Re: Dream Team 2014 : Mon Sep 15, 2014 9:00 pm  

rollin thunder wrote:

Don't talk wet. He has consistently proven that he deserves that accolade, but it is slightly with tongue in cheek from the Leeds fans. Even if he not the best he is clearly up there and has been for a number of years.Trouble with RL in this country so called fans who clearly no nothing about the game.

wbw? Haha

Re: Dream Team 2014 : Tue Sep 16, 2014 10:38 am  

At the beginning of the season we were told by the media that Leeds have the best back line in Super League 'by a mile'. And yet practically everyone has scored more tries than them over the season. Even in the Challenge Cup Final they won it by keeping things tight in a truly negative performance that was built around not letting Carney get the ball in open space.

Good coaching to be sure but also not exactly trusting the 'best backline in the league' to do its stuff.

If Hall played for a team that plays expansive rugby like Wigan or Wire we might see if he could score 30+ tries a season. Josh did in the last two seasons and but for missing half of this one would have done so again with ease.

Ok we know that a modern winger doesn't just score tries and that there are other aspects to his game - but surely the final judge of greatness for a winger is how many tries he scores.
Monaghan and Charnley are easily the best wingers in Super League. (IMHO of course)

To be fair Hall makes the most of limited opportunities. It's also interesting how Tom Briscoe seems to have been found wanting lately. No-one is seriously suggesting now that he is better than Josh like they were at the beginning of the season.

Re: Dream Team 2014 : Tue Sep 16, 2014 11:58 am  

escare is the obvious omission.

Surely there were better 2nd rowers than Abblett?

Re: Dream Team 2014 : Tue Sep 16, 2014 1:58 pm  

WARRIORCRAIG wrote:

Ryan Hall's inclusion was a puzzler for me. Monaghan, Carney or Joe Burgess should have been in there. McGillvary and Charnley have had better seasons, he's in there on reputation alone.

And yes, that's two seasons in a row now that every player has been English. It's drastically losing any credibility. 5 players from Leeds in a year they've finished 6th just highlights where a lot of the journalists who pick it are based IMO.

I don't suppose we should be too surprised by that. In the Challenge Cup Final 2011, one Yorkshire journalist reportedly voted for Danny McGuire as Lance Todd winner.

Re: Dream Team 2014 : Tue Sep 16, 2014 2:02 pm  

Cruncher wrote:

I don't suppose we should be too surprised by that. In the Challenge Cup Final 2011, one Yorkshire journalist reportedly voted for Danny McGuire as Lance Todd winner.

On the BBC sport website they've gone through some of the "experts" choices. This is James Deighton's from Radio Leeds:

Zak Hardaker (Leeds); Ryan Hall (Leeds), Michael Shenton (Castleford), Kallum Watkins (Leeds), Jermaine McGillvary (Huddersfield); Kevin Sinfield (Leeds), Tim Smith (Wakefield); Jamie Peacock (Leeds), Daryl Clark (Castleford), Andy Lynch (Castleford), Brett Ferres (Huddersfield), Weller Hauraki (Castleford), James Donaldson (Bradford)

Re: Dream Team 2014 : Tue Sep 16, 2014 2:26 pm  

Aboveusonlypie wrote:

At the beginning of the season we were told by the media that Leeds have the best back line in Super League 'by a mile'. And yet practically everyone has scored more tries than them over the season. Even in the Challenge Cup Final they won it by keeping things tight in a truly negative performance that was built around not letting Carney get the ball in open space.

Good coaching to be sure but also not exactly trusting the 'best backline in the league' to do its stuff.

If Hall played for a team that plays expansive rugby like Wigan or Wire we might see if he could score 30+ tries a season. Josh did in the last two seasons and but for missing half of this one would have done so again with ease.

Ok we know that a modern winger doesn't just score tries and that there are other aspects to his game - but surely the final judge of greatness for a winger is how many tries he scores.
Monaghan and Charnley are easily the best wingers in Super League. (IMHO of course)

To be fair Hall makes the most of limited opportunities. It's also interesting how Tom Briscoe seems to have been found wanting lately. No-one is seriously suggesting now that he is better than Josh like they were at the beginning of the season.

It's the lack of structure in attack that has been the problem, when any of the Leeds back line have got good ball in space they've looked dangerous, but a combination of poor coaching, and poor execution has been the main problem.

Re: Dream Team 2014 : Tue Sep 16, 2014 2:39 pm  

WARRIORCRAIG wrote:

On the BBC sport website they've gone through some of the "experts" choices. This is James Deighton's from Radio Leeds:

Zak Hardaker (Leeds); Ryan Hall (Leeds), Michael Shenton (Castleford), Kallum Watkins (Leeds), Jermaine McGillvary (Huddersfield); Kevin Sinfield (Leeds), Tim Smith (Wakefield); Jamie Peacock (Leeds), Daryl Clark (Castleford), Andy Lynch (Castleford), Brett Ferres (Huddersfield), Weller Hauraki (Castleford), James Donaldson (Bradford)

Well Hardaker and O'Loughlin get in all but 1 of those sides.

Re: Dream Team 2014 : Tue Sep 16, 2014 10:48 pm  

WARRIORCRAIG wrote:

On the BBC sport website they've gone through some of the "experts" choices. This is James Deighton's from Radio Leeds:

Zak Hardaker (Leeds); Ryan Hall (Leeds), Michael Shenton (Castleford), Kallum Watkins (Leeds), Jermaine McGillvary (Huddersfield); Kevin Sinfield (Leeds), Tim Smith (Wakefield); Jamie Peacock (Leeds), Daryl Clark (Castleford), Andy Lynch (Castleford), Brett Ferres (Huddersfield), Weller Hauraki (Castleford), James Donaldson (Bradford)

Did no-one tell him it's not a "West Yorkshire" dream team?