Totally agree with your comments ref Saints, the question for Saints is what will they do when Ben Barba's rehabilitation period outside of the NRL is complete and as seems inevitable he goes back to Aus next year. Still they should do well in all comps this year if he stays fit.

Disagree slightly, Cas got what they deserved, some shocking defensive efforts on display, Truman cannot tackle for toffee, the 3rd Barba try, he went through 5 tackles and all but one was just a flapping arm attempt, that's very poor, yes very good player but you can't stop a 12 year old tackling like that. Hitcox did well to chase back for Barba but then put an awful flapping arm Grag tackle on him, jiffy was right critisice him on commentary for that, tackles low possible puts him in touch, if Barba rides the tackle and still scored so be it, but very poor tackle after a great chase back.

Hope Cas tackle like this next week.

It will take you more tha cash to bring players over from NRl.
Players constantly told super league is second rate and vastly inferior to NRL, then there's origin attraction, players will only come over when then Nrl careers are all but finished or they can't get a game.
Any player with origin ambition won't come here for any amount of money, or any player who is a regular Nrl starter.
We all know Barba would not be here if he had kept his nose clean.


Personally wish we could throw an open chegue book at Jonathan Thurston and get him a two year deal to finish over here, but doubt it.

May be SL can become to the NRL as the Championship is to SL, ie a league to negotiate loan deals for fringe or unrequired players

Is it not already.

I think some of the NRL stars would come if the money was there. They did in the past despite the State of origin attraction because the UK offers a lifestyle experience that is
different especially for stars who have already achieved everything down under.

Fully agree with you on this Sal.

Barba is reminding us of the skills that are have been missing for some time now in SL. We do not have a back in SL anywhere near his combination of pace, balance, footwork, handling skill and vision.

The modern game has swopped all of the above skills for physical power so that now most positions are occupied by second rowers with average skills who have the sole aim to bust tackles rather than ghost around the defender with balance and pace or fix and draw a defender and pass to the man in space.

The game urgently needs stars with the X-factor to bring in the crowds and also the sponsors.

I think playing pretty much with 1 half back, especially when the link at fb is limited too, is hugely significant. He adds nothing to game management, kills space when he gets the ball and makes moving the ball to the outside backs so laboured.

I think the point you make about full back is key, we have no ball player there like Webb to help Myler. I have much more time for Moon at 6 than many on here, take your point about pivots but he is one of the best players at Leeds. His roaming style would be much more effective if the leeds pack were dominant, however they are struggling for parity in most games and our PTB is regularly slower then the opposition.

Our kicking off is really poor as well, regularly landing 15 yards from the try line meaning the opposition get on the front foot and quick PTB's. I think Leeds will struggle to hold the Cas pack next week.

Agree moons not ideal at 6, still think theres more to our current problems though, we look a very unorganized, ill disciplined, mentally suspect side at the minute, moon isnt to blame for all of that imo.

You're right the balance of the squad isn't quite right & the lack of quality is getting exposed especially in the pack.
I expected better at the start of the season but an ageing injury prone BR , a poor signing in Ferres no genuine 6 & the inconsistency of the likes of Mullally show a pretty big rebuilding job needs doing.

SL has never attracted Origin certainties. At best we've signed a few possibles and has beens. SL is though clearly missing out on the next tier of NRL players - particularly good players in their late 20s/early 30s. That sort of player used to see SL as a nice top up in earnings, and the biggest impact isn't the cap but the tightening in tax laws which meant overseas players like Buderus could effectively treat their earnings from SL tax free. Now they'd be far better off hanging around in the NRL a few years longer.

On us this year, we seem to have a real mindset problem. RL is a momentum game, and we just seem to stop playing once we get a lead. The Raiders have the same problem in the NRL this year - get a lead then stop playing and basically let the opposition right back into the game.

I think the clubs simply don't have the money and most would be unable to invest in a Marquee player. Leeds generate as much revenue as any side yet they struggle either mentally/physically to shell out the monies required to attract very best NRL players available.

Youth development should be applauded/encouraged but it shouldn't be the be all and end all of squad building/filling.

Look at the Leeds squad and there isn't a real quality overseas player in it. Most are pretty average players that struggled to get a game in the NRL - Cuthbertson, Garbutt, Parcell even Moon couldn't get a gig in the NRL.

Correct, not one of our overseas players would automatically get into an NRL team. If as is rumoured Moon returns to the NRL, it won't be as a 6, he'll have to try his hand back in the centres. In the NRL he'll be coming up against bigger and stronger opponents every week, which will neutralise what is his strength in SL. He might well get a gig, but he won't be a star, just as he wasn't when he left for Salford when he should have been at his prime.

If Corey Thompson can go well in NRL I'm pretty sure Joel Moon can.

Completely different beasts. Thompson was generally a winger before he left for SL - its taken Cleary at the Tigers to decide the risk attached to his lack of size is outweighed by his running ability at full back. Moon was an average centre in the NRL, and would be again if he returned. If anything the centres across the NRL have got bigger since he left - there are very few with much of a football brain, but 90% of them are very big guys.

Agreed. See also Ken Sio at KR/The Knights.

For all Moons inability to cement Stand off, he isn't an average centre in a derogatory way, he is above that. Average, yes, in the same terms as other centres, and the majority of NRL centres, but not average as in not good enough to cement a centre place. He is much better than a lof of the centres in the NRL, but accepted not close to the best ones.

My head hurts just reading that.

The NRL is a far more structured environment especially in respect of attacking plays - Moon's space grabbing style simply wouldn't work in the current NRL. Add to that years in SL and he would really struggle with the relentless intensity of that competition. I would be amazed if he could hold down a regular centre spot in the NRL

Moon will go fine in the NRL as many others have. It's easy to make the NRL to be mission impossible for Super League players but players like Mike Cooper, Josh Hodgson, Corey Thompson and many more have done perfectly fine. I see no reason why a player of Joel Moon's calibre wouldn't if that is the road he chooses to go down.

Personally I think Moon is a super player but I have doubts he is 100% fit at the moment.

Stock answer when a player isn't delivering on the field - must be carrying an injury

Followed by the stock answer from a cynic

There are always at least two sides to supposition

You can't compare forwards and outside backs. The record of SL forwards in the NRL is generally very good, the record of backs very poor. I just don't see any current team where Moon would be anything other than battling to get a game.