exactly!! What makes George Riley an "expert" on rugby league. As far as I can tell he is a fan, but other than being a news reader I am not sure what other expertise does he bring?

From that article on the BBC "experts" choices, Dave Woods has picked Ryan Hall for his contribution in the wrong competition, and James Deighton admits to be being biased to Yorkshire clubs.

How can anyone say " Its a joke 'X' player isnt in the squad'. Its decided my numerous members of the media, no one organisation been bias, unlucky maybe but not a joke.

As a Leeds fan:

I see Kallum Watkins very lucky to be in the squad. He is always dangerous with ball in hand but for me his mind has been elsewhere for a number of weeks now, Joel Moon has been way ahead of him from a club point of view never mind SL.

Hall, well he is your modern winger. Where the days of tries scored are no longer the main focal point, that is the biggest point that 95% contributors to this thread are forgetting. The exact reason why Tom Briscoe is now ahead of Jones-Bishop at Leeds. Its the tough carries and defensive work that is held in higher regard. The game is without doubt won and lost in the forwards and the work Hall does for Leeds is incredible. Sure Monaghan will show he has made more metres, but how many of those were clean breaks fed on a plate and how many was with 3,4,5 players on his back?
Prime example of my point is when Leeds played Saints in the Challenge cup, Hall destroyed Saints' right edge single handedly and Nathan Brown himself said Hall is the best winger on the planet, and guess what? Hall didn't score a try that day either!! To quote "I've been following this game for a long, long time and I don't think I've ever seen a better winger. "He's big and when you see wingers of that size, they don't have his game sense or canniness.

Ablett - If you have seen a lot of him to be able to cast judgement, and you do not agree that he should be in the dream team, then I'm afraid you're stupid. I think he is a player for what ever reason opposition fans choose to ignore. He has been ignored for so long until the last couple of seasons when the media have started to see his contribution, which is immense. For me he is a close 2nd to Leeds' player of the year. (he actually came 3rd at Leeds' award dinner last night). I can guarantee Ablett has caused your side problems this season, He shows up in all the big games and often bags himself a try. Cracking player.

You mean other than (at least) one selector who has openly admitted to being totally biased to Yorkshire clubs, and didnt select one player from outside of West Yorkshire?

Key word: One.

not sure if it's an indication to the selection of the dream team, but looking at the goldthorpe medal table, only 5 of the dream team are in the top 20 of that table,kevin brown at no.2(27 points) daryl clark no.4 (24),matty smith no.10(17) chris hill no.16(13) and elliot whitehead at no.20(12)

no leeds player in the top 20, sinfield is the highest placed leeds player at 24(11)
of the other players
hardaker no.12 (11)
shenton no.29(10)
o'loughlin no.30(10)
peacock no.35 (9)
watkins no.41 (9)
hall no.50 (icon_cool.gif
makinson no.99 (4)
ablett no.190 (1 point)

the goldthorpe medal is a joke, well the scoring is, and i've told sadler that over on total rl.

I've seen over the last few years since it was introduced, the wire put a hurting on teams and just because when we've played bradford, sammut has done one of his weaving runs or a kick and chase which came to nowt, he got either the one or two points out of sympathy. or cos it was flashy even though it came to nowt.

Likewise i think wire are 4th in the table over all for this, we've not got anyone in the top ten.

He's made more errors because he's made nearly 200 more carries! And Monaghan's played in the centres a fair few times this year hasn't he, which would explain why he's made more tackles.

But does the dream team really mean that much anyway?!

Err....no. The only extra Cas player I've said should be in is Sneyd ahead of Brown. I said Lynch deserved a place but Hill and Peacock are always going to be ahead, so how am I biased? If that was the case, I'd have selected Huby, Millington, Lynch, Carney?

As for your comment regarding Leeds, perhaps that's because 38% of the team is made up of Leeds players and they have the most players in, most of which are contentious and shouldn't. And unless I'm mistaken Brown (as per above) and Sean O'Loughlin both don't play for Leeds do they?

Said no issue with Hardaker being in though does raise issue about consistency in choices (Walsh should be in); Hall shouldn't be in plain and simple, ditto Watkins and Ablett. Those three are the ones I'd take out (that's my opinion). Nothing to do with bias. I've provided alternatives I'd choose, feel free to disqualify them at your will.

When did the super league dream team get picked based on personality? Hardaker may be a grade 1 a r c e o l e, but he's definitely the best full back in super league.

There only contentious and shouldn't be in,in your opinion, and a few others, who are only complaining because they are Leeds players.

With my mods cap on, if you're gonna try and bypass the swear filter, at least spell the swear word correctly fella.

Kinda defeats the point other wise.

No one is complaining because they are "Leeds players."

They are complaining because they weren't the best players in their respective positions to warrant being included in the so-called "best team" of SL players, and that includes other players too.

The fact is that Leeds, who have been largely mediocre this season, have players included that tie into that tag in terms of their form; up and down but generally average. Most people are supportive of Peacock and are open on Hardaker being included.

But surely you can admit there is a case for other players? In my opinion, Leeds players have been judged on their CC form, which defies the concept. Interesting stat tonight on Backchat that Hall hadn't scored a try in 70 days before last weekend. His inclusion is odd when you think that Charnley, who has missed 11 games, has still managed to outscore him.

As I've pointed out, I certainly didn't single out just "Leeds players" as you claim. I went down each position and provided my opinion and as I've pointed out O'Loughlin, a Wigan player, shouldn't be in either. Otherwise, Walsh should be scrum half.