Winning does seem to be the one thing missing. In that respect he hasn't delivered anything at all really.

Ahh, the great Danny Brough myth rears its head, despite he himself saying that all McNamara told him was that he wasn't certain to get a start if he was in the squad. Even with his less-than-stellar track record in big games and at international level, Brough decided that wasn't good enough and became Scottish.

Lightening doesn't strike twice - Hetherington might have palmed Smith of on England I doubt he will be able to pull the same stunt twice

Would that be the serial big game choker since 2005 Danny Brough? Great in the regular season, not delivered in either a big Cup game or the playoffs but apparently England's best bet at scrum half? Don't make me laugh.

To be fair to Brough - it isn't just him it is the whole team and the coaches that don't appear to be able perform when it really matters.

Can't honestly see that he would have offered less than Smith did in the 4 nations. Still no reason to suggest McNamara should get the boot.

Not just McNamara though, is it? The British game has hardly been overrun with world class halves yet none of the top clubs has gone out of its way to sign Brough (unless you count Hudds as a serious title contender). And every time the important games come around I can see exactly why that is.

Developing half backs is a luxury SL clubs cannot afford. The squad system with the salary cap IMO limits the chances for half backs to be developed. The skills, experience and temperament of halves needs nurturing and takes time and opportunity to play senior (adult) rugby but at the very least train with your club. Farming out halves to lower division clubs or rivals on loan or dual registration seldom works out long term.
Every club half back should have someone pushing them from the reserves, but that is rare these days. Clubs can't afford it. So, when you do get injuries at top clubs you end up with something like Jon Wilkin or Kevin Sinfield (loose forwards) playing 7, rather than a reserve half getting 1st team experience.

Still, our only genuine 7 plays hooker so WTF do I know?

Are we saying that the only half backs that will be playing in SL will be rejected players from the NRL?

Not the only ones, but don't they already form a fairly high percentage?

The majority of SL clubs have at least one Antipodean half-back in their best 13, from memory. Can only think of Warrington, Leeds and Cas that didn't in 2013.

Widnes, Huddersfield?

Leeds haven't produced a single half back to SL level in 10 years. Nobody has been pushing McGuire, Burrow and Sinfield and nobody has gone to another club from our juniors and made the grade.

If you look around SL there are very few half backs produced at any club that would have challenged those three.

Perhaps the talent simply doesn't exist or the will isn't there to persist. If Leeds had produced a really top young half back would the culture have allowed him to replace the captain - not a chance, so why would the club waste the resource. Its a catch 22 - it is no surprise all these youngsters emerged at a time the club was struggling financially. Perhaps now Leeds desperately need some talent in the halves one will emerge as the best youngsters can see an opportunity

There was an interview on this with Sinners on Rugby AM the other night on the new 'Leeds TV' channel. He was saying along the lines that players in that position tend to be moved around by their clubs and not developed solely in that specialised role.

One thing I am unsure of though - not having any channels other than free-view I don't know how old the episodes of Rugby AM are that the Leeds channel is showing.

My impression is that they are from around Aug / Sept - there was one with Koukash on last night mentioning a horse race event he was going to go to at some point in September - so he is either very organised or they are episodes that are several months old!

Can anyone say how far 'behind the times' I am in seeing those episodes of Rugby AM?

I agree with a lot of that, and that ties back into my original point about incentives to develop new half backs under the squad system, competition structure and cap that we have now. But for a club like Leeds to not produce anyone in 10 years who could either go on to secure a SL career at another club or challenge McGuire or Burrow at some level is an indication something isn't right. I don't buy the argument that the opportunity isn't there for kids in the Leeds academy. They should be looking at their career, and being picked up and developed by the No.1 club SL over the last decade is a great start on your CV. Other clubs would not be put off because a kid can't get a game infront of Danny McGuire or Kevin Sinfield. Maybe it's an attitude thing, but if it is then I'm surprised those kids get anywhere beyond playing for their school with that approach.

Luke Gale possibly. But I agree the quality of half backs is woeful.

Maybe the talent just isn't there.

Leaguefreak once posted: "Britain doesn't produce half backs, they produce small blokes who can't tackle".

If you look at Leeds the CEO's attachment to the likes of the three half backs it is inconceivable that any of them would have been sacrificed for any young kid no matter how good. If I were a parent of a very talent half back Leeds would not have been where my kid would have gone.

There's a lot to be said for loyalty, especially when that is repaid in the way McGuire and Burrow have delivered over the years, but a player should always be looking over his shoulder. The All Blacks rule supreme in Union because absolutely nobody is safe in their position, at club or country. A mistake that has been openly exposed in the England setup with the almost religious support for Owen Farrell at 10 and Chris Robshaw as Captain and open side - despite abysmall form - especially in Farrell's case who seems completely untouchable.

Honestly, I haven't seen anyone I would have swapped for Danny McGuire over the last 12 years and Burrow has served the club as well as any player from the past, so maybe it is a big ask for a kid to knock those guys off. But the last 3-4 years you would have to say a good 16 year old would be looking at doing that if he had the right stuff. The opportunity is there, but nobody seems able to take it.

I wonder why?

Scott Murrell? Albeit he ended up playing a chunk of his senior rugby at 9 or 13.

Looking back over the Rhinos Academy half back combinations over the last 5-6 years, it includes the likes of Callum Casey, Simon Brown, Gareth Moore, Sean Casey and Jack Carvill.

None of whom have really gone on to do anything at the top level with their careers to date. So it's perhaps a bit harsh to blame the club for not promoting them if the talent isn't there.

The question is how hard have the club worked to develop that talent - you could be correct that no matter how hard you try you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. That then questions the scouting prowess?

I always liked the look of Ollie Olds from a few years ago, he looked to have the talent to be an SL player but he was probably at the club 3 or 4 years too soon. He's playing in the WLD cup last I heard.

I make it that 50% of the first choice halfbacks in SL were not developed here.
I'm now off to vote UKIP.

I do wonder about the ability of coaches in such a specialist role. I generally don't think that good coaches have to be good players, but in the case of halfbacks I do wonder about someone who never played the game to any level coaching them, or a former prop. It'd be very interesting to see what Joey Johns does in his one-on-ones with halfbacks here in Aus, and almost definitely worth getting him over to spend time with junior halfbacks in England via a coaching clinic.

One other thing that strikes me is that whilst we talk about halfbacks being 'small' that's not necessarily the case - many are around or about average height. Aren't the best athletes of that kind of build (and sporting brain) far more likely to end up playing football? If you're 6 foot 3 and big built you'll end up in RU/RL, but isn't the competition for average sized/build kids a lot stronger?