Great servant to the club and great player but I am afraid Lockers has Paul Sculthorpe written all over him. He's never fit and when he is he gets injured within 5 minutes. Completely innocuous challenge at magic weekend. Thanks you've been a top player Sean but hang those boots up.

I genuinely would have considered dropping him anyway after his performance against Hull. He was atrocious.

Sadly, I agree

He certainly should retire from International RL to try to prolong his SL career like Peacock did. It's difficult to see him still being in the England team let alone captain at the 2017 World Cup.

Last year he played 20 out of 34 games, his worst return since 2008 when he picked up a season-ending injury. He is currently on 9 out of 15. I'd argue if he keeps playing 60% of games then I'm happy with him. I think we have missed a trick not moving him to hooker when McIlorum got injured to be honest. We have seen with Leeds what happens when leaders leave before others are ready to take over, so giving Sam Tomkins another year to settle in, and Williams another year to mature, before they have to take over leadership surely wouldn't hurt.

For me JB is our 'Captain in Waiting' and the natural successor to SoL. Aggressive, but fair, and leads by example. Watching him, both on the field, and when behind the sticks, he seems to be a good motivator, especially for the forwards. Let Sam lead and organise the backs.

Bateman is undoubtedly a very good player, but I've got him in the MM category of 'too uncontrolled to put in charge' at the moment to be honest. A prime example being v Salford last year when he came off the bench, got straight into a fight, got sin binned as a result, returned from the sin bin, got straight into a fight, got dismissed as a result, then tried to continue the fight on the sidelines. We were missing a few that day and lost by 6, we could have really done with him on the pitch and offering leadership, but he was more interested in pursuing a personal battle. Not someone I would trust to have a cool head in a heated situation or be our main point of contact with the referee. However, he is only 22 so I can see him maturing and potentially taking the captaincy in 5 years or so when Sam Tomkins calls it a day.

Sam Tomkins to be the captain for me. Already seems to be the most vocal with our players and officials. Smart player with a massive desire to win. One the most experienced players in our squad with both NRL and international caps. Sadly I can see Bateman leaving in the next few years for the NRL.

Agree with the above. Tomkins will most likely now be at Wigan for the rest of his career, he is a natural leader on the field and matured in the NRL.

Bateman will be away within 2 seasons.

The only way I can see us giving him the role is if it was a clincher in him signing a long deal with us without any NRL clause on it.

Yep so agree with Tomkins as future captain. Bateman is very vocal too on the field so it all helps really.
Wonder if they would revisit that Leadership group (Sam, Bateman, Joel, Faz....etc)?

This subject rears it's head quite a few times a season but it is a very relevant subject. For me yes i agree, i think it's time to retire for both him and the club's sake. He has lost any pace he had, his aggression is still there but it is littered with bad passes, penalties and constantly jawing at the ref's now. It is time to retire for me certainly. We aren't missing what he brings to the table any more. i think from the club's point of view, every season is built around him but we can't rely on him on the field any more (when he is fit enough to get on it) and need to look to move forward. I don't like the idea of Bateman at 13, i would like to see a seasoned, experienced NRL type of loose forward here to take up the mantle.

On the subject of future captain. 100% Sam. He has matured an awful lot in the last few years, is highly experienced in the big matches and he seems to now talk to the ref's in a considered manner rather than an aggressive and childish one he used to do.

Peacock was one of the worst disciplined players in SL but was a great player and captain. He also got sin binned for fighting plenty of times. Ditto Andy Farrell.

Sinfield had no pace and chirped at the ref every 5 minutes but was a great player and captain.

I'd class Peacock is a good cool head under pressure though. He will stand up for himself and his team mates in fights obviously but I tend to think that's when it is required of him to be an enforcer (e.g when Fielden got floored) rather than when the opposition have managed to get under his skin. You can't really put Peacock off his game like that, but you can with Bateman.

Farrell was a brilliant player, lead by example and him rollocking the team under the sticks was crowd pleasing, but controversially I'm not convinced his 'shout at everyone' style of captaincy was very effective. I suppose it's difficult not to give a player the captaincy when he is a miles better player than those around him though.

Sinfield - I've no idea what his pace has to do with it. Again, he was a cool head under pressure, no issue with him talking to the referee, I don't recall him ever giving away a penalty for dissent or appearing out of control. He is likely someone the referees could communicate effectively with. I can't say the same for Bateman at this stage.

I recall Sinfield getting a red card for head butting someone not so long ago.

It's pretty clear that, either together or individually, Peacock and Sinfield provided what Leeds are sorely lacking at present - and that is quality leadership.

Faz's shouty style was more from the Alex Murphy school of captaincy, and the trouble with that is if that's all you've got where do you when the players get used to it? That, for me, is why Murph ultimately got found out as a coach. But as you stay, Faz was so much better than everyone else around him that he was a towering figure and an obvious skipper.

I preferred the Hanley approach myself, which was to maintain a constant dialogue with the ref and rather than publically bollock his players if they got things wrong, have a quiet and encouraging word with them. I know he gave out team rollockings, but that's fair enough as no individual was being humiliated.