Where do Leeds go now?

[Mr Plow]

12 hours ago, DOGFATHER said:

 

Handley and Sutcliffe look like decent championship players, maybe bottom half of SL at best.

The list goes on... 

Handleys been doing better than I thought he would tbh. What’s Sutcliffe best position? He’s played stand off, fullback, centre, second row and back to standoff. There’s too much dead wood in the squad.

 

[Mattrhino]

Watkins looks the slowest man on the pitch at the moment. A real shame but losing your pace can happen after injury and never come back. Just look at happened to Micheal Owen.

[Clogiron]

Never fear, Richard Stars been named as Assistant Coach in place of Lowe's all Leeds' problems are over! Actually I thought that that was what caused the Forum to blow a fuse

[redjonn]

As to changing Captain... maybe but when does putting an arm band on a person mean nobody else shows leadership on the field. 

Leadership for sure on the field seems an issue but surely some players would be clearly showing that leadership... To me non are..... why would putting an arm band on to "officially" be captain make a difference.   Peacock wasn't officially captain but he still showed leadership in abundance as did others.     

When Leeds have someone showing that leadership as distinct from flapping arms about or shouting then OK maybe he could be official captain.

[DavidM]

1 hour ago, Mattrhino said:

Just look at happened to Micheal Owen.

Yeh he took millions out of  Newcastle for not much  and set himself up lovely. 

[Saint Toppy]

On ‎05‎/‎04‎/‎2019 at 21:07, M j M said:

Stripped is not the right word but it's in his and the team's interests for it to live with someone who is more of a talker. Some people just aren't cut out to be captains - Watkins is a bit too nice and a bit too quiet in my view.

 

You dont have to be loud or 'nasty' to be a good captain. Chris Joynt wasn't much of a talker but was a fantastic captain, same can be said of James Roby now. They both led / lead by example for what they did on the pitch and with a few well chosen words in the dressing room.

Watkins isn't very vocal on the pitch but also at the moment he isn't really doing much as a player either, he's struggling to recapture his form from a few years ago. He's not the only player under-performing though so its a bit harsh to lay all the blame at his door. There's plenty of other very senior players out there who aren't stepping up.

[Oxford]

Where do Leeds go now?

 

The NRL for more signings I should think!

[latchford albion]

11 hours ago, Clogiron said:

Never fear, Richard Stars been named as Assistant Coach in place of Lowe's all Leeds' problems are over! Actually I thought that that was what caused the Forum to blow a fuse

Ringo or predictive text for Agar?  Ringo would probably do a better job.

[Clogiron]

58 minutes ago, latchford albion said:

Ringo or predictive text for Agar?  Ringo would probably do a better job.

Predictive alas, Ringo's dog would probably do a better job, consolation is he's probably just doing it as a warm up for when he takes the Hull job again

[Oxford]

On 11/04/2019 at 13:08, Oxford said:

Where do Leeds go now?

 

The NRL for more signings I should think!

You heard it here first folks!

[bbfaz]

On 11/04/2019 at 09:47, Mattrhino said:

Watkins looks the slowest man on the pitch at the moment. A real shame but losing your pace can happen after injury and never come back. Just look at happened to Micheal Owen.

Sure but when you lose pace, you have to adapt your game. As much as Kevin Keegan is maligned, he told Owen that if he was no longer pacy, he couldn't lead the line and goalhang.  He had to get more involved in the buildup play and get into the box later where he could use movement and elusiveness rather than out-and-out pace like he had when he was a youngster.  Essentially, Keegan wanted to remodel Owen in his own image but Owen didn't listen.

What and how can Watkins adapt his game to contribute to the Rhinos positively in the future?  The parallels to Owen are that they both started very young.  He has 250 games under his belt over 12 years and his knee was reconstructed when he was 19.  Can he move to second row?  It's such a shame.

[bbfaz]

1 hour ago, scotchy1 said:

Watkins injury is different to Owens. Watkins was a knee problem which can be fixed but also affects your agility and turning more than outright speed. Owen's was mostly hamstring issues that left him unable to really even try and sprint. 

I'm sure Watkins will regain his speed and power. 

I dunno.  If you can't put weight through the knee, you lose your explosiveness.  You might be able to reach top speed but you won't have a step nor a burst of acceleration.

[MyMrsWouldPreferSinfield]

On 14/04/2019 at 09:57, bbfaz said:

I dunno.  If you can't put weight through the knee, you lose your explosiveness.  You might be able to reach top speed but you won't have a step nor a burst of acceleration.

If he was that fragile he wouldn't be on the pitch.

He was playing poor at the start of the season, literally standing in the wrong places, missing tackles, not reading the game. He just looked very rusty but his game is coming back.

Far far too early to write off England's best centre in the last decade!

[Cheshire Setter]

11 minutes ago, MyMrsWouldPreferSinfield said:

If he was that fragile he wouldn't be on the pitch.

He was playing poor at the start of the season, literally standing in the wrong places, missing tackles, not reading the game. He just looked very rusty but his game is coming back.

Far far too early to write off England's best centre in the last decade!

That’s very true.   When the team is low on confidence as a whole and very disjointed, it’s going to make a quality player coming back from injury look very ordinary.

Better to judge Watkins next season OR...(awaits incoming)... at a new club

[bbfaz]

6 hours ago, MyMrsWouldPreferSinfield said:

 If he was that fragile he wouldn't be on the pitch.

 He was playing poor at the start of the season, literally standing in the wrong places, missing tackles, not reading the game. He just looked very rusty but his game is coming back.

 Far far too early to write off England's best centre in the last decade!

I'm not having a go but knee injuries are far from cut and dried and they're difficult to come back from, especially mentally.  If you don't feel you can explode forward, that first yard of pace won't be there whether it is actually gone or not.  You're right, he needs until the end of the season.  Equally, the club need to prepare for the possibility that he might not ever get it back.