Garbutt was injured and had an operation . All players get injuries , we had to risk keeping him on the basis when he played he was nearly always our best if not only strike forward . I await someone telling me who will do that job this season with the dross props (or 2nd rowers playing prop ) we have got .

Crosby and Peteru won't play so they will replace him. Garbutt has gone, good luck to him. Let's concentrate on players we have not ones we don't

Thoughts on Merrin signing?

Probably best to see what happens as the season unfolds. Before we make any judgements.

F*** sake let it go, he's gone, he's gone because he was lazy injured or faked injuries because he was a flat track bully with a attitude, who was on a wedge, that's why the club got rid of him. Cuthbo played most of last season with a bust hand and still kept going, still kept putting his hand up to play, Garbut ohh my areshole hurts I can't play. Cuthbo former MOS nominee dream team player, turned the game around against Cas still our best prop. Oledski one of brightest prospects in the game, Holroyd chomping at the bit, getting rid of Garbutt allowed us cap space for Hurrell and Merrin a SOO and Kangaroo forward. We are far stronger without him.

There was obviously a very good reason they let him go,but of course we all know better than Sinfield,Hetherington and Furner?

Think some people need to release he only got through one game last night and not a full season unscathed. No doubting the guy has talent but plenty of other things to doubt and last night wasn't exactly a hard game to get up for and put in a big performance 1st game of the season Hull Derby for a new club should always equal a big performance really

Thought Mulhern went well and did big minutes.
On another note Merrin is not a prop but played there as we had nobody else.
Maybe Sutcliffe can put a load of weight on and we can try him there.

Garbutt must have been on one hell of a wedge if his cap space has allowed us to sign 2 marquee players.
Merrin may well be a Kangaroo forward but he looks badly out of condition. By his own admission the Cas friendly was a kick up the backside and he was way off the pace. He looks to have some quality and will hopefully come good, but to come over as our major signing and supposed pack leader and see him look so unfit is not a good start.

Yes those were alarming comments from Merrin... thats typical of big name aussies weve had over the years.

Merrin looks like he likes cheeseburgers a bit too much when he’s not able to train.

Get him fit and play him as a back rower and I think we’ve got a player. Play him as a prop and we’ve wasted his talent and our money.

If Garbutt was released because he misses too many games why on earth have you signed Donaldson?

Donno is a real trier and a good player but is too small and gets injured regularly due to collisions with much bigger players. You paid for Garbutt's operation to clear up his knee problem then released him now he is fit and playing for Hull KR.

Hey I'm sure you'll get along fine after all you are Leeds and have two thirds of the England academy waiting in the wings. If it's not this year or even next year you will inevitably rule the roost again and probably sooner rather than later.

In the meantime thank you for Jimmy Keinhorst, Mitch Garbutt, Robbie Mulhern & Danny McGuire. I am under no illusions that the fact those players are so important to us and disposable by yourselves tells a story in itself.

If you've watched NRL regularly, you'd know that Merrin has always been fat, but that doesn't mean unfit - he'd frequently play 80 at 13 and top tackle and metre counts and he was just about the best offloader in the game. His condition doesn't worry me, but playing him as a prop does.

That may be so, but by his own admission the Cas friendly was a kick up the backside he needed. He said he was way off the pace and it was much tougher than he expected. Not what you hope to hear from your main off season signing. I guess a positive is that he has owned up to his shortcomings and is prepared to do something about it. He did show some glimpses of his offload and I do think he will prove a good addition but it sounded like a lack of professionalism to the start of his Leeds career.

I wouldn't take Merrin's comments too much on face value. He's moved away from his home and family into a completely new environment, under a hell of a lot of scrutiny, and is now playing in the middle of an English winter when it's Baltic outside.
I suspect what we'll find with him is that he will produce consistent quality, and become a really valuable player over time.
He clearly isn't big enough to play prop IMO, and I also don't think Leeds can afford to have that much salary cap playing short minutes in a role he's not really designed for. The squad number we gave him cheered me up, and then my heart sank again when I saw first game up in at prop.
I guess Crosby is still injured, and someone posted that Peteru wasn't fit either, so I'll give benefit of the doubt.
Re. big Mitch, I really liked him when he played, thought he was one of the best props in the whole competition. Whereas I can understand letting him go (and let's see how many games he does play for KR this year), and I also know we need to free up cap space before we can make changes, I think we had Ikahihifo lined up and then it fell through, leaving us very short.

Must have the same attidude problem as Garbutt...or bad diet.

Can't believe Hull KR lost yesterday when they have the 3 Golden boot contenders in their team.

Quote ="Marty Grrrrrrrrrr!"Can't believe Hull KR lost yesterday when they have the 3 Golden boot contenders in their team.'" https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... ts-2529857

Quote ="Marty Grrrrrrrrrr!"Can't believe Hull KR lost yesterday when they have the 3 Golden boot contenders in their team.'" https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... ts-2529857

Letting Garbutt go is the worst decision the club have made in recent seasons. Terrible call, in a position in which we were already weak. What a difference he would make now.

Yep. Letting him leave without an obvious replacement to come in seems crazy. For all the good work done pre season in recruitment if we are honest we have one of the weakest set of props in SL and it will hold us back all season.

Why he hardly played?

Exactly & he's only played 2 games this far for HKR.

He hardly played last season.
His record before that was good for a prop. If we are getting rid of players for missing months at a time Watkins and Ward would be out too.
Despite your tongue in cheek comment that HKR had lost at Warrington with the Leeds players, Garbutts stats were great again. Almost double the metres our props managed at Warrington.

2 more than Crosby has managed this season

How is that relevant?
Leeds management had their reasons for getting rid perhaps we will find out one day,Hardaker was brilliant for a time at Cas.should we have kept him?

Hardakers problems are well documented, and not down to missing a season due to injury, so not sure how that is relevant at all.
Posters on here are suggesting Garbutt was shown the door because of the games he missed last season.
Indeed Sinfield did make a comment last season about too much salary cap sat in the stand injured. The point about Crosby is that although it is early on in the season, to say that Garbutt has only played twice, while one of the players signed to play in his position is out injured himself and is yet to feature. I think Crosby will be a decent signing btw.