 years ago - I wouldn't his game has stagnated and coaches have worked him out?

For me Idris lacks finesse - he needs to develop his skill set - Hodges is the best centre in the world for me because his game is multi-dimensional very difficult to defend against

5 years ago was 2006, a great year for the rhinos

His harry sunderland trophy came in 2007

Just answer the question if that isn't to taxing for you?

Not to mention man of the series against the Kiwis.

Burrow has won more man of the match awards this year for Leeds than any other player.

At least the halves that have played this year can get through the games.