so why didn't he change things? bring Lilly on to give us a kicking game to get some position. drop keinhorst to wing, moon to centre and Briscoe off?
the direction comes from the coach. if things change mid game he must adapt. he didn't. he mistake as much blame as anyone. only it's never his fault is it?

I'd take Tom back, there's still a class player in there but clearly lacking confidence. Had a shocker yesterday but received no help at all.

he's finished pal. shoulders are shot.confidence is shot. he got no help but dropped some easy takes.

)

You can have him back mate, he's shot to pieces for whatever reason. He is a shadow of the player that left Hull, and one of the main reasons we signed him, his returning of the ball out of defence, has become another weak part of his game. Sometimes the game evolves to the detriment of certain players, Briscoe's lack of height and aerial ability are now being highlighted on a regular basis. As outside backs become taller and more muscular, and the game becomes more and more about repeat sets and a kick to the perceived "weak point", the game's up for Tom.

I have to disagree with Leeds owl here. Briscoe definitely looks finished in terms of catching a ball, that there is no argument. But his other play is excellent. Not enough to warrant excusing the weakness, but excellent all the same.

Also I think the time of the bigger backs is coming to an end, certainly for wingers. The best couple of wingers in the NRL now are even smaller players in terms of their peers. The better wingers in Super League are the same way. Speed and agility is becoming more of a necessity.

With regard to Briscoe, I'm on the same page.

As far as wingers go generally, there is a place in the game for all shapes and sizes; however, speed, agility, catching and jumping are the essentials to be a world class player. Having said that, was not always the case?

Not so sure about him being told not to jump for high balls in second half, but if so, surely he was told to ensure the catcher was tackled... on a few occasions he just stood there and did not even attempt to lay a finger on the opposion winger!!

My worry with Briscoe is not just his lack of height or competitive qualities in the air, it's his general dexterity. He has dropped plenty of kicks unchallenged this season, and seems to drop more and more ball coming out of defence. Would you pick him against Wigan next week, and do you think he will be picked ?

should he be picked? no
will he get picked? quite possibly

He's finished as a winger. He will always get exposed against taller wingers, but the most worrying thing for me is that he's lost a yard or two of pace. If you're not a big winger you need to at least have pace to provide a running threat. To me, I think he needs to be moved into the centres (not necessarily at Leeds btw). If he stays on the wing he will continue to be exposed. I feel sorry for him in a way, we've not really got any viable alternative, Handley is no better, and Walker and Golding would still have the issue of being too short and would lack the physicality when bringing the ball back, but at least they'd offer some kind of running threat.

had walker been on the bench, we could have taken Briscoe off (again) and moved Golding to the Wing

And if Briscoe played ok then how do you use Walker?

The last time McDermott selected a bench almost covering for Briscoe was magic weekend and he had no hesitation in dragging him off and yet the same people rip him for it saying he's ruined the guys confidence. Now he should've dragged him off apparently. As much as Briscoe was struggling it's not easy to replace a winger at HT in a game, the only option would be Watkins to wing, Moon centre, Lilley HB and we'd have still lost and he'd have gotten slated for moving Watkins from centre.

This is a fair point tbh what i will say is why continually pick Briscoe if his shoulders aren't ok or more importantly imo when his confidence issues have been there so long?
We do have options squad wise even if we dont pick Handley ,Keinhorst is comfortable on the Wing or Golding is an option with Moon back at Centre & Lilley in the halves.

Does Golding offer a running threat?

Are his shoulders gone? I mean genuinely not just a rumour read on the internet?

Keinhorst only just returned, Moon for all the is he a HB talk has performed well and if he moved him back to centre McDermott would have gotten stick for that call. Handley didn't take his chances and it's understandable why you wouldn't pick Walker and Golding as a winger isn't a gimme that he'll work there. Very easily we could pick him there next week and have threads saying "Golding will never make a winger". Thing is if you offered him a new starting singer for next season he probably would snap your hand off for it, but he's not the one to make that happen.

It's Sutcliffe's fit next week we could go

FB - Golding
W - Watkins
C - Sutcliffe
C - Keinhorst
W - Hall

why move the comps best centre?

walker

hall
Watkins
moon/Sutcliffe
keinhorst

Because every week it's "if" he gets good ball. And nearly every week people are left disappointed so why keep him there on the off chance he gets good ball? If we get good ball to the centre position then Sutcliffe looks more than usual at centre and he'd have a winger outside who could produce rather than a shot Briscoe or Golding is unproven as a winger? Also Watkins defends the right edge every week so defensively better than putting a FB there and what McDernitt likes is our wingers do carries and make metres early in set.....Watkins will do that better than Golding.

So all that added together is better than hoping he gets good ball with a underperforming or unproven winger outside him.

I understand your reasoning but it's not for me.
moon to centre, Lilly in and Jimmy to wing is how I'd go

Keinhorst would just be filling a shirt though. He's a centre that can play 2nd row, not a centre who can play wing. Had he got the pace or mobility for wing? What's his catching like? I'd suggest Watkins is better at those things.

The way we like to play the winger is more important than centre tbh. Watkins staying at centre isn't imperative especially if you're moving a guy there in Sutcliffe who can be pretty dangerous himself.

At HB Lilley and McGuire at HB doesn't offer enough running threat. Moon with either one of them is ok, both together no.

Briscoe wont have been cheap.

Yes for all the criticism and how things have panned out since signing Briscoe to replace BJB was an improvement on paper and taking a more expensive and again on paper better option.

Briscoe is one of the few if only examples in the last few years of GH signing a player who will have been more expensive and better at the time to improve a position.

Ferres is the another one. Neither has really worked out.

Briscoe worked fine until the 2016 season. He was scoring crucial tries in semi finals, five tries at Wembley and setting up tries in a Grand Final

Ferres hasn't worked out but most senior players looked poor last year. This year he hadn't had a run of games to get any form going to be fair to him.

It's been long layoff - couple of games - long suspension - couple of games - knee injury - first game back which all forwards struggled in.