Dead wood out?! : Mon Aug 27, 2012 1:20 am  

After being comprehensively beaten on Saturday, is it time for GH/BM to take a good look at the squad and have a clear out?

Obviously we have our stalwarts (KS,RB,JP,DMc), some players approaching their peak, some great young future internationals and then there is a few that just are not up to it after having more than a fair chance to shine.

Ryan Bailey - Has to be the worst player in SL for silly penalties. Big guy, but doesn't use his size or strength to great advantage and cares to bully the little guys, only for his ar*e to fall out when the big guns arrive.

Weller Hauraki - Sorry, not enough time to list his weaknesses, GOT TO GO!!

Chris Clarkson - Still young with plenty of potential but are their signs of him ever showing his best on a consistent basis? Has been in and out the team but just cant hold down a regular place.

Darrell Griffin - Again a big and strong powerful lad but is he really making the difference we need when he comes off the bench?

Richard Moore - Yet again a huge human being, hasn't had many chances, but hasn't played that badly when he has. But surely we would get more out of having Kyle Amor back?

Ian Kirke - Again has been in and out of the team for a number of seasons now. Never really stood out on a regular basis and cant seem to maintain any consistent form.

I'm not for one minute saying we can just go and make wholesale changes to the squad within a matter of months, but surely these are some of the players GH/BM need to be looking at to move on at some stage and trying to improve the squad.

Anyone tend to agree?

Re: Dead wood out?! : Mon Aug 27, 2012 3:55 am  

yeah but like you say a top quality pack is hard to replace instantly and not always available.

I think it would take some transfer fees and an element of risk to assemble one, I dont know who you would keep peacock n sinfield? or who else knocking on the door from the academy ?

It has been a while since a leeds pack has dominated a top 4 side which i feel they need to do in order to get their backs into the game as i think that they dont have the ability to break from inside their own 20 and score on a regular basis

Re: Dead wood out?! : Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:39 am  

Jesus Christ - we lose one game, albeit a very important game. but still only one game and this board gets infected with posters who believe we should clear out half of a Championship winning team.

We need one or two class forwards and that's about it!

No so long ago I questioned a statement that G1 made about some fans not deserving to support this current Leeds team - with threads like this I'm starting to think he's right.

Re: Dead wood out?! : Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:47 am  

The back 3 in the pack are an issue for me, it's nots the worst in the world But they for me are all similar workman like, could do with some line breaking ability back there.

As for Saturday JP was the best forward for leeds

Re: Dead wood out?! : Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:53 am  

Im yet to see Ryan baileys booty fall out in a big game, hes been a very good performer this year, even though the side has been inconsistant. JJb to me is a big offender when it comes to giving away silly penalties.

Look at the tactics for saturday, to me it looked like we prepared for a wet weather arm wrestle we got that for about 10 minutes, having jimmy on the bench was a waste of an interchange, ward is a back rower imo, we got the ball to watkins three times, once he got on the outside and got tackled into touch, and the two other times he scored two tries.

I agree the likes of weller, moore, kirke, clarky etc could be replaced but tbh theyre squad players who dont always play every week, and moore and kirke have been doing a decent job this year.

Id give Griffin a starting role next season and bring back amor and rotate jp and kylie accordingly ( JP was our best on sat imo). Also bring in a new centre or give jimmy the off season and give him the left centre.

Re: Dead wood out?! : Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:58 am  

Regarding kirke, he is probably performing better now than I have seen him play in a while, and he isn't first choice but squad player

Re: Dead wood out?! : Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:52 am  

Ferdy wrote:

Regarding kirke, he is probably performing better now than I have seen him play in a while, and he isn't first choice but squad player

This. I'd never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I would more than likely keep him at HQ, unless we signed someone better and he became a waste of cap space.

Re: Dead wood out?! : Mon Aug 27, 2012 10:09 am  

Agree with the comment re Ward. Would rather see him play 13.

Re: Dead wood out?! : Mon Aug 27, 2012 10:19 am  

We brought in Griffin and Moore to strengthen our prop forward department & you are now suggesting releasing them, and 2 more props - unbelievable.

Kirke has been good this year and deserves his spot in the side on merit - he's a squad player but a useful one to have around who makes few errors and seems to have a good work ethic and be a good guy in the dressing room.

Bailey has been one of better forwards in the last 3 years despite having a pretty average time in Challenge Cup Finals.

Moore I never really understood. I guess he has helped with rotation but I'd have been happy to see SIngleton get his minutes.

Griffin has disappointed me after a good start despite some glimpses of excellence but is a steady prop.

If we release these 4 and then Peacock and Leuluai retire in 12 & 24 months we'd be looking awful in that department. Experienced prop forwards don't grow on trees and add a high quality one to that lot such as Burgess,Graham or Peacock in his prime and they'd look a good bunch.

One quality signing rather than wholesale changes for me

Re: Dead wood out?! : Mon Aug 27, 2012 10:41 am  

With Achurch coming in id also recall Amor AND Mcshane.
If we can't sign another forward i'd hope to see Singleton get more mninutes and a new deal for Daniel Smith with the latter hopefully at least getting a dual reg with a short notice recall for certain games.
I've loved watching Kylie and he like others who have played a huge part in making history deserve a HOF place but for me he should be released.
Now we all JP is a Legend pure and simple but if he's to stay then surely he should rotated on a more regular basis and not flogged for 60mins week in week out.
Some big calls need making imo and a simple 1/2 in 1/2 out wont be good enough to get a top 3 spot we should either give the 4 shirt to Keinhorst and back him or sign someone else with quality and get Abbo back in the BR asap because i think we need competition for paces there and there's been too much work-load on Jjb and Delaney.
Bailey is a prop and should be put there and kept there we did well with him at 13 at times but overall i think he should be at Prop.
I think Griffin should stay and although Moore has done well if Mc thinks Kirke is better then he'd be beter off leaving and use one of te youngsters for rotation i.e Singleton.
Is it an over-reaction to a one off final defeat?
Absolutely not imo its been coming for 2 years/18months they've done great to win another GF and a WCC and make 2 CC finals but does that mean we should keep them all when they are clearly inconsistent and towards the end of their careers its a no for me.
Players like Barrie Mc ,Senior ,Webb ,Ali were all released or refused longer deals they were seeking so i think that policy needs to continue id rather have a year with a younger re-built squad learning than see some real Club legends and players who have done good things fior us struggle for a year.