tigertot wrote:
I'm not 'picking' on anyone. We are not in the school playground. Defending a HB for a few conversions is desperate stuff. Burrows & Maguire exhibited brilliance at 19, Lilley nothing but mediocrity.
FWIW Hall was dreadful, the worst game I have seen him have play. But he has shown he is the WBW for many years. Hardaker is still mentally naïve but the best FB in SL. Neither of these going to prevent Leeds retaining their crowns. Having no 7&9 will.
Mcguire and Burrow were special though, both absolutley rapid and an ability to split even international defences with the ease that shawn Johnson can now, had Mcguire not had so many big injuries from 2010 onward I think he would have developed as Englands best half in a long time
What you need to remember though is that most halves are not ready at 19 or even 21, just look at the top halves in the NRL now and when they had there breakout year:
Thurston was 23, Reynolds was 23, Ben hunt was 24...
it can take a while to develop and imo a lack of reserve grade and impatiece is what stops SL from developing any World Class haves
as for Hardaker and Hall, just remember they both started last year poorly as well (probably due to internationals) but came good later
