: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:02 am  

what about smith our no. 3?

I'm confident in a fully fit squad he is more than capable than pulling his weight

: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:03 am  

Centres are irrelevant. The spine of the team 1,6, 7, 9, 13 are what brings success. You spend your cap and put quality players there and fill in around them.

That is what someone very wise said.

Our centres this year are good enough to win the league just as they were last year.

: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:17 am  

G1 wrote:

Centres are irrelevant. The spine of the team 1,6, 7, 9, 13 are what brings success. You spend your cap and put quality players there and fill in around them.

That is what someone very wise said.

Our centres this year are good enough to win the league just as they were last year.

Just imagine Saints without Gidley - no drop in performance or attacking potential!!

I disagree with gareth - the centres are your most potent attacking weapons and amongst your strongest defenders - quality centres are hard to find - the reason why Ablett/Watkins can fill in is because there are no decent centres - Gidley apart in the league - as soon as they came up against a couple of serious centres in Lyon and Matai they didn't look quite upto.

: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:19 am  

Unckle John wrote:

what about smith our no. 3?

I'm confident in a fully fit squad he is more than capable than pulling his weight

I'm confident he'll give his all in his third choice position at Leeds also. I'd still rather see him on the wing in place of Hall when Webb is back up to speed though.

I'm also confident that I've yet to see him start a game for Leeds at right centre (and only twice at left), so perhaps you'll allow me to hold off from anointing him as the new Syd Hynes just yet.

G1 wrote:

The spine of the team 1,6, 7, 9, 13 are what brings success. You spend your cap and put quality players there and fill in around them.

That is what someone very wise said.

And I would agree with every word that poster said, he sounds a handsome fella as well.

I would still add though, that when a team is deficient in a position and when salary cap space is available, that I would like to see that money used in that area rather than sat in the bank gathering dust and not much else.

: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:30 am  

Another issue, besides the fact that we're developing what I believe are two of the most gifted young backs in the country, is that as previously stated, good centres are a pretty rare commodity. If we were going to displace Watkins and Gibson, it'd need to be with somebody pretty top class. There are few around, and the clubs that have them are unlikely to just hand them over because we make an offer.[/u]

: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:41 am  

expatrhino wrote:

Or stick with what we used to win a Grand Final, allowing us to bring Gibson, Watkins and maybe Ratu(although the latter seems unlikely)through. Which is what our current success is based on. Youth development.

What's happened to him?


I was really disappointed when he left Wigan scholarship for Leeds.

: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:45 am  

I disagree with G1 here.

Last year we suffered when Toopi was missing during the regular season and CC IIRC for two reasons. One was defensive exposure - clubs started to target our right side defence and it started to pay off for them. Another was a lack of attacking options. We were over-reliant on the Senior-Donald combination on the left, and offered little on the right, particularly in bigger games such as the Saints CC defeat. Clubs soon realised that if they were able to stop our left side combination the Leeds attack was severelly weakened.

I agree on the importance of 1, 6, 7 and 9 in the modern game (not sure of the importance of 13 outside Sinfield's role at Leeds), but saying that the outside backs and forwards don't matter is ridiculous. Without Peacock and Senior Leeds are IMO a much lesser team - your model misrepresents the situation.

: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:47 am  

El Diablo wrote:

Another issue, besides the fact that we're developing what I believe are two of the most gifted young backs in the country, is that as previously stated, good centres are a pretty rare commodity. If we were going to displace Watkins and Gibson, it'd need to be with somebody pretty top class. There are few around, and the clubs that have them are unlikely to just hand them over because we make an offer.[/u]

St Helens didn't just hand over Martin Gleeson to Warrington but the move still happened. Players still occasionally move when contracted. I'd be looking towards Castleford (currently looking for funding) to see if Shenton could become available anytime soon for the right price.

Apparently the WCC is a big money spinner to the English club involved (I think someone wise said that on here recently) it would be a shame to see those proceeds just sit in a bank account somewhere losing money.

If looking overseas Australia is literally full of players better than Gibson will ever now become. Plenty of Aussies seem to like giving SL a look up for a couple of seasons.

: Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:50 am  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

What's happened to him?


I was really disappointed when he left Wigan scholarship for Leeds.

Didn't he go to Doncaster?

: Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:18 pm  

Trimalchio wrote:

I disagree with G1 here.

Last year we suffered when Toopi was missing during the regular season and CC IIRC for two reasons. One was defensive exposure - clubs started to target our right side defence and it started to pay off for them. Another was a lack of attacking options. We were over-reliant on the Senior-Donald combination on the left, and offered little on the right, particularly in bigger games such as the Saints CC defeat. Clubs soon realised that if they were able to stop our left side combination the Leeds attack was severelly weakened.

I agree on the importance of 1, 6, 7 and 9 in the modern game (not sure of the importance of 13 outside Sinfield's role at Leeds), but saying that the outside backs and forwards don't matter is ridiculous. Without Peacock and Senior Leeds are IMO a much lesser team - your model misrepresents the situation.

6,7,9 and 13 have been the consistents in this Leeds team since 2004. Outside backs and props have come and gone. 6,7,9 and 13 are contracted for some time to come.

Of course you want quality players in the front row and centre position. However, they're not essential to winning league titles.

We won one with Danny Ward, we won one Chev Walker and we won with Carl Ablett. None of these are the greatest in the world at the positions they play.