: Tue Apr 07, 2009 11:41 am  

tvoc wrote:

No doubt. Your new coach is about as subtle as a brick sometimes.

Warrington will thank him in the long run though.

Strange though that Smith appeared to value Gleeson so highly during the World Cup, even favouring him for the crucial stand off role at one point.

IMO this may be down to the different nature of club and country coaching. When you're the national coach and only have a player for 3-4 weeks so how well they train is unlikely to be as important and/or prominent as how they play in the big games.

Also you'd expect most players (even those with alleged questionable attitudes) to train harder when trying to win a place in the national side rather than the week in week out training at a club in which they are the "star" player and guaranteed a starting place.

: Tue Apr 07, 2009 12:00 pm  

leicester_rhino wrote:

Its also not like a 100m sprinter (Dwayne Chambers) could hack it at RL

Well, it depends how you look at it. Compared to other players with zero rugby experience, he got a lot further in the professional game than those who weren't 100m sprinters

: Tue Apr 07, 2009 12:09 pm  

Watkins needs to put on a stone and a half, which he will. As Richie says, the increased muscle mass will equal more power, and certainley won't slow him down too much.

: Tue Apr 07, 2009 12:26 pm  

Watkins needs to develop skills and experience far more than he needs to put weight on. Why would he need to put weight on? Nothing wrong with extra strength but that doesn't mean extra weight is the answer.

And as for Ade Gardner, he's never been able to take anyone on the outside - the only fullback he could run around is in the same team as him.

: Tue Apr 07, 2009 12:35 pm  

Dave Heron's Moustache wrote:

the only fullback he could run around is in the same team as him.

While probably true it didn't appear to prevent him making a monkey out of Leeds' right sided defence on Sunday.