M@islebugs wrote:
This talk of 'middles' detracts from the specialist work of props. Yeah, Thompson, Smith, Donaldson, Tetavano are all technically middles but if they're in the 17 with Gannon, Walters and Mellor, they're getting beat, and more importantly beat up, every week despite all of them being good players.
Yes of course that's true, as it is at most SL clubs, there is a big shortage of genuine old-fashioned big "props" but the issue is which players getting injured will cause recalls of which DR/loan players, viz-a-viz your comments about no players being out on loan or DR by Easter (acknowledging that SL clubs often recall their DR players around Easter anyway, Leeds have 3 games in 8 days this year so that's a fairly safe bet).
I doubt Johnson will get recalled all season unless there's an injury to one or both of Leeming and Dwyer, for instance. I'm not so sure about someone like Mustapha because he's an out-and-out middle but being sent out on a long-term loan suggests Leeds would intend playing some of their back-row types as middles if Holroyd/Oledzki/Prior get injured.
So if he's say tenth in the pecking order he has more chance of being with the Bulls deep into the season than if he's, say sixth.
Same with other positions - if, for instance, a centre or two is being earmarked for Fev, their availability on DR will depend on whether injuries hit the likes of Newman, Sutcliffe, Tom Briscoe plus Handley and Fusitu'a.
I agree that if Leeds lose some of their bigger units in the middle to injury they will struggle in terms of results. Am not quite so sure I agree that that playing smaller players in the middle necessarily guarantees more injuries - I think all sorts of variables come into play there, including luck - but Leeds certainly have struggled with injuries in recent years, maybe the changes they have made on the conditioning side of the staff will help in that regard, maybe not.
