Well I'm bumped in Gary Hetherington today whilst doing the Leeds 10k, was tempted to tell him what a useless job he's doing at our club.

Again far too simplistic - you can make the stats say virtually anything you want, the are an indication, a part of the story not the whole story.

We must as usual agree to differ.

Is anyone really trying to say Moon is a better centre than Watkins?

Deary me.

No ! But he is a different type of centre.

Not simplistic at all. You made a statement that was wrong and cannot be backed up with facts.



The stats prove that Watkins in fact sees more of the ball than Moon and that Moon is more effective with the ball in hand on current form. This is not to say Moon is the better centre. I rate both very highly - Watkins has more natural individual talent and is an absolute joy to watch while Moon manages to be consistently and equally effective overall despite lacking the same silky god given talents. The perfect match.

No.

However Moon on current form is equally, if not more, effective for the side. He was last year too.

As I said we must agree to differ - it would interesting to see how much ball Watkins receives in the opponents 30 compared to Moon and who then makes the best use of the ball. Watkins may have had more ball but it is the quality of the ball that makes the difference something the stats cannot reveal or have not as yet revealed?

Also Moon has Hall outside him that is a huge factor in his assist numbers - Watkins doesn't have that luxury.

But you made out that Moon had more ball and therefore more chances. Do you now accept that this was incorrect?

So now you move the argument to quality of ball with an assumption that Watkins has received less quality ball than Moon. Well you cannot prove this assumption either. I recall Moon making some amazing try assists out of nothing with hand and foot. With the poor form of our halves I would suggest neither centre has had really consistent good ball.

Early season Watkins had the luxury of an in form Briscoe while Hall was in rather bad form. Since then the wingers form has switched. However there is a good understand between Moon and Hall a credit to both players whereas Watkins and Briscoe have not gelled yet - too many balls passed into touch etc which has to be the responsibility of both players.

Blame McDermott all you like. I reckon Ablett has more savvy in the centres than either Moon or Watkins. He may not be as gifted but he poses more of a threat than either IMO, particularly close to the opponent's line.

My initial point was Moon's consistent running towards the touch line cramps his winger - on Thursday Moon was twice tackled into touch having received the ball at least 20 yards inside the line.

You countered with some stats that suggested Moon was more effective than Watkins - I suggested the stats can be misleading - I suggested having Hall outside him helps his assist figures - you are suggesting Briscoe was an asset earlier in the season - Watkins has a much better understanding with BJB than Briscoe - where do we stop?

We must as usual agree to differ as I suggested several posts ago

I think it's ebbed and flowed between which side has seen more ball. At the beginning of the year it was Watkins and Briscoe (also Watkins and BJB at the end of 2013 IMO). At that time we then complain that we aren't using or getting the ball to Hall and Moon so it's a tricky balancing act. TBF in the last few games the left side has looked more promising and/or the potentially weaker side on the opposition so understandable.

I have mentioned a lot before about Moon leaving little to no room for Hall and of late he's done a better job of not doing that but wasn't so great on Thursday for that particular issue.

Obviously another two key issues have been, no Hardaker attacking the right .......but also the left side has Ablett which gives it an advantage over the right (the loss of Achurch on the right when he was hitting form was around the same time of Hardaker's suspension).

I wonder if in some games (or even just portions of games) to switch Ablett over to the right side would be worth a try. Ablett - Hardaker - Watkins - Briscoe on that side sounds very promising when attacking. We've highlighted issues with some of the other options at 2nd row when in attack like Delaney, Ward and Clarkson.

Moon has proven that he can suck in defenders, straighten his run and offload in very tight space often with several defenders all over him. This skill has produced several tries for Hall despite being "cramped". Moon also can take defenders towards the touchline and offload inside which has also brought tries for Hall.

In the Cas match Moon put in a neat kick in heavy traffic which created a try for Ablett. Also in the Cas game their scrambled defence was superb and in many other games Moon would have scored twice - credit the defence.




This is called a debate. The SL stats I quoted disproved your claim that Moon receives more ball than Watkins. Perhaps you should have stopped before you started 9.88525390625:5