i cant Ts giving him another year he has played some good games but his handling errors will cost us a game one day like the c.c semi

like some one said before wood cooper will be the replacements props next season

I think @ his age & with the younger guys knocking on the door we should let him go. The game called out yesterday for a big performance off the bench & he didn't have that much game time & that big an impact off the bench from what i can remember

Lets not all go hammering rau,the guy is 80 mins away from wembley,
no one would begrudge him a place on the bench for a challenge cup final,
Yeah he does throw one or two loose balls or makes the wrong decision sometimes but that could be how smith wants him to play???!!

Any player whose main strength is offloading will always make errors due to the way they loosely carry the ball.

The other player who springs to mind at present is Gareth Hock. When his offloads come off he looks a genius, when they dont he looks a liability.

Same with Rauhihi ....

With regards to his contract situation. If the coaching staff believe he is the best option for next season then I have faith in their assessment. If they believe that either a new signing or that Cooper ( or Pickersgill - however not holding my breath) is ready to step up and be the 4th prop on a regular basis then I have faith in that assessment also.

As fans we are great at picking up on players weaknessess. Look at players who come/came under fire from supporters.
Wainwright and Clarke for instance. Both under fire from supporters but both, who if the players picked the team, would be one of the first names on the team sheet due to the unseen,unheralded work that they do.

Just remember the team won yesterday made up of 17 players who collectively did the job required .. end of story

He just goes through the motions with little urgency, no way should he get another year.

i have faith in smith to make the right decision,personally wouldnt offer him another year.

When he tries to offload he's a moron, his decision making process is awful. When he gets his head down, he makes alot of metres, attracts defenders and carries a threat, so he should just stick to the basics and we'd all be happy, but he never will.

Second half yesterday, the start of it, I'm guessing after a stern telling off, he was alot better, reigned himself in.

He had a shocker yesterday after playing well for a number of weeks. I thought "Its back to the bad old Rau again"

Last season for Rah, just to prone to a brain fart coughing up possession when we need him to keep hold.

Very annoying, to cough up the ball so often is stupid. Especially in such a big match.

in attack

Rah and Riley always worry me
Rah's silly offloads
Riley, the way he holds the ball at arms length just inviting a steal or a big hit fumble.

in defence

Westwood and Carvell at the play of the ball

If Westwood could keep his discipline, concentration and composure he would be an out and out world beater.

I'm happy to see Riley make way for Hicks.

I feel better when Rauhihi is on the bench rather than on the field.

Rah is a 'big unit' and if he did just the basics which is all you ask of your interchange forwards then i'd be happy with him. If he was English i'd keep him but personally i'd like to get someone else in on his quota space.

Hopefully Smith will sort Rah he needs to hold onto the ball more then i think he will be a great replacement, used to worry the same about Wedge, but Cull stopped him off loading everytime he got the ball.

Don think i would give him another 12 months though

can't see tony smith giving him another contract. also don't think woodys
been anywhere near to what he was like before he had his shoulder done.
don't think coopers quite ready yet. once morley and carvell go off you can really see the difference in the go forward. thats why i would like to see another forward like thackeray come in who really punches his weight.

It is going to be hard to get the quality of Carvell and Morley but who is out there that is realistically available?

Not sure on Thackery, would have to watch him more closely (didn't TS already get rid of him once at Leeds?)

Dropped him for the GF.

he's not been offered it as of yesterday

he's not been offered it as of yesterday

Reminds me of one of my all time favourite RL stories which Barrie McDermott revealed on that William Hill podcast.

Smith left Barrie out of Leeds Cup final team in 2005 and, after the match, Barrie approached Smith and asked why. Smith said he couldn't tell him why he left him out but he could explain how he came to the decision. Smith said that he rolled a dice and if it was a 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 then McDermott wasn't selected and would miss out. Barrie asked Smith what happened if he rolled a 6 to which Smith replied 'If we got a 6 we rolled again, you fat b*****d!'

I really hope that story is true.

Brilliant!

i hope not. he isn't good enough atall. Niether is john clarke. they don't do anything for the team either. it gets on my nerves when rauhihi does one good tackle every 6 games and the crowd go wild for him. that is not good enough what-so-ever and should be contributing more to the game.

I'm not sure I ever remember the crowd ever going wild for Rah's tackles. His offloads or runs maybe, but not his defensive work.

I would say he does some good walks, dragging 3 or 4 players with him. Not sure i have seen him reach full speed yet

I think Baby Katie must be in bed when most of the games are played, Rau can run, he can tackle (and does), and can offload very well, it's just that there's been times in the last 3 games where offloads haven't been on and he's tried them. Would I give him another contract? At 36, no. As for the comments on Jon Clarke, after Saturday they don't even deserve a reply.