Think Latu deserves his place in the team, played well last week.

Agreed and drew has been imp this year, sorry sam not up to their standard atm.

But then Grix is neither winger or stand off but that's who we are talking about shoving there. Wouldn't say Grix offers anymore in defence than Obst and form is not great for either heads we lose, tails they win.

i'd agree with most of that, but i go with sam he seems to have more going for him than latu when we are at the line. he can put some decent kicks in and as been said before gives 110%

Where's Jay Pitts!?...

I like Sam whether at half or hooker but to be honest, Latu had a good game against Hudds especialy his big hits in defense and Grix deserves a shot to prove he can play at stand off. We were all excited about him after world cup, lets give him a go now that Martin is injured and Ronney resting in the Lake District.

not good enough to get in, why?

He looked to come pretty close to doing himself a serious injury on one in particular against Crabtree. Impressive and committed as it may be, not what I'd consider sensible if it means he's shot for the next 15 minutes.

I'm not entirely sure Bibey and Korki should be on the field at the same time. Decent going forward but in defence they're very slow and it takes an eternity for them to react.

Hes on one of the pub quiz machines in Leeds playing Bulls Eye spending his signing on fee !!

He is a target but so is Burrows... They key is to protecting him by respected the ball, going forward and cutting out errors... Look at Deacon ... Hes getting knocked out virtually every other game as Bradford are always on the back foot having to defend... If Burrows is having to do a lot of defensive work Friday wel be in the game...

Well if he hadn't they'd have scored. So sensible or not it was a boost to the team

Totally agree. Rugby is about putting your body on the line for your team mates. Think it's something Latu has brought with him from the NRL because you see around ten "shots" a match in their games.

lb for lb Burrow is one of the best defenders in the league, he goes low and holds on for dear life, the notion that he is a weak link in defence is a false one unless you are defending on your own line when size and power cannot be "made up for".

It's not so much the one off tackle, its the 30+ that the likes of Burrow will have to make often against props. While they may stand up well for tackle individually, that amount of work is going to have an affect, whether it's dropping off tackles later in the game or being ineffectual as an attacking force though out the match.

Having too many of these players in you 17 is a problem, much as we have found this season.

I agree, many coaches hide half backs out wide when defending to keep then fresh and It's a good ploy, I'm just pointing out that size or lack of it does not make you a weakness in defence. A good play maker will always be a target for the forwards.

Exactly. Being targeted does not mean you are a weak tackler, it often means you are an influencial attacker.

I read Kevin Walters book a few years ago and he pointed it out then that he was targetted at Brisbane and got some criticism, but they worked on a structure that covered him, not just be putting him out wide, but sometimes putting him in the middle where he was part of a 3 man tackle rather than 1-1. It just depends on what kind of tackler you are.
Long stands on the wing because he is fast enough to catch a winger, but he doesn't stand there when the kick is going in and doesn't often tackle the big forward because someone else gets across to help in the tackle. It takes a very organised defense to switch players round part way through the 6 but that is what the good teams do.

In my opinion, we don't need to replace Obst or Brough and Drew for that matter, but just make sure that targetting them is not effective.

i can't agree with that mate. since korki came back i have been well impressed with his defence. he is lighter and faster and less clumsy. seems to have ironed out a lot of glitches in his game while he has been away. oh and less penalties. must be doing something right. he got mom in the leaguer this week. think bibey is playing pretty well. i have been impressed with his go forward and he gets a few passes away now and again. think he has improved a lot this season.

Fair point, I wasn't so much getting at that incident though. Latu's efforts like that can be valuable, and he clearly is willing to run at the biggest in attack and stand up to them in defence - or throw himself vertically at them in that particular case.

My concern is though is it must take away from the spark in his running game. I'm not sure he'd admit it mind, but he tires easy with it. When people talk about players who 'run through a brick wall for you', there are those who'd do it for the love of the club, game or sheer competitiveness, and there are those who'd probably do it in their spare time for entertainment anyway. I get the impression Latu is of the latter category. Didn't he even once injure himself swan diving unnecessarily to score and popped his shoulder or something?

Wire at home last season.