Yeah a natural 6 would help but i dont think moons the sole problem. He's not a game manager or an organiser by any stretch but he's also not such an out of control maverick that he would constantly spoil our gameplan or attacking structure ,if we had one. I dont see any kind of plan with what we'r trying to do when we have the ball, never get the sense that we'r doing something on tackles 2 and 3 with a view to it opening somthing specific up on tackle 4. Like Mcdermott said last night, at times it looks like the players have never trained together.

Saints have an ex factor player - he is head and shoulders above any other player in the competition - keep him fit and they look a really good side.

Its a shame SL cannot attract more players of his quality - it would help to raise the standard of play above abysmal.

26k i belive quarter final i was there biggest crowd i have ever been in at headingley, i thought we had a good side that year thought we could go all the way to the final. Wrong taken apart with ease by a superior widnes side. That widnes side from 88-90 was as good as any side ever.
But lost semi final to a young 17 year Gary connolly inspired saints, who then rolled over at Wembley to Wigan, Alex Murphy sacked after final.

Increase in salary cap for next year, and of course all clubs have the marquee option in addition. Whilst ever clubs hold on to players based on sentiment, the teams, and therefore the competition won’t move forward.

Cas were a tad unlucky to get beaten by that margin, with the long range scores they conceded in the first half.mainly, Cas as expected looked toothless with ball in hand without Gale but otherwise they were solid and matched saints for the most part.

As others have said, Barba is a class apart and Roby runs the show as usual if both those stay fit for the duration they have to be big favourites for the lot.

Totally agree with your comments ref Saints, the question for Saints is what will they do when Ben Barba's rehabilitation period outside of the NRL is complete and as seems inevitable he goes back to Aus next year. Still they should do well in all comps this year if he stays fit.

Disagree slightly, Cas got what they deserved, some shocking defensive efforts on display, Truman cannot tackle for toffee, the 3rd Barba try, he went through 5 tackles and all but one was just a flapping arm attempt, that's very poor, yes very good player but you can't stop a 12 year old tackling like that. Hitcox did well to chase back for Barba but then put an awful flapping arm Grag tackle on him, jiffy was right critisice him on commentary for that, tackles low possible puts him in touch, if Barba rides the tackle and still scored so be it, but very poor tackle after a great chase back.

Hope Cas tackle like this next week.

It will take you more tha cash to bring players over from NRl.
Players constantly told super league is second rate and vastly inferior to NRL, then there's origin attraction, players will only come over when then Nrl careers are all but finished or they can't get a game.
Any player with origin ambition won't come here for any amount of money, or any player who is a regular Nrl starter.
We all know Barba would not be here if he had kept his nose clean.


Personally wish we could throw an open chegue book at Jonathan Thurston and get him a two year deal to finish over here, but doubt it.

May be SL can become to the NRL as the Championship is to SL, ie a league to negotiate loan deals for fringe or unrequired players

I think some of the NRL stars would come if the money was there. They did in the past despite the State of origin attraction because the UK offers a lifestyle experience that is
different especially for stars who have already achieved everything down under.

Fully agree with you on this Sal.

Barba is reminding us of the skills that are have been missing for some time now in SL. We do not have a back in SL anywhere near his combination of pace, balance, footwork, handling skill and vision.

The modern game has swopped all of the above skills for physical power so that now most positions are occupied by second rowers with average skills who have the sole aim to bust tackles rather than ghost around the defender with balance and pace or fix and draw a defender and pass to the man in space.

The game urgently needs stars with the X-factor to bring in the crowds and also the sponsors.

I think playing pretty much with 1 half back, especially when the link at fb is limited too, is hugely significant. He adds nothing to game management, kills space when he gets the ball and makes moving the ball to the outside backs so laboured.

I think the point you make about full back is key, we have no ball player there like Webb to help Myler. I have much more time for Moon at 6 than many on here, take your point about pivots but he is one of the best players at Leeds. His roaming style would be much more effective if the leeds pack were dominant, however they are struggling for parity in most games and our PTB is regularly slower then the opposition.

Our kicking off is really poor as well, regularly landing 15 yards from the try line meaning the opposition get on the front foot and quick PTB's. I think Leeds will struggle to hold the Cas pack next week.

Agree moons not ideal at 6, still think theres more to our current problems though, we look a very unorganized, ill disciplined, mentally suspect side at the minute, moon isnt to blame for all of that imo.