Does it mean much in the worst Leeds team of all time....

Absolutely. Future legend.

For a young kid playing in a e team just out of full time education he's awful. Why isn't he breaking the line on kick returns when most teams are kicking from well within our half so having a set line? Why isn't he reading the faster paced game better when he's played the majority out of position? I just hope he isn't using his bad luck with injuries as an excuse. I can see why there's no reserve set up anymore because it's easy to tell at this age, after a handful of games, how good someone will be

I don't think he's got the right frame to add too much bulk, and if you look at the size of backs across SL and NRL these days I'm not sure how far he'll go.



Maybe a future in the halfs, if his hands are good enough?

Golding is an attacking rugby player with pace, good hands and awareness as he showed in linking with Lilley for the early Keinhorst try against Huddersfield the other night. He is young and inexperienced but has shown bravery and mental toughness in overcoming mistakes in tough situations and I believe he is a fine prospect for the future.



He does not need to bulk up merely gain experience to improve techniques etc IMO and for those that are so quick to be critical some comparison between the 19 year old and our experienced MOS are in order:



Tackles

In his 2 SL games at fullback this year Golding has made an average of 14.5 tackles per game which is double the average number of tackles made by Hardaker at FB this year and AG has averaged more tackles overall per game in SL than ZH.



Missed tackles

ZH has a missed tackle average of 17% while AG has only a 7.5 % missed tackle average



Clean breaks

In his limited total games this season (5 and a half I think?) he has made the same number of line breaks as Hardaker has made all season ( ZH 12 and a half SL matches I think) so again double the MOS average.



Tackle Busts

AG (3,27 per game) is not far behind ZH's (3.92 per game) SL average for tackle busts too.



Average metres per carry

AG has a better average than ZH this year so far.



Tries scored

AG in 5 and a half matches has scored double the number tries that ZH has achieved in 12.5 matches.



Handling errors

AG has a lower average number of errors per game than ZH in SL this season

Miles beteer than Zak at the moment, who has no scored a try since last year's semi-final

Don't know he is a young kid, but at the moment he needs to be taken out of the first team his confidence appears shot, and every week it gets worse, he needs time to re build his confidence in the under 19's. But if we keep playing him it will destroy him, but this can be said about Sutcliffe

You are talking about Hardaker aren't you? I think he is too old for the under 19s now.

I disagree that his confidence looks shot or that it's getting worst. He did have quite a 'mare against Hudds in the league game but came back ok the next week and thought he was ok vs Cas given the circumstances of having the defence in front of him part like the Red Sea and kickers are having the luxury of time to put in good kicks.



Whilst it can be a possibility I don't necessarily think it's a gimme that a young player could be damaged by this. It much depends on the player in question and if you take Lilley for example, despite our struggles I can imagine his confidence is quite strong at the moment after playing and showing up well in more games than he will have expected to play this year.

Just out of interest, which full back does anyone think would have shone defensively for Leeds so far this season? I think Slater and Inglis would be quivering wrecks by now.

Not big enough or strong enough for FB or wing.

I thought he was rubbish on Thursday, not sure how others were forming their view. Thought he was the foundation of a lot of our problems with his poor positioning for kicks, making the return too slow, and the Cas chasing much easier to pin us down.



Not writing him off, think he is a good kid, but not Thursday.