Re: 2015 player ratings : Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:03 pm  

leeds owl wrote:

What we have got is by far and away the best full back in Superleague. Every other club would do a swap for Zak. I think this forum has too many people that have hidden agendas regarding Zak, or totally unrealistic expectations about the lad. I'll be honest, I've never seen a young player scrutinised and criticised by his own fans as much as Hardaker. It's pointless comparing him to NRL players, this is Superleague, and as long we have the best player in every position we are going to be successful. Wigan Pier was flooded last week with ejaculate following the signing of Ratboy, yet we still have the glass half full mob on here looking for absolute perfection when it is totally unrealistic.

TBF it's mostly the same two posters (Juan and Sal) who are critical and were the two pre-season doing the per-carry stats nonsense to tell us that Hardaker wasn't as good as Shaul, Dorn, Wellens etc. Juan also was criticising Hardaker back in preseason before the 2014 season kicked off and during 2013 telling everyone that BJB was the better option at FB even though no one agreed......not really a surprise to see the same suspects STILL being overly critical of a player they've never been a fan of.

Re: 2015 player ratings : Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:20 pm  

ThePrinter wrote:

TBF it's mostly the same two posters (Juan and Sal) who are critical and were the two pre-season doing the per-carry stats nonsense to tell us that Hardaker wasn't as good as Shaul, Dorn, Wellens etc. Juan also was criticising Hardaker back in preseason before the 2014 season kicked off and during 2013 telling everyone that BJB was the better option at FB even though no one agreed......not really a surprise to see the same suspects STILL being overly critical of a player they've never been a fan of.

If I'm brutally honest, I'd like to add whenever sal posts about a current player it's negative and critical, unless of course it's somebody young or someone that's not playing, only supporter that shows no support to the team.

Re: 2015 player ratings : Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:37 pm  

Claypitrhino wrote:

If I'm brutally honest, I'd like to add whenever sal posts about a current player it's negative and critical, unless of course it's somebody young or someone that's not playing, only supporter that shows no support to the team.

Called this before. Would say he's glass half empty but would say half empty is being very generous. Doesn't consider winning the CC an achievement, but will probably be all over the team if we lose to Hudds in the 6th round in a few weeks. Says we shouldn't get carried away with early season form over the course of 11 games but then says the outcome of one singular game in the Magic game vs Wigan is what we should be looking out for to judge us. It'd be funny if it wasn't so tragic.

Re: 2015 player ratings : Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:41 pm  

ThePrinter wrote:

TBF it's mostly the same two posters (Juan and Sal) who are critical and were the two pre-season doing the per-carry stats nonsense to tell us that Hardaker wasn't as good as Shaul, Dorn, Wellens etc. Juan also was criticising Hardaker back in preseason before the 2014 season kicked off and during 2013 telling everyone that BJB was the better option at FB even though no one agreed......not really a surprise to see the same suspects STILL being overly critical of a player they've never been a fan of.

You're probably spot on. I'm sure the vast majority do in fact support and appreciate what we currently have here at Headingley. There will still be the vocal minority throwing useless statistics at us even if we batter Wire tomorrow.

Re: 2015 player ratings : Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:09 pm  

ThePrinter wrote:

TBF it's mostly the same two posters (Juan and Sal) who are critical and were the two pre-season doing the per-carry stats nonsense to tell us that Hardaker wasn't as good as Shaul, Dorn, Wellens etc. Juan also was criticising Hardaker back in preseason before the 2014 season kicked off and during 2013 telling everyone that BJB was the better option at FB even though no one agreed......not really a surprise to see the same suspects STILL being overly critical of a player they've never been a fan of.

We are all entitled to our opinions Printer. I think you will find that I have been consistent in my judgement of Hardaker which is not overly critical. I have consistently praised him for his positives and have only been drawn to point out his deficiencies (IMO) when others "overly" praise him or overlook those deficiencies. Sal and myself are not the only posters that fail to see 'King Hardaker's new clothes'

Re: 2015 player ratings : Fri Apr 24, 2015 4:25 pm  

ThePrinter wrote:

Called this before. Would say he's glass half empty but would say half empty is being very generous. Doesn't consider winning the CC an achievement, but will probably be all over the team if we lose to Hudds in the 6th round in a few weeks. Says we shouldn't get carried away with early season form over the course of 11 games but then says the outcome of one singular game in the Magic game vs Wigan is what we should be looking out for to judge us. It'd be funny if it wasn't so tragic.

On Hardaker I have said on this thread he is good player and an asset to the team - but he isn't the finished article. Reading appears to be one of your many failings. Suggest you read Brisbane Rhinos post about Hardaker that is the most balanced post on this thread. This hero worship of Hardaker by the usual suspects would be laughable if it weren't so sad.

You see no fault in anything the side does there is always and excuse when things don't according to plan - its the CC or its injuries or some other spurious reason e.g. one pass from Sinfield to Briscoe etc. I may not be the most positive poster on here but I am not blinded to the faults of the side. If they play well I say so - at the moment the style of play is superb to watch. If they play badly I don't look for excuses - it happens, sometimes despite your best efforts your shortcomings are exposed. Scoring points was a real issue last year as was beating the better sides - something you overlooked in your praise of the defence and finding excuses caused by the CC. We may have been the best defensive side in the competition but we went out in the first round of the play offs.

I am not the only person suggesting caution over the early season - again your inability to look beyond the present does you no favours. The CC has no real interest for me the only competition that matters is the GF - Leeds haven't really competed at the business end of the season since 2012. If Leeds lose to Huddersfield that would be a positive for me as I would like to see Peacock and Sinfield sign off with a GF win. It would be a fitting conclusion to both of their careers.

On the Wigan game - we will never agree but the confidence of the side was never the same following that game, this is not the first time 2005 was going great until the away game at Catalans. Despite Keith Senior doing the Hokey Cokey the defeat there and the issues around that one game wrecked that season. Confidence/self belief plays a huge part in winning sporting contests the fact you ignore its importance suggests your understanding of human nature is sadly lacking.

Re: 2015 player ratings : Fri Apr 24, 2015 4:31 pm  

ThePrinter wrote:

It wasn't a case of not trying, it was a case of Hardaker put on the brakes whilst shifting left and then put his weight on his right foot.....Smith went left, it happens. If you want a definition of a FB not trying just look at what Craig Hall produced for Matty Smith's try tonight, that is truly POOR FB play.

Either way a very poor attempt at an elite level, a player to score one on one untouched isn't a great example no matter how you try to excuse it.

Agree but no one is suggesting Craig Hall is the best FB in SL - he is a very average player playing for the worst side in SL what do you expect he completely miss read the play big style.

Re: 2015 player ratings : Sun Apr 26, 2015 5:24 pm  

Sal Paradise wrote:

On Hardaker I have said on this thread he is good player and an asset to the team - but he isn't the finished article.

Think it's safe to say you've been way more critical of him than that.

Sal Paradise wrote:

Reading appears to be one of your many failings.

Really? Coming from you of all people?

Sal Paradise wrote:

Suggest you read Brisbane Rhinos post about Hardaker that is the most balanced post on this thread.

In your opinion, because he has the same opinion of Hardaker as you, doesn't actually make it fact that it is the most balanced post in the thread, HTH. Personally think Him's post is quite spot on.

Sal Paradise wrote:

This hero worship of Hardaker by the usual suspects would be laughable if it weren't so sad.

So people saying his passing isn't great but not as horrendous as some make out is "hero worship"? Ok then, might want to reevaluate your criticisms of other people's reading skills.

Sal Paradise wrote:

You see no fault in anything the side does

Yes I do, you're inability to read strikes again. You confuse posters who don't come down with a sledge hammer of criticism on the team as being rose tinted when they just have the ability to give a balanced composed view of the side.

Sal Paradise wrote:

there is always and excuse when things don't according to plan

No there isn't, please read people's post properly otherwise we'll get the embarrassing scenario post Catalans defeat when you charged around every thread claiming Gotcha and G1 blamed the whole lost on McGuire.

Sal Paradise wrote:

its the CC

Clearly had an effect on the players mindset.....considering the last few lines of your post its funny how you dismiss such a thing.

Sal Paradise wrote:

or its injuries

Injuries clearly have an effect when they're several of them.......and its you who we'll see several lines on blaming the whole demise of 2005 on Senior getting crocked.

Sal Paradise wrote:

I may not be the most positive poster on here but I am not blinded to the faults of the side.

Nope, you're just blinded to the positives.

Sal Paradise wrote:

If they play well I say so - at the moment the style of play is superb to watch. If they play badly I don't look for excuses - it happens, sometimes despite your best efforts your shortcomings are exposed.

Sometimes it's just not your day and you lose, but you're one of those posters that seems to see any defeat as something more significant and that it's a telltale sign that the club has major problems. Can't honestly recall you ever saying after a defeat "well it just wasn't our day", always has to be more extreme than that.

Sal Paradise wrote:

Scoring points was a real issue last year as was beating the better sides - something you overlooked in your praise of the defence and finding excuses caused by the CC. We may have been the best defensive side in the competition but we went out in the first round of the play offs.

True our attack was poor, and I said on many occasions it was frustrating that we didn't score enough points in games even though we got to the opposition goalline enough times......Question, why does our poor attack mean that I couldn't comment on and praise the defence?? Is it because the defence was a positive and we all know you don't like positive signs.

Sal Paradise wrote:

I am not the only person suggesting caution over the early season - again your inability to look beyond the present does you no favours.

I think just about every one of us has expressed caution that there's still a long way to go, just because some of us can actually enjoy (look that word up in the dictionary) the start of the season when things are going well, don't confuse that with us thinking we're going home with all three trophies. We could easily end up with nothing to show for the season.

Sal Paradise wrote:

The CC has no real interest for me the only competition that matters is the GF - Leeds haven't really competed at the business end of the season since 2012. If Leeds lose to Huddersfield that would be a positive for me

The predictability of Sal finally finding something positive.....when Leeds lose a game

Sal Paradise wrote:

On the Wigan game - we will never agree but the confidence of the side was never the same following that game,

Don't know, we played quite confidently when we beat Warrington and Cas in the cup......oh sorry those game don't count.

Sal Paradise wrote:

this is not the first time 2005 was going great until the away game at Catalans. Despite Keith Senior doing the Hokey Cokey the defeat there and the issues around that one game wrecked that season.

Would that be the Catalan Dragons who didn't join Super League until 2006? Thought we couldn't blame injuries remember?

Sal Paradise wrote:

Confidence/self belief plays a huge part in winning sporting contests the fact you ignore its importance suggests your understanding of human nature is sadly lacking.

Oh I agree that confidence and self belief are huge. I'm not sure based on your posting history whether you're the right person to talk about confidence and self belief mind you.....you've been having nightmares about the Magic Weekend game for a few months now even in the midst of an enjoyable period for the side.

You're too obsessed with that Wigan game. They did a number on us (as did Warrington two weeks before) and I'm not saying it didn't have some short term effect on the side, but seriously trying to write off the rest of the campaign based on what happened in that game is pushing it to the extremes. We had actually started to turn a bit of a corner in the league with a entertaining draw vs Cas and wins over HKR and Salford (not the best showings but finding our feet again after the poor run).....it then went to cock when we rested loads vs Bradford and London, threw away 4 points and had nothing to play for in the final round when we could've been going to Hull with a victory giving us the LLS. As an advocate of confidence and self belief surely those two games are more key?

What was the key reasons we lost those games? Resting several starters.

And why did we make those decisions that cost us those games? Because the club was desperate to win the CC at seemingly all costs, even league positions.