Perhaps I over reacted slightly, but I still want to know if he was being critical of Hetherington or McLennan. I think either would be harsh - Hetherington brought one of the best players of his generation to the club who might yet help us to more success, Bluey was then put in a difficult position where he had to try and keep both happy. It wasn't ideal and I never thought those 2 hookers would compliment each other, however I'm sure it was all done with the best intentions.




To be fair I think he played more and more as the year went on last year. In 2009 while showing glimpses of his talent he hardly set the world alight. This year he will hopefully come into his own. he will still need minutes of the field though. Hopefully McShane will show up a bit better and if not maybe when McGuire comes back Sinfield will play a bit at hooker.




I'm not sure Diskin's performances were ever as bad as is being mad out. I think he struggled at times behind a pack on the back foot. To say we would have lost either game is pure speculation. Incidentally Diskin was very good against Leeds in Cardiff playing a similar role to the one you say he might have struggled in.




Trust you to pull me up on a technicality.I knew there was one for sure and thought he'd played again? Did he not, or was it in another postion? I'm not sure there coaching staff would have been much worse than ours last year to be honest, especially looking at technical aspects of the game. The talent might have been there but they gave him a chance to play week in week out which was crucial to his development at that time.




And then come the time when Webb's contract is up we have a player who is settled on the wing with little or no experience of playing full back at the top level. We still wouldn't know how he'd fare in that position. I think now we know we have a player more than capable of makign that position his own.



I've said I hadn't seen enough of Broughton. I'm happy to accept the judgement of people who worked with him every day. How much was the signing on fee? Has that cost us a lot more than an improved contract for Broughton would have?

Goodness me no. We must disagree and publicly so until the other backs down. Things just wouldn't seem right otherwise.

Increased levels of wrestling probably did him no favours either. Providing referees do crack down on wrestling (and there was no sign of this happening at odsal yesterday) then we might yet see Diskin surprise some doubters.

WHAT!

Donald was an outstanding performer for Leeds over many seasons. He suffered only one dip in form (last season) but returned to form at the end.

He always gave his full effort and the try he scored in the GF, when he turned Wellens inside out, was of the very highest order. He possessed all the attributes that made him one of the very best wingers around - speed, swerve, good hands, good defence, good finisher and courage.

If he is average then who is outstanding?

It's the unquestioning faith of people that allows their minds to be easily manipulated by their " superiors " ! !

Surely the job of a head coach is to choose his team on merit and not a misguided sense of loyalty to any individual whatever his perceived status at the club ! Buderus or Diskin should have been given the full match for the greater good of the team. Does that answer your question ?

By the way Buderus and Diskin certainly did not complement each other.... But how do you know they did not compliment each other ?

Top 3 (in no order)

1) Buderus.

He is an 80 minute hooker. He can't "sparkle" for the whole 80 minutes and shouldn't be expected to do so.

People around me were complaining because he wasn't in at dummy half for every single play-the-ball with tosh like "See!! Burrow had to go in again, what's the point Buderus being on the pitch!" and equally ridiculously stupid comments. I bit my tongue. If there's a break on, what's the point in waiting for Buderus to get there!? Makes no sense. There was a game against Wigan (??? citation needed) in which JJB was named at hooker and over the match there was 7/8/9/10 different people in at dummy half and we played all the better for it. If Buderus needs a 10 minute spell without running to every tackle that's fine with me. At least he's on the pitch should a break happen or an opportunity arise. His defensive awareness and tackling ability is one of (if not the) most superior in our whole team.

2) Burrow.

Good to see him playing like that again. There was a period of the game in which Sinnie had a niggling injury and Burrow's general kicking game was outstanding. The first two matches of this season Robbie has looked how I was expecting him to look to the first few games of last season (with a full preseason etc). He looks sharp, a threat, and unpredictable, which is something he hasn't looked for 2 or 3 seasons.

3) Delaney

He said on his twitter he was enjoying playing in the pack. I hope that's genuinely the case because he has the potential to be one of the stand out second rowers in SL (injuries permitting) and he certainly has no chance of being a stand out centre.


Think that's my top three but it feels harsh because the whole 17 were outstanding. Under those circumstances, with those injuries I thought we couldn't have asked for more. (The two O'Meely tries we a bit soft but it was never going to be a 'perfect' performance so if that's what we needed to concede on then so be it).

Although I whole-heartedly agree with TVOC on the Broughton saga ... And I do believe Donald was only " going through the motions " in his last season, I do think he was much better than average for a good few years. Some of his tries scored were scintillating wingers' tries... . And who will ever forget Mcguire's try against Catalans in the GF match at Headingley which resulted from his imperious pin-point kick in field at full speed ? Majestic memories.

Absolutely ! On ALL counts. Well said that man.

Up until leaving the field, Delaney was the stand out performer for Leeds IMO.

Good yards after contact, always winning the collision and generating a quick play the ball. Defending closer to the middle where players are more likely to try and run at you rather than around you suits his tackling style - he's much more effective hitting front on rather than side on.

What stands out for me with Buderus is his decision making, which is ahead of every other hooker in SL in my opinion. Very rarely takes the wrong option, reserves his scoots from acting half for when it's truly on and is quick to read what's happening in front of him.

Another tidy 80 minutes from Jones-Bishop too. Often with inexperienced players you're going to get mistakes to go along with moments of quality, particularly when they are in exposed positions like wing or full back. He's an instinctive runner with ball in hand but his effort to get back and bring down Tom Briscoe having packed at loose forward was the highlight play of the night for mine. May want to spend a little time in training working on getting underneath ball carriers close to the line though.

Little mention as well for the much maligned Ian Kirke. Not sure what the stats are going to show but I thought second half in particular he put his hand up on both sides of the game - carried well and defendly solidly, a couple of shuddering efforts on Craig Fitzgibbon in particular.

Leeds against Hull:

Brent Webb-Looked good again, linked well before injury.

Ben Jones-Bishop-Takes his chances! Great run on-to the King Kev flick. Reads the game ever so well. Looks the part.

Ryan Hall-Solid as always. His positioning seems a bit more clued up, but he hasn't been tested much in this area much yet.

Keith Senior-Ran strong, had a field day against Long.

Kallum Watkins-Saw another depth to him. Didn't get a great amount of space to weave his magic, but he was more than willing to cart the ball up, which is good to see.

Brett Delaney-Delaney looking effective in second row? Who would have suggested that? Me! Had his most effective game IMO, just one sloppy spill of the ball. But worked hard and looked to be enjoying himself before the injury.

Rob Burrow-Has come back to life, running at the line more, great distribution. Good kicking game again.

Kevin Sinfield-Kept the flow of what Leeds did well. And what about 'that flick'? A monumental level of skill - just deviated the ball to BJB. Sheer class. Always looked for an attacking option.

Jamie Jones-Buchanan-Great start to the season. Great tempo of charges, needs to make sure he's hitting the straps down the flanks though, but looks for work, which is great.

Carl Ablett-Had more of an impact than last week, shame about the knock.

Danny Buderus-Class. Knows when to run, knows when to wait. Another fine contribution.

Kylie Leuluai-Some huge hits, improved on last weeks game. Good impact considering he was on extended game time.

Luke Burgess-Another poweful performance. His first stint caught my eye.

Lee Smith-Shows the depth we have even with injuries, you can bring on Lee Smith. Webb's injury could have foxed some teams but the re-jig with BJB and Smith worked a treat. Smith didn't let anyone down.

Chris Clarkson-Sniffs stuff out and was solid.

Ian Kirke-Seemed to take the ball up a little more than usual but was dealt with quite easily.

Weller Hauraki-Nice debut score, nice to seem him get a run out and get to grips with our plays etc. Will give us plenty of options as the season moves on.

As for Hull - we dealt with their pack easily again. Whiting put a shift in, great determination in sticking BJB in the corner rather than the easy score under the sticks. Also saved a few trys. Long was awful, he didn't want to defend that right flank, was to blame for a few scores for failing to look to tackle or tracking back. He used to dictate a game, a spent force it looks like.

Kirke's stats:

23 tackles (+ 1 missed)
12 carries for 93m
Conceded 1 pen

Edit: I take back what I wrote last week about his go forward

Yes. I'd also question bluey's coaching decisions, especially when we had more fit bodies in the second half of the season. His selection was dictated by injuries at times.

I'm sure they did compliment each other. I'm sure they are both fine, upstanding pillars of society. After all that is what a believist supporter like me should think! 

What was the time when Delaney went off?

11 carries for 99 metres @ 9 m/c isnt bad going at all. Plus he'd already made 20 tackles by the time he went off. I think we have found a top 2nd row forward here.

Hall again was solid with 137 metres. Most of these come from driving the ball up to help out the forwards too.

Leuluai and Burgess making 114 & 111 metres each is good to see. And Kirke making 93 (shhh... dont let G1 find out) Shows that we have the forward power to cope without Peacock who did, to be fair, carry our pack for the last 2 years.