Re: Best Leeds halfback : Wed Dec 28, 2016 4:03 pm  

Iestyn had a body swerve that was almost impossible to read superb to watch when he was on his game. The Easter game at Odsal when it snowed comes to mind.

Re: Best Leeds halfback : Wed Dec 28, 2016 4:45 pm  

John Holmes. No pace but all the time in the world.

Re: Best Leeds halfback : Wed Dec 28, 2016 4:52 pm  

P. Entat or D. Lawford.

Re: Best Leeds halfback : Wed Dec 28, 2016 4:56 pm  

Holmes Schoey Lyons Maggsy Sinfield Harris Burrow Coleman Dick all deserve a mention in no particular order.

I would say Iestyn's best position was at 1 for Leeds.

Re: Best Leeds halfback : Wed Dec 28, 2016 5:00 pm  

Its a weird one because a lot of Leeds' best halves were arguably better in other positions, Schoey- centre, Kev- 13

I am a believer that you have to look at performances in big games, not just against the minnows, for that reason (counting Kev as 13) it has to be John Holmes, with Mags and Burrow as notable mentions

Re: Best Leeds halfback : Wed Dec 28, 2016 6:37 pm  

Schofield, closely followed by Harris.

McGuire, Burrow and Sinfield all had good attributes but none was really the complete half-back. McGuire came close in 2010 before his injury, but even then his electric pace had gone.

I didn't see Lyons, but I still have a bit of soft spot for Goulding during his brief time with us. Also Tony Kemp seemed to be a classy player who didn't really come at the best time at the club - the Bell years. Seem to recall he wasn't afraid to give it a bit of niggle with the big Bulls team of 1996+, which was amusing.

Re: Best Leeds halfback : Wed Dec 28, 2016 7:21 pm  

Lewis Jones for me. He had the lot in his prime and made it look so easy when he rally decided to turn it on. Also total poetry in motio.
Schoy and John Holmes tie as close seconds, both reading the game well. Holmes could put people in space with exquisitely timed passes an Schoenberg had that ability to make things happen out of nothing in an explosive manner when you could not anticipate it.

Re: Best Leeds halfback : Wed Dec 28, 2016 7:22 pm  

How did Gary Schofield become a modernist composer? Blooming predictive text.

Re: Best Leeds halfback : Wed Dec 28, 2016 7:47 pm  

Schofield when married with Goulding in 1991/92 was the very best half back partnership Leeds have had in my time watching them - Schofield was at his very best then even though the season as a whole ended up becoming a bit of a disaster.

It's disheartening to wonder what might have happened had Goulding not left. Schofield was never quite as consistently effective again for Leeds after that; it was right in the middle of an embarrassing sequence where we had a new scrum half at the start of every season and Bobby (as he was then) was the only one which really worked out.

Re: Nostalgic | Best Leeds Half Back : Wed Dec 28, 2016 11:06 pm  

Lewis jones was before my time, john Holmes for mine. Schofield was a great talent and a wonderful try scorer but I'd take Holmes and sinfield. They dragged teams over the line in big games and Holmes did a ton of tackling for years on end. Sinfield's cover tackle on eastmond won the 2011 GF and he produced that type of effort over and over again.
Schofield provided a lot of magic moments and you could argue he did not have some of the tough nuts supporting him that Holmes and sinfield did but they could really tough it out. Harris, McGuire and cliff Lyons were all top draw.