Hey, if Leroy Cudjoe is a stand-off it can't be that difficult a position to play...

Anyone blaming McGuire for the try conceded needs to think again. His defence, whilst not brilliant is not aided by a bizarre decision to have McGuire & Burrow defending next to each other. On that try McGuire was drawn further in-field because he was concerned about Burrow being run over the top of and so was then out of position to affect a proper tackle.



If there had been a better defensive line-up (ie not Burrow & McGuire defending next to each other) that try would probably not have been scored.

There is a fine line, however, between genius and lunacy......

Since when has there been a question mark over Burrows tackling?

Burrow is probably (along with Buderus) the best (copybook) defender at the club but that doesn't alter the fact that he will be targetted close to the line by opposition coaches. Standing him together with probably the worst defender is not going to lessen the traffic heading his way.

Maybe not but what did happen was that the stronger defenders on our right hand side looked after Yeaman and Briscoe very well and the result took care of itself.

When flanked on one side by Hall and the other by Senior - not very often.



When there is McGuire there instead it is a problem. Burrow was not able to wrap the ball up and was in danger of being overrun so McGuire had edged inside in case the ball carrier held the ball to assist Burrow. When the ball carrier then offloaded McGuire was out of position to affect a proper tackle.



McGuire's tackling isn't great (I don't expect it to be).

Burrow's 1-on-1 tackling is ok, his technique is superb. But understandably due to his small stature he does run the risk of being overrun close to the line.



Putting those 2 together in the defensive line seems like a very poor choice to me. Especially when there is a good defender in Sinfield out on the right hand side defending where McGuire used to defend.

See my post above

Good grief man , there is no place on this thread for such sensible comment

Hardaker is definitely not Jarrod Hayne. Hayne is a world class fullback right now, who has already played a handful of games at stand off. Gould was talking generically about how long it takes to become a genuine stand off. He referred to the likes of Fittler and Lockyer who both took some time to settle into the role. Suggesting that Hardaker, who has only played on the wing for Leeds, could somehow develop into our starting stand off for next year from a handful of games at the end of this year is ridiculous.

Its just the standard ss.com obsession with taking a player who does very well in 1 position, and moving them to another. For reference see Ryan Hall to Centre/Second Row threads

I can see the potential for Hardaker to step into the stand off role, but to insinuate he will be the best at the club within a few weeks is insane. He would never get picked over Mcguire for such a 'massive' game. It would take a lot of time for him to be able to make the role his own and perhaps experimentation in the off season and a few games next year, perhaps he will be ready in 2013.

I would look to go with the settled combinations that have served well in the past as suggested earlier.



SH Burrow

SO Mcguire

LF Sinfield

H Buderus