Re: Jack Walker : Wed Jul 18, 2018 9:08 am  

Mental to be judging walker so harshly. Comparing him to blokes twice his age!

Re: Jack Walker : Wed Jul 18, 2018 9:12 am  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

Better today I'd say yes. Quinlan would get a game in an emergency in the NRL (and has previously), Walker wouldn't get a look in. Next year and beyond with some weight put on hopefully Walker's way better.

I really think a lot of its physique, and Slater's a really good comparison - if you look at his build now vs when he first started, he looks like he ate his teenage self, which in part reflects how the game's far more physical for backs than it was even a decade ago (Matty Bowen did the same). Hopefully Walker will be able to do the same without losing agility, because he'll then be able to run the ball back without getting smashed and also use his speed and footwork to break the line.

He doesn't get 'smashed' half as much as you are making out, do you get to watch the rhinos games in Australia?

Re: Jack Walker : Wed Jul 18, 2018 9:32 am  

He'll get the Sky games. Obviously he has limited viewing of Walker.

Re: Jack Walker : Wed Jul 18, 2018 1:46 pm  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

If he can't accept criticism then he'll never be as good as he could be.

Sorry Brisbane. I enjoy your posts usually and know you're giving your opinion on this but the above line is somewhat delusional. Criticism on a message board is not going to make any player better. And we don't know what the coaching staff say behind closed doors. The impression I get from him, from the odd convo, is he's very level headed and determined to be the best player he can be. I agree he's behind other fullbacks in the league, but Sinfield, Peacock, McGuire, Burrow, Sculthorpe, Morley etc weren't world beaters in their second seasons. Yeah, he's got a long way to go to be a truly top player but he's got the time to do it. Put him in a team that's competitive and he'll be better, instead of one regularly playing on the back foot. All of the full backs you mentioned would struggle to look as good in this team

Re: Jack Walker : Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:37 pm  

He's played reasonably well in what's been a mediocre Leeds team. The question isn't really whether Walker will get better, it's whether the team will. If it does, I don't see a problem. If it doesn't, I don't really see him doing so - unless he leaves.

Re: Jack Walker : Wed Jul 18, 2018 8:53 pm  

chapylad wrote:

Where is he being made a scapegoat?

Well he’s the only player to have a 10 page thread about him

Re: Jack Walker : Wed Jul 18, 2018 9:23 pm  

Sir Kevin Sinfield wrote:

Well he’s the only player to have a 10 page thread about him

Ironically started to counter the constant negativity about our players - obviously didn’t last long.

Re: Jack Walker : Thu Jul 19, 2018 3:40 am  

I'll happily admit to being hopelessly wrong about young players. I posted on here way back that Leeds should dump the young JJB because he was injury prone. I also wasn't convinced Ryan Hall was a world class player for a long time. OTOH I think I thought Marcus Vass was going to be good, and desperately wanted stormin Norman Francis to be a star because I loved watching him in the A Team despite the evidence being he really wasn't that good.

Mind you, I was right about Richard Gunn. He had a very square head which I didn't like, so I decided he was going to be rubbish. Which he was.

[Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino]

Re: Jack Walker : Thu Jul 19, 2018 10:40 am  

Hopefully we recruit a good coach who can improve the team, get us motivated and playing to our strengths again. Once the team as a whole is improved I'm sure we'll see an upswing from the younger guys who have been badly let down by some of the more senior players recently.

Re: Jack Walker : Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:05 am  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

I'll happily admit to being hopelessly wrong about young players. I posted on here way back that Leeds should dump the young JJB because he was injury prone. I also wasn't convinced Ryan Hall was a world class player for a long time. OTOH I think I thought Marcus Vass was going to be good, and desperately wanted stormin Norman Francis to be a star because I loved watching him in the A Team despite the evidence being he really wasn't that good.

Mind you, I was right about Richard Gunn. He had a very square head which I didn't like, so I decided he was going to be rubbish. Which he was.

I'm pretty sure I also bagged JJB when he was a young player, IIRC for his injury record and propensity to drop the ball, and later for the bizarre coaching move of playing him as a prop forward. Really came into his own around 2007-8, and I remember being happy to have been proven wrong! Likewise, I also regret bagging Stevie Ward when he was struggling for form a few years ago (before some of the bigger injuries he later sustained).

I think most fans could learn to be a bit more patient with players, especially those early in their careers. It's unfortunate that younger players can sometimes come under such intense (and unfair) scrutiny - typically because they have been over-hyped, play in an important position, or the team as a whole isn't playing well.