Having one of the better SL back threes on kick returns (Hardaker, Jones-Bishop, Hall - 2013 and Hardaker, Briscoe, Hall - 2014) and a freakish prop (Peacock) making a notable contribution in the overall figures with limited input from the acting half skews that particular stat.

Of course it's not Burrow's fault Wakefield were poor. You can only play what's in front of you.

Leeds metres are mainly made by JP carting it up or from our outside backs.

My critique of Burrow at hooker is accurate.

But you were maligning Burrows top performances because it was only Wakefield.




No not correct. Our forwards have made more metres than the backs so far this season.

Anyway your argument against Burrow at 9 is not consistent or logical. If as you say our outside backs are making good metres (and IMO more effective this year) then credit must go to Burrow at acting half back for shipping the ball out. If as I say that our forwards are making good metres too then this also has to reflect well on Burrow.



So my friend I submit that your critique of Burrow this time is unfair, lacking balance and therefore inaccurate. Whatever next - you'll be saying that Bailey is a good prop I shouldn't wonder!

Like I said earlier, we can't read too much into the Wakefield game. What next Moon at six for the foreseeable? It was an autopilot performance. In first gear mode.



So Burrow is solely credited for this?

He was our best attacker against Saints and for most of the season so far too. Moon is a quality player and can play centre or at 6



Never said that. But with Burrow as our principal 9 for both last season and this Leeds have been top metre makers so much of the criticism of Burrow at 9 is OTT.

Perhaps they have (I haven't checked) but the point being made that you categorically say is incorrect appears to shift a notable major contributor from one sub-set in your follow up comment to the other and I'd imagine that would have a notable bearing on the outcome.

You also perhaps need to clarify if this is all games or just the regular rounds?, which players belong to which sub-set ?, how have you treated the players who have started in both the forwards and the backs this season? and how you have allocated the totals from the players who started on the bench - while generally I imagine you have them belonging to the forward sub-set - but what if a back were to pull a hamstring in the opening few minutes or be carried off on a stretcher in the 1st half? both have happened in the opening eight rounds so which sub-set would the replacement's figures go into on such occasions?

You've obviously done some form of calculation in order to give the definitive response that you have but more information would be helpful to verify it's accuracy/potential inaccuracy.

I'm not sure being top tacklers is a badge of honour to wear? We gripped on last year and dug in. But dominating more ball, a better kicking game, an improvement from our pack going forward and forcing more repeat sets would see more energy in the tank and better performances and results one would hope.

I'm not missing the point, it just depends on what you want from your hooker. That's subjective. Look at the better hookers in the comp - 3 stand out for me

Am I to include Hunslet games or not?

So that's a tackle success rate of 98% currently? Very impressive.

(disclaimer: you mentioned Bails before me)

What crawled up your and died?

I have tremendous admiration for Burrow and his abilities. But delivering snappy passes from DH is something he does not do well IMO.

..... And any half decent SL coach should surely note this I would have thought.

I have worked out that the 't' in 'tvoc' is either for tangent or trivia. What are the other letters for?

As usual you miss the main point in your pursuit of trivia.

Burrow can't be such a bad distributor at hooker if we are the top metre makers and 2nd in the table. If he were such a bad distributor at hooker why are our backs seeing so much of the ball and getting the space to scoring plentry of tries this year. What Burrow lacks when playing at hooker he more than makes up for with his many other skillsets.

BB-I'd be more concerned about how many training sessions Bailey misses than tackles!!

JC-Basically then Burrow has no faults playing at 9 because we've made plenty of metres and the backs are getting more ball?
Numbers don't show his lack of accuracy passing from DH nor actually how quick or early both Sinfield and McGuire have gone wide when we have possession.
Burrow is a quality RL player imo and a definite Leeds Legend and Hall of Fame inductee but lets not use numbers on spread sheets to dismiss his obvious flaws when playing at 9 numbers don't highlight how slow he can be to get the ball away ,hospital passes or passing the ball to the receivers boot laces.
Now again I reiterate I rate him highly and he would make the 17 99/100 but he isn't perfect at 9 and also when he defends out wide with McGuire its a weak spot in our line imo.

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It is because it means someone else is having to make up the numbers in tackles and wear themselves down even more, and what could these other players do more in attack if they weren't being overworked in defence?

Opposition often target the halves when attacking to wear them down (think Ablett going at Briers 2012 GF) and tire them out when it comes to their turn to attack. We end up having our starting stand-off making around 30 tackles a game which is around/over twice as many as other halves in the competition and IMO wrong to do so.

I didn't say Burrow has no faults playing at 9. I said his many overall skills overcome any disadvantage in his floor pass, which is not as bad as many state.



But numbers show we are in 2nd position and making the most metres and our backs are scoring tries. This would not happen if Burrow was as bad as you make out.



I repeat his obvious flaws are not as bad as you make out (England pick him at 9) and the other skills he brings to the party more than outweigh any negatives.



He should make the 13 at 7 (best) and if not at 9. Burrows defence is not a weak spot his tackles are often one on one and Aiton has missed the same number. We have the best defence in SL. So as I say Leeds have worked out how to play a scrum half at hooker.