Has there been any confirmation on him joining Canterbury, and any rumors on his replacement?

all will be announced once our season is over,so maybe next week but let's hope the week after

From tonight's YEP online:

[iSaturday's engage Super League qualifying semi-final against Wigan Warriors will be Poching's Headingley Carnegie swansong, though he still has hopes of returning next year, in the opposition camp ....... Saturday's match will also be assistant-coach Francis Cummins and Australian winger Scott Donald's Headingley farewell. Cummins is set to leave the club at the end of this season and has also yet to find a new role. Donald plans to return to Australia to join the Queensland police force.[/i

Eastwood?

Maybe he's not playing?

I was reading on an Austrailian rugby site a few days ago (sorry can't remember the link) which was going through all the NRL comings and goings for every club for next season. It had Eastwood from Leeds withthe Bulldogs. I accept does not prove anything directly but they were happy to print it

I suspect it was a done deal some time ago. Leeds have probably asked the Dogs to shut up about it before the end of our season as its a distraction we don't need.

I appreciate the details of eastwoods impending move have not been confirmed but from the bits Ive read it sounds like we are releasing him from his contract without a fee. Is that everyone elses understanding?

Oh, and we may get to hook up with them for some player swaps. Seems like the Bulldogs are getting a flippin good deal here.

Heatherington aint stupid, Leeds will be getting a nice return. Doubt it will be the $100,000 he first stated though.

he has been being playing with some good form since he announced he wanted to go and the bulldogs came in for him.
maybe the deal is done and he knows he is going home in a few weeks and it is a weight lifted off his shoulders which has contributed to this form?

Also helps that he's been injury free for a few weeks. Not the brightest start to a Rhinos career but he's showed us what he's capable of in recent games, just hope there's some plans to bring in a replacement

Really? Hetherington has done this twice previously regarding big sums for players, and ended up with nothing on both occassions.

On both occassions he looked stupid, why would you rule out a third time?

I'm not sure what deals you are reffering to Gotcha but GH got us paid twice for Harris and the $100,000 is coming from the aussie press reports not our own.
I really doubt GH will walk away gaining nothing from this deal and he'll still pull a signing or 2 out of the bag imo.

I read on text last week he had signed for the dogs for £60k

And which players would these be and do you know the facts?

All I know Hetherington has done a fantastic job in his reign at this club. He put a big marker down when the Eastwood transfer news came out. If he was to then let Eastwood walk away scot free without an sort of deal in place, well it would make him look very stupid indeed in front of the Aussies.

We were after 500,000 for Innes and never got it, despite the song and dance in the media.

We wanted 100,000 for Pratt and never got it, despite the song and dance in the media.

We wanted 100,000 for Eastwood and.........

The Pratt issue accepted was more that he cocked up with the rules. On the two occassions though he did look pretty stupid with the end result.

Your Haris example though, accepted was a case of him massively gaining some credit, although we don't know what the final outcome of that was.

I'm pretty sure Innes left the club long before Hetherington joined.

Knowledgeable as ever Gotcha.

If you are saying I am wrong, then you are highlighting your lack of knowledge. Is that what you are saying?

To clarify Hetherington came in whilst the claim was still going on for Innes (we were only talking months), and made a big issue to the media that they still intended to get that money.

HTH

Innes left 94/95, Hetherington Joined in 96

Innes left 95. Hetherington joined 96, please see above post.

TBH I'm not too fussed. He's leaving between seasons, keeping disruption to a minimum and a replacement 2nd rower of roughly similar ability to Eastwood shouldn't be too hard to find. However, the money might be better spent on a prop.

That's a little bit disrespectful. If he was that easy to replace why is there no other back rower playing in super league as good as him on his day?

If you actually meant we could get by with a backrower of lesser ability, then fair enough, but you certainly won't find easily a player to match his abilities. Just a shame as Leeds fans we have not had the privelage of seeing him play on a more regular basis.

I agree, and I'm more gutted by the day that he's set to leave.

Putting my personal feelings regarding his reasons for leaving aside, he's a bloomin' brilliant forward and is one of the form players of the competition.

We won't get anyone as good as or anywhere near as good as Eastwood. The bloke is outstanding. A few weeks back I remember somebody saying Eastwood isn't good enough to lace Gaz Ellis' boots'. I told them to judge Eastwood after a good run of games which will bring some fitness. I remember him tearing the Bradford apart single handedly at Oddsal, that was after a good run of games in the squad. After another run of games he went to the DW and made 3 or 4 breaks and some very neat offloads. How old is he...22? He could be world beater in a few years.

That's purely opinion. I worry about any player when the phrase "on his day" is thrown in, as it usually means they're unreliable. Examples would be Pryce and Briers, who are as good as any halfbacks in SL [ion their day[/i.