If both have to be included in the game day 17 (not that I think they should be) then I would perhaps like to see Diskin start and Buderus take over on twenty / twenty five and play out the game from there. Diskin would then be available to mix and match back row from the bench if required.

Buderus is the better hooker but the way he has been used at Leeds has failed to make the most of his ability. A failure of team selection/coaching, IMO.

That has also failed Disko imo but i also think both of them have to take some responsabillity for poor form.

I think with McDermotts input next year, you might find Diskin been used as he should be next year.

How has McDermott used Randall for the last few years? I am pretty confident that will be Buderus next year.

Do we think Mclennan is going to sit back and let McDermott take the reigns?

I'm surprised and delighted (note sarcasm) to note that the knives are out fro a few scapegoats already. I can live with the knives looking for Buderus (I don't agree, but he has yet to do much to command loyalty) but that Burrow and Diskin are suddenly not good enough I find odd in the extreme.

Is it just possible that the team hasn't functioned well enough as a unit this year, and that this might be rectifiable without binning half of the squad?

Just a thought.

And I'm surprised and delighted that we have yet another fookwit thread regarding the merits of Diskin and Buderus!

Could I make a suggestion to the two main protagonists? Howzabout you express your man love for either hooker in a series of PM's,.... witter on about GF rings to your heart's content....become orgasmic over State of Origin, and leave the rest of us to ponder on the squad's lineup for next season.

Thanking you in anticipation.

As Andy G alluded to earlier, there are rumours from reliable sources to suggest that the senior players want McLennan out and that the club management sympathise with their position. I think McDermott was supposed to be the band aid but, it would seem he is too little, too late.

I had believed and hoped that it was the usual bs but, I've now heard it from two people who are closely linked to the club. Quite frankly, if it is true, it is very disappointing.

I too have heard the same rumours but if Mclennan remains with Mcdermott as his assistant Mclennan will be the boss, rightly or wrongly. If Mclennan is undermined in that position things could get even worse!

So far the thread had been a sensible and frank exchange of opinions. Then you posted this.

The attacks on Burrow are the ones that make me laugh the most. I'd like to bet that they are being posted by the same muppets who who were on here earlier in the year proclaiming McGuire to have limited creative ability and to be merely a good support player.

For those who are claiming that Buderus has a more positive impact on the team than Diskin, consider the fact that when he is on the field at the start of the game, all the players are fresh, fit and raring to go, whilst when Diskin comes on between 20 and 30 minutes later, they are starting to fade and in need of a break. If the hookers were to play the other way around, then you would have seen threads on here stating how we look strong and in control for the first quarter and then Buderus comes on and we lift again.

To summarise, the main point I have been trying to make is that Buderus, whilst being our main threat at hooker (for a number of reasons, including the above) simply hasn't lived up to the reputation that he came with.

Totally agree with all of that, except to say that perhaps due to injury, he hasn't really had the chance to get a consistant run of form going. I think he will come good, as will the team, given the right circumstances.

Not so sure what your argument is here beacuse surely it is harder to control the game for the first 20 minutes than it is when defenses are tired. But I'm not going to get into it.




This is the bit I find as the poor argument. I said it before, and I'll say it again, what reputation fans want to put on players is there own business, some live in cloud cuckoo land (see saints fans with every player they ever have). But for those more intune with the game, Buderus has been everything expected of him. A first class hooker who does the job he is paid to do, just as simple as that.

I am sure Matt King is well below the reputation he came with, but would Warrington fans rather have had him or Paul Johnson. Or Kearney at Bradford, would Bulls fans had rather had Michael Platt at fullback.

Reputations are irrelevant, it's doing their job on the pitch that matters. And any argument that says we spent money on a luxury we did not need personally I think is a justified and fair point, but any argument saying he's not delivered is just plain wrong.

For clarity Buderus has delivered better overall performance than Diskin, but has not performed as well as you would expect of a former NSW and Australia captain, who until the emergence of Cameron Smith, was regarded as probably the best Australin hooker of the modern era.

If you believe that reputation plays no part in expectations of what you can expect, would you like to tell us all how a player justifies his salary at contract negotiations?

The point is relative to his stature and reputation, Buderus has not delivered. If he had, we would be able to point to at least half a dozen games where he has put in a world class performance. Although I feel that he has demostrated his undoubted skills, he has not put in a full performance that is commensurate with the money we are paying him and the talent he has.
I'd expect average Joe to give us effort but, he is not on avergae Joe money.
Now I feel there are mitigating circumstances and that it is not through lack of effort. However, you can't change the simple facts.