Re: RD 1 | Warrington Wolves v Leeds Rhinos : Wed Jan 31, 2018 10:21 am  

Bulls Boy 2011 wrote:

Aye but losing Donald and Senior 7 years ago isn't half as bad as losing Peacock, McGuire, Sinfield, Burrow, Leuluai etc over the past two-three. Plus I think you did alright blooding Watkins in over a few years to take over from Senior as the strike centre and Donald being replaced by a mixture of Smith/BJB and now Briscoe well, you never really lost much and those players gave you stability too, plenty of tries to make up for Donald too. But I do see where you are coming from.

Aye but both times you finished 5th you were champions so god knows what those people were thinking. I genuinely think 2016 was the only 'bad' season you've had and you still had McGuire/Burrow/JJB the same that won 2017. I know Parcell had a lot to do with that too like. So it's good you have him tied down.

But things do look exciting for Leeds. Young prospects in Walker/Golding vying for Fullback. Very good young prop in Oledzki. And I'm not sure how good A.Sutcliffe and Newman are so can't comment but I can't see Smith or Jordan-Roberts being established first teamers from what I have seen. I'd like to see a good young Leeds half come through the ranks and be a quality player for you. I know the likes of Sinfield/McGuire/Burrow are once in a generation players and it was a pleasure watching my team play against them. Hated them at the time like haha.

Not sure what the current under 19s halves are like, but I know Walker used to play a lot in the halves and may well be tried there in certain games with Golding moving to fullback.

My big worry is that we no longer have halves who know how to boss big games. I believe Moon was called the next Lockyer when in the Brisbane youth team so hopefully now he is more experienced he is ready to become a top halfback.

The good point for us is that in the semi final against Hull we had big plays come from Ward, Singleton and Sutcliffe which hopefully shows that the team does have some DNA of winning that was not just reliant on McGuire, Burrow and Sinfield.

Re: RD 1 | Warrington Wolves v Leeds Rhinos : Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:48 am  

This current group compared with their rivals who will be up there challenging this year match up well for me and I'm reasonably confident we should be there or thereabouts at the end of the year. Compare it with some of the squads between 2002- 2012 at the top end then it wouldn't be a contender but it doesn't have to be at that level so it's a pointless debate. as things currently are in SL I think our transition is pretty much over and there are enough promising young lads who are starting to come of age to keep us ticking over. Only real concern is in the halves, not sold on Myler but hopefully he can prove me wrong.

[Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino]

Re: RD 1 | Warrington Wolves v Leeds Rhinos : Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:02 pm  

TBF I've never really been a fan of Myler either, but if he can get us moving around the pitch and hopefully produce on a regular basis then I'll be happy.

Hopefully he see's this as the big opportunity that it is, though I don't envy him the obvious comparisons and grief that are bound to come his way this year.

Re: RD 1 | Warrington Wolves v Leeds Rhinos : Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:22 pm  

Who is your kicker this year?

Re: RD 1 | Warrington Wolves v Leeds Rhinos : Wed Jan 31, 2018 1:35 pm  

Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino wrote:

Hopefully he see's this as the big opportunity that it is, though I don't envy him the obvious comparisons and grief that are bound to come his way this year.

Yep. with Moon basically offering not much more than a running game (as good as it can be, and he can/ will be a match winner for us in that role this year a few times i'm sure) Myler is basically having to fill the boots of three of the greatest play makers we have ever had at the club, which would be a stiff task for even a proven quality consistent half let alone one who has a history of blowing hot and cold so have to cut him a bit of slack.

like you say, big opportunity for him but he can't afford to go missing on a regular basis or it will stand out like a sore thumb in the current set up he is in.

Re: RD 1 | Warrington Wolves v Leeds Rhinos : Wed Jan 31, 2018 1:36 pm  

Grimmy wrote:

Who is your kicker this year?

Pretty sure it will be Watkins

Re: RD 1 | Warrington Wolves v Leeds Rhinos : Wed Jan 31, 2018 3:26 pm  

Biff Tannen wrote:

Pretty sure it will be Watkins

Cheers

Re: RD 1 | Warrington Wolves v Leeds Rhinos : Wed Jan 31, 2018 7:13 pm  

McDermott has said Ward should be ok for HKR next week.

Re: RD 1 | Warrington Wolves v Leeds Rhinos : Thu Feb 01, 2018 12:20 am  

Grimmy wrote:

Cheers

Been Myler though in both friendlies he's played including the last '1st team friendly' where Watkins played but Myler was still given goal kicking duties

Re: RD 1 | Warrington Wolves v Leeds Rhinos : Thu Feb 01, 2018 7:31 am  

Our squad is strong and deep and that's our strength this season. We've a million forwards. I'm not sure our signings are the same quality as the players they've replaced but we've such a deep squad we can hopefully rest and rotate players thru the season.

We won't be far away again I don't think.