Tend to agree with that POV. Smiths an improvement on Sykes/platt but not a big enough one to warrant having all three on books taking cap space. Wouldmaybe make sense if he was replacing one of them.

He might not be a great centre but he's better than either Sykes or Platt. He's a better fullback and would provide good cover for Kearney who does tend to pick up a knock every so often. He may even prove to be a better centre than Purtell who's rated more highly as a winger by a lot of Penrith fans.

If the price is right then sign him. However I still think we're short of a decent forward and that would be my main priority.

I'd say we already have our perfect fullback cover in Elliot Kear. We also have cover for centres/wings in Sykes, Crookes and Platt. Why waste precious cap space on Lee Smith?

Fair enough, his form before he went to union was very impressive, but the reality of the situation is that ever since he came back to league he has gotten steadily worse, to the point he is at now where he can't get anywhere near the leeds starting 17. No thanks.

I dunno, I still rate him as better than Sykes, Crookes or Platt. He has deteriorated since he came back from union. Perhaps a Leeds fan could give us an unbiased opinion based on what they've seen of him on a regular basis?

Looked unfit & overweight when he came back. He looked to have lost weight by the last home league match v Wakey but looked ordinary against poor opposition.

Was that at "HQ"

Rather.

Doesn't Brian McDermott's opinion carry enough weight?

I personally thought he looked good against wakey in our last home game of the year, chimed in well in offence, and as a Leeds fan I wouldn't want him to leave us.
Yes he hasn't been as impressive since his return from union but i would like to see him give it another year at headingley. If you sign him would be a good buy in my opinion. Big mates with scroots as well

IMO the club missed a trick in not giving Smith a permanent position at Leeds. Had Leeds not pulled out the stops to keep Webb, Smith might be our regular FB now. Instead he's been shifted to the wing and then centre. I'd like us to give him a chance to compete for a place and could still be a long term replacement for Webb at FB. Something would have to change drastically in his attitude though as on the whole he's been a shadow of his former self since coming back from Wasps. Perhaps a change of scene would do him good though!

I'm sure he'll enjoy the banter in training with Diskin.

of course you were Pinocchio


i'm glad that all these hostilities were sorted out then and just in the nick of time too judging by the way all the players/squad members and coaching staff hugged mac at the final whistle at this years gf then eh?



if i was you i would stick to gossiping about those rumors regarding your neighbours on your street pal

Wake up boy, that was posted on the 24th of August, where are we now, near the end of October. Which puts that post just about where I told you that McDermott was your scapegoat, and you came back with no denial whatsoever. what your quote did not pick up is the footnote on the post: "Crude and slow Whino, your attack was no better than that of a clumsy child." and you delivered just as predicted.

Firstly i'd like to congratulate Leeds on their Grand Final success, the coaching set up and team clearly got it spot on and as said numerous times "its not how you start its how you finish" as was the case with ourselves in 2005...

As for your idiotic post which you acuse me lying for the sheer sake of it.

The source who i refer to who i'm not going to name stated to me in person that there was disharmony within your club following the appointment of McDermott and i've no reason to disbelieve him given his connections. Lets be honest, you lot were calling for his head mid season! This was not my view i was just sharing it on here.

And as for Jonesy, he aint no legend....

Re the above few quotes I thought that sinfield etc eluded to the fact there were some issues within the squad regarding roles etc and cross and burgess going seemed to suggest getting rid of the niggle. Not too sure it was all to do with Brian, and any disharmony seemed to get sorted out.

I've heard that a lot of the problems stemmed from the previous regime and that it's just taken some time to get through some tough times. Sinfield has denied this in a post match interview but I wouldn't expect anything less.

The problems are well documented. Namely the fractious Oz/Kiwi camp split involving previous coach, Eastwood, Buderus, Poching et al. And the split wasn't quite how everyone would imagine I gather!

Clearly the disruptive elements have gone and well done to Brian Mac. I do recall at the very start of the year saying he would do a good job there. I hate to say it but.......

You don't though, do you?

i'd argue that the disharmony within the camp that you refer to,was more related to the previous regime in charge of the coaching set-up than the appointment of brian mac,hence why bluey, willie and franny have since left the club.

judging by the way the clubs fortunes have been so rapidly turned around during his first season in charge would indicate that your source was incorrect would it not and that mac actually remedied this disharmony?


how many fans would "you lot" equate to?
i'll admit that there was a minority of young and idiotic morons in our south stand that took to booing mac when things weren't going too well.the more seasoned supporters who have stood on the terraces prior to 2004 have witnessed far worse than our early to mid seasons performances

So are we signing Lee Smith or what?

Nope!

I remember reading a contentious tweet from smithy basically ridiculing the fact that Luke burgess couldn't make the rhino's team but was ripping up trees in the NRL! I don't think tweets like this from lee's twitter account help him in the popularity stakes with Brian mc, however I don't think Brian makes his team selection personal it's just that smithy ain't got what it takes to get into the rhino's team not when the young guns are streets ahead of him

Who?

Yeah I saw that tweet and as I'm based over here I've obviously submerged myself in NRL I've seen burgess in action. Made good meters looked good in defence but in souths must win game to make the play offs he came up with errors that cost souths the game. Luke will need to sort his game out big time. He won't last five mins in a Madge team with those errors in his game.

By Lee Smiths logic when all was said and done Mac new best, Mac had the last laugh.

Agree re Luke Burgess's last game, although to be fair he didn't lose the game all on his own - Sandow and Isaac Luke were dreadful. Luke B does need to work on ball security generally (as does Sam BTW) and also cut out the 'no look' offloads, which nearly always end up with the ball on the deck.