I think it's a case with sinfield where he flounders when he has too much time to think. Countless times he will get the ball and something really looks on, he has time, but he ends up just stuttering and dummying into the line without producing a decisive play and it comes to nothing.

Whereas when he only has seconds he put's a play which creates something. So he has speed of thought in the sense he is at his best when he doesn't have much time to think.

You dig?

Criticise Sinfield's lack of pace.....but he has always made up for this with his knowledge and pace of thought. A bit off the mark IMO.
Sinfield has still much to offer...albeit IMO as a hooker.

Burrow back in the halves for me please.

Players evolve and it's probably taken Danny a few years to change his game to compensate for his lost pace. He certainly takes on more control of the team, and with a 3/4 line like ours his job is to move the forwards and get the ball out to the backs as fast as possible. His passing has never been the best but he still has a role to play. With the youngsters coming through, I don't see the benefit of moving him on now. Young half backs need time to come into the team with pressure off and learn. Having Kev, Danny and Rob there as they transition will benefit them and the team. Think back to people like Gavin Brown who had all the skills but was rushed in and you can see the pitfalls. Not many young half backs come into teams, play every game, and keep their head above water

I love McGuire. He should be here for life.

You're weird.

It's OK to be weird.

I'm just saying. You're weird.

The McGuire pace issue has baffled me for a while. This may come as a shock to some people, but his top speed was never all that sensational even in 2004. He was often run down on a run to the line. What he had was blinding acceleration - his glimmer man ability to be through a gap and gone before anybody did anything about it. He also got a lot of unopposed runs to the line as a support player because of, guess what, his exceptional reading of the game.

He still has the reading of the game, and several years ago he started to alter his game to bring others into the play more. He still picks up a fair few tries being predatory nearer the line, but his short kicking game is also very good most of the time and his eye for a cut out pass is very good too.

There are still not many half backs in SL I'd swap him for, and none of the ones who I might are in teams that would be persuaded to release them to Leeds.

A blind man on a galloping horse can see McGuire has lost a yard or two of pace but his game reading is still as sharp as it ever was and he can still spot a gap and be through the line. Trouble is he doesn’t have that lightning acceleration so as soon as he’s through the line he gets caught.

This is where he needs one of the ¾’s coming off his shoulder in the same way they should when a prop hits the line.

Yes this is a 'newly emerging team' as the golden generation approach the end of their careers and new blood steps up to take their places. Singleton, Sutcliffe, Ward (S & R) are looking promising. But no obvious 'stars' of the like of the young Sinfield, Burrow, McGuire, JJB, Bailey, have yet appeared and the idea of moving any of them on right now as part of an accelerated 'transition strategy just seems odd. McGuire makes a massive contribution to all that Leeds do I don't get the logic of letting him go. Who's ready to replace him right now?

McGuire still offers a lot in my opinion, he has really matured and changed his game, injuries have caught up with him in some aspects but his changes have mitigated them massively. There is an argument that he is a better, if less eye catching player than when he first came on the scene.

However, he is 31, has suffered with injuries, ha suffered with major injuries over the last few years, there is a limit to how many times you can come back, and how many times we can go with a 2nd choice halfback while he is recovering/playing back to form. I don't think he should be kicked out, he is a leeds legend, but I think not this year, but the year after and after that should be McGuire passing the torch to the next player, hopefully Sutcliffe.

I've said before that we lack something in our 2nd phase at the moment, and would have Hardaker learning everything he can from McGuire, because adding a bit of short kicking, improving his passing and most of all becoming a McGuire in terms of follow up play, in my opinion, would build Hardaker into not only a generational player, but a lifetime player, a real true legend of the game.

I think McGuire is having a good season. Sure he has lost some speed, sure he has made a few errors but his overall contribution has been positive and he has been providing an important link for the outside backs and his short kicking game, as others have noted, has been pretty good and he still gets himself into good positions.

I don't think McGuire is having a bad season either. He's taking on a lot more of the organization and kicking role, especially (though not only) when Sinfield is at dummy half.

The one problem is that he's still backing himself to get through too many gaps that his body won't carry him through any more and where he'd be better off passing the ball outside to quicker men.

Still a very good player and still would be in my 13 in the current squad.

Danny has been a fantastic servant to the club but unfortunately his star is on the wane. A succession plan needs to be implimented sooner rather than later. If it is not Sutcliffe then move Robbie to scrum half Sinny to 5/8 and Aiton and Clark/R. Ward as hookers.

An awful lot of sense has been spoken on this thread. McGuire isn't washed up and finished as some have suggested on this thread. In fact in many ways he's a far better all round player now than he was in 2004. He gets by in defence a lot better than he did then, has a far better range of passing, has the ability to control the attack and has developed a kicking game (he used to be awful!). He's lost his amazing acceleration and that does make us slightly one paced in the halves, however our outside backs more than compensate for that.

My only concern with our halves (including Burrow) is that are aging together. This doesn't mean you make wholesale changes. I like the way Sutcliffe is being handled - initially loaned out and then brought back and given time in the halves. He will hopefully gain more over the next 18 months and be more than ready come 2016. If he is demanding a place then a decision may need to be made. Right now he isn't

You won't win anything without searing pace in the halves.

Yours sincerely,

Wigan