Comedy post of the year!

I suspect that most Sainst fans would have Bailey over Fa'asavalu and possibly Cayless. I would love to have Graham at Leeds but I am also very happy with Peacock, Leuluai, Bailey, Burgess and Kirke as my props and don't feel that Graham would be a worthwhile signing within the salary cap.

Glad to see it went down so well.

I'd infer from your response that you'd rate Bailey less highly than all the other props on that list. The fact that Bailey commands a place in the most successful squad of the last 5 years suggests that you're of the opinion that Tony Smith and Brian McClennan know less about RL than you do. Maybe you could explain how you arrived at that conclusion?

No, it suggests there is a salary cap, and every side has to make do with it's plodders.

Why do you think Saints retained Mike Bennett for all those years?

Fielden: Definitely
Thackray: Definitely. That's why we released him and kept bailey. D'urgh,
Leulaui: Irrelevant.
Carvell: Definitely
Burgess: Irrelevant
Peacock: Irrelevant
Graham: No.

Bailey is nowhere near as good as Carvell, but the rest of the list is about right. Thackray is the worst player of the names mentioned.

I'm afraid anyone who take Ryan Bailey over Gareth Carvell needs their head read (unless you're taking injuries into account).

I'm not one to normally quote stats, but prop's probably the one position above others that it doesn't really lie ie, meters made, number of carries, metres per carry, tackles made.

(on this season) Bailey doesn't really show up that well on that front, not even compared to Stuart Fielden. Although it can't show some of the effect he can on the game - ie, riling the opposition.

It also doesn't show some of the other aspects of the game which are important. i.e. time ont he pitch, what role you are on the pitch, whether you actually played prop. You do realize that Bailey has played in the second row at times this year rather than prop? If you dont then your response is irrelevant, just like the stats you quote.

Metres made, number of carries and tackles made largely depend on the amount of time spent on the field. Without factoring that in, these stats are largely meaningless. Even metres per carry will be affected, as a prop who plays 40 mins per game would, in most cases, make more metres per carry than one who played the full 80 say.

Maybe I should try it? Just to see how long it takes

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Ryan's disciplinary record in games for Leeds is one of the most lenient of the squad.

As others have quite rightly posted, Peacock is allowed to start fights, throw punches and get sin binned, yet Bailey's legal tackle is condemned by tt Scouse Knownowts and other fans of the lesser teams in SL.

Scouse fans really haven't got over last years 'Back to back' Grand Final loss have they. Seems I will have to leave my avatar a little longer...

Fa'asavalu is a luxury 4th prop, that different kind of player that is there to add impact when coming off the bench. I'm always reluctant to directly compare the likes of him and Paleasina to solid starting props.

I would suggest that Cayless is a much better prop who has struggled with injury pretty much the entire of 2008. In his early seasons with us he was really outstanding.