I saw Maggsy after game on Fri and he looked to be walking fine so hopefully back next week.

Meh, we beat and nilled Salford whilst he was still here and he played vs Wakey at wing, centre and FB during the game when won comfortably so a bit harsh to put it on him.

He has the ability. Look at the wigan game, he took control a number of times - doing great kicks into touch at the right times. He really has a feel for the pace of the game. Other times he'd jump in at dummy half and get things moving at the right time. Some of it was really sinfield esk. He's 19, he only made his first appearence towards the end of last season so we can't expect him to be gliding round the pitch controlling every blade of grass like stacey jones or something. But I'm sure if we stick with him until 23/24 he'll become a good dictator halfback. Put someone with pace in alongside him at that time and we'll have a great pairing.

Exactly. He's played 20 games this year including a WCC, invaluable experience and probably 3 times as many games as he would've expected to play this year. And let's not forget most of those were without a quality number 9 which can only help your halves....last two weeks you could see him going on autopilot jumping into dummy half when Segeyaro was there to do the job and he hasn't had to be involved in the 'hiding 3 HB's in defence' issue.

Tricky to learn whilst the season is in progress at that age. A full preseason behind him to look back, review and work on his performances this season and will be very interesting to see how he's developed for 2017.

I'm optimistic for the lads future if we stick with him.

Not putting it all on him at all but he has been one of our worst players this year. Not sure of your point here? Do you want me to list all the games he played in this year that we lost?

Still to see anything from Lilley that suggests he is anything more than a shirt filler until something better turns up at Headingley. Leeds need a quality half-back to lead them back to SL respectability and no part of his game convinces me he's close to providing it. His lack of pace both with and without the ball is really scary in a 19 year old and he doesn't have the game to begin to compensate for that.

No don't want you to list games he played.....just pointing out the claim the upturn started after he left is incorrect....and also first 5/6 games he was one of the better performers actually, although that's not saying much. (Away to Wigan he was one of very few who didn't give up and stopped us from being nilled with his try at the end)

What 19 year old does? (Anybody would think Luke Gale was at his current level at 19) He's played a key part in the tries and the few wins we've had this year in a poor performing side. Let's list the number of 19 year HB's who've done that in SL.............

If the lad can play a decent (yet admittedly needs to learn) part at 19, what can he do at 22/23 with another 75/100 games behind him? Like pointed out, no different to Gale except he's come along at the right time to get first team chances.

You are going off at a tangent. Where did I mention "the upturn started"?

I said "In my view it is no coincidence that team spirit has improved since he departed" So I think you missed the point.

It would take longer to list the games this year where he played badly!

I'd rather have a halfback who has some kind of idea how to run a game than some headless chicken with bags of pace. SL produces loads of the latter, very very few of the former. I've no idea if Lilley will make it, but halfbacks with his kind of attitude and eye for the game are what SL is desperately short of.

Good luck to Lilley i hope he makes it but as ive said i just havent seen much to say hes the player others are making him out to be.

To say hes better than Gale was at 19 because hes played SL is not a fair comparison. Gale had Sinfield Maggsy and Burrow in their prime and was never gonna get a game at 19. If he had he would have performed better than Lilley has in my opinion. His passing, kicking and running skills were much higher.

Lilley is said to be an organiser but there is a world of difference between an organising scrum half and a lad stood there pointing for no reason. How many tries has he created this year??? Ive seen 2. One on opening night v Wire for Hall and one at Hudds in cup for Keinhorst. How many clean breaks has he made???

Now given all that he is very young, he has a great attitude, there are improvements to be clearly seen in his defence. Hes been in a struggling team through no fault of his which must of made his job difficult.

I hope the kid makes it but he looks no better than lads like Gavin Brown, Gareth Moore etc to me who ended up in the Championship.

This is a very good point, Sutcliffe has rarely stepped up to take control of the last tackle plays all year at either half back or full back. I can't imagine this is part of McDermott's game plan as when Sutcliffe does kick he kicks very well, certainly better than some of the attempts we saw on Friday.