Leeds Rhinos confirmed the signing of Bodene Thompson on YouTube to swiftly remove the video

More dross.

Please God no!
Another cheap player who isn't good enough.
Are we a bargain basement club?

Agar says ‘what Bo’ brings to the camp is a wealth of experience, he’s played at Super League level for a number of years and an opportunity came up for him to come here and strengthen the options in that area...’ bla bla bla, who are you trying to convince Rich

Have they just dusted off the Jordan Thompson speech?

As you say echoes of 2018.
With ward, mellor, Donaldson and sutcliffe all out, we needed another back row desperately. So it’s understandable but
We need some real quality in for next year again desperately.

Agreed but we’re not in a position to bring in top class for this season at the moment. Let’s give the fella some backing before writing him off

I hope he rips it up.

I hope they all do, but realistically I’d be a bit surprised. Still its a team game and we know Bo likes to bond with his team mates, I’m sure he’ll be settling in and sharing everything very quickly.

I suppose I prefer this morally than the likes of other clubs asking current players for pay cuts then announcing big name signings.

As long as this is only for one season.

Watched Kevs interview this morning. Said senior players were consulted about any new signings first to make sure they’re on board due to the salary cuts. Again stated we’ve a very limited budget.

Journeyman, solid, pro.....not good enough ultimately.

Give Walters and Holroyd a bloody chance. There i said it....thats the message.

Someone (rightly) said a few days ago that kids are never ready for first team for their first game, but you never get to find out if they will make it if you don’t give them the chance. Holroyd, Walters, Mustapha, Tindall all need to be getting a go now, so we can see where they are at. They’ll all make mistakes, but they’ll bust a gut trying.

There’s nothing to lose and everything to gain...

Ooh I was so close...

Head Coach Richard Agar added, “Bodene is a quality forward who has a great deal of experience both in the NRL but also in Super League with Warrington Wolves and Toronto Wolfpack. This is a win-win situation for Bodene and ourselves; he is able to show what he can do whilst allowing us to strengthen our pack with a tough period of games coming up in a short period of time.”

Exactly, if I was Holroyd, Walters or Mustapha and did not get much of a chance this season then I would be looking for a new club who would give me some game time.

I agree with Agar personally

He was ok at Warrington , didnt do much st Leigh & poor chasing the fake riches at Toronto.
Agar bigging him up when he's picked Rhys Evans & ignored Sam Walters Tommy Holroyd & Liam Tindell etc means zip imo.
Its another poor signing irrespective of wages or injuries.

It makes sense to me given that Mellor and Donaldson are out for six weeks or so, Sutcliffe is still injured and Ward is out for the foreseeable. We normally play with three second rows so if Walters is anywhere near ready he'll get a game. It's not like they have given Thompson a three year contract.

I'm sure Walters and Holroyd will get a chance this season not sure about Mustapha not sure he's big enough.Walters and Holroyd are still only 19.

Thompson is just hear to covee our injuries to our pack with Mellor and Donaldson both out now for a chunk of the season it makes sense to me for the club to give him a contract for remainder of season.Ward and Crosby who knows if they'll play again never mind this season, L.Sutcliffe is just about to come back from injury and imo and many others it seems he's not good enough to be in our 17 and is on his way out of the club anyway. So our back rowe options are short with just Martin, A.Sutcliffe, Smith,(more of a 13), Walters (yet to make his debut and still young and will get a chance to prove himself), O'Connor( same as Walters) and now Thompson so I think the club have brought Thompson in at the right time to cover us and he hasn't even played for us yet he could be a solid addition to us lets wait and see when he was at NZ Warriors in NRL he was a decent second rower and was close to being in the NZ national team.

I reckon some will get chances shortly and looking further on at the insane fixture list many could get some game time.
Oct 9 v cas
Wed October 14 v wire
Sat October 17 c cup final ? If us or wire are there how does that work?
Fri October 23 v saints
Sun October 25 v hull
Fri October 30 v wakey
Fri nov 6 v cas
Sun nov 8 v Wigan

By the time we play cas and Wigan, Kev May be offering season ticket holders another free meal to play.
These days that must be dangerous to player welfare especially as we have plenty injured

Its a potential disaster waiting to happen.

Also a reason not to be too disheartened at this stage as form is going to go out the window once each team starts picking up injuries.
Could be a very interesting end of season where the least unaffected club with injuries may be taking home the honours.

Exactly, we are going to need all the bodies we can get, so I wouldn’t look at this signing as anything other than that an experienced player to add to the squad, thr kids will get s chance when the fixture lust starts getting a bit mental

Also hes filled a vacant squad number, I’m sure there would be some saying why didn’t we fill the squad when we had the chance if we hadn’t signed him

Says 'pending work visa' - will he definitely get one? How long will it take? Who plays there while we wait for the visa to come through?