If Josh Duggan shows an interest in signing for us we should do all we can to sign him.

That's harsh. Hurrell is a good player, just think we waste him by his current role...

I have followed this forum for about 18 months without ever commenting. The posts range from insightful with good analysis to passionate wanting the best for the club to in some cases just purely comical. Having watched rugby at all levels since the late 70s and seen Leeds teams of all standards I have decided to join the discussion and offer some opinions which I should point out are no more valid than anyone else. In terms of the discussion regarding Hurrell the question should be why we didn't try and sign a big south sea forward on marquee money in the first instance. I can't believe we are seriously suggesting that we should ask a centre who we are paying marquee money to play for 20 minutes a game in the back row! We have been here before with Watkins and Delaney.Instead of trying to stick a plaster on things we need to acknowledge the real issue which is that we don't create a go forward platform that allows the half backs to transfer the ball quickly to a centre running into space. It is probably 4 years since a Leeds three-quarter actually received a ball with open field in front of them.In the current world we would be suggesting moving Keith Senior into the back row!If we can get a big prop and high impact bench forward this would help fix the problem. We then need our hooker to be fully tuned in to where Gale wants the ball and we have a chance.I share most peoples concerns about the lack of pace in the back line however pace is no weapon without space to use it in. When we get this right we can question the value of Hurrell the international centre.

I think he's a crap player.

Hello and welcome. Definitely some valid points, but I was trying to get at options to improve things with what we have.
Irrelevant discussing what we should have done, and seemingly no new signings in sight. Yes it's poor and annoying re this, but I fear we are struck with what we have for foreseeable future. I also think it's fair to accept that the way we are using our biggest weapon isn't necessarily working out, and changing things up may just be a short term improvement.......
Defensively I just don't see Hurrell as an 80 minute centre. There's some quick and mobile centres in this league, and think they'll exploit our left edge, especially with the way Handley tackled on Sunday!! Comparing Senior to Hurrell is way off as Senior was the best defensive centre in the game. He had it all really....

Josh Dugan is replacing Mitchell at the Roosters

Hurrell has some negative points but he is not a crap player, there’s some utter nonsense posted on here sometimes

Sorry you find my opinion a load of nonsense.

Hurrell is effective in stints (like Parcell and Cuthbertson were in their first season, before teams sorted a game plan to negate them for the whole game), but he's just an injury waiting to happen.

Teams kick to him cos he's crap in the air. His defence is appalling. He knocks on too often.

Second row would remove all these negative aspects, and we could be unleashing a lethal weapon for 20 min spells. He's definitely brave enough...

I don't agree he's crap at all, but comments like 'there's utter nonsense on here' do come across quite patronising and can belittle people's opinions.
I do agree we shouldn't be calling any player crap, that's not true and insulting.

There is some nonsense posted on here, Bang is perfectly entitled to post what he likes, as am I in response, sorry if it comes across as belittling people but IMHO just posting ‘this player is crap’ is nonsense

Agreed.
What constitutes 'nonsense' is a subjective thing though and unhelpful term.
Who are we to define nonsense?

Well isn’t it implied that when posting you are posting an opinion so we can all decide what we think is nonsense, we shouldn’t need to put IMO on every post because as I say it is already implied.

If Bang is entitled to say a player is crap (subjective) then we are entitled to call it nonsense (subjective)

As I said I don't think calling any crap is justified. So yes in essence that comment was nonsense

It sounds like there's more mileage in swapping Hurrell to the right-centre spot, in which he has defended well enough at international level. Delaney to the forwards worked because he was too slow at centre yet seemed to have a massive work-rate until injuries got the better of him. I'm not convinced in Hurrell's case, but then again I was wrong at the time on Delaney.

I like Hurrell, but he's massively frustrating to watch, especially when the team goes into its shell. There were a handful of games early last year in which the 'chuck it to Hurrell and hope' tactic bore some fruit (the game when he scored some spectacular tries - HKR?; also the game we nearly won against Saints), but all SL teams are wise to this now. With better halves I'd hope that we can use him more effectively this year, giving him good ball in space, but we need more collective effort from others to create these opportunities. That is down to team spirit, structures and coaching. Too early to judge from one game, however bad it was. Hurrell at least deserves more of a chance given his early injury on Sunday.

As an individual Hurrell brings lots of positive qualities. I'd like to see some evidence he's working on the ball-retention issue. The odd knock-on is forgivable, and whilst I understand he's become a target for 'hands-in' plays he has to take more responsibility for this himself, especially as a marquee player. He needs to channel his enthusiasm better, much like Brad Dwyer. I thought he was harshly penalised for dragging the Hull player back over the in-goal line, but the bigger point remains that if you're not confident of the outcome the energy is better directed in other areas (i.e. getting set in defence).

I think his net contribution last year was way more positive than negative. At the same time, he's been embarrassed by some other players, Naiqama for instance, who may have made better signings for us. Needless to say, Hurrell needs to prove he can cut it again this season. At the same time the rest of the team need to take the pressure off him as our only attacking weapon - it's too much of a burden for one guy to carry alone!

Sam lisone at New Zealand Warriors is being offered to clubs and Patrick Kaufusi is Wanting a gig in Super League both big props surely we have to be interested in someone like these two, obviously were trying to open up a quota spot with Rhyse Martin's passport but it really is annoying me this passport situation it was applied for in November and it doesn't look like getting processed through 3 months later.

Good post and welcome

It wouldn’t surprise me if Martin already has the passport but we are keeping it under wraps until we have a signing in the bag to announce?

It’s a convenient way/excuse in my eyes to hide behind why we haven’t signed anyone whilst negotiations are ongoing and/or we are still trying to find someone of the ‘required calibre’

Had the club announced in December that his passport was here there’d be much more pressure on the powers that be to explain why we hadn’t brought someone in yet as the replacement for Merrin.

That’s my cynical take on it anyway

you wont last long on here with sensible posts

Hurrell is probably our main threat with the ball. Why move him into the pack? We need to work a way of getting him space 1 on 1 with a defender.

In fairness to Bang his assessment of "his defence is apalling and he drops too much ball" is fairly accurate.

Marquee money too......jeez.

Probably spot on.

“Nonsense”

This place...

This place cracks me up.

Bring back the milk churn chat I say.

Don't think anyone is saying move Hurrell to pack permanently like we did with Delaney but for now til we sign another prop or til Crosby comes back to help out our pack which is clearly our weakest part of the squad to help with our go forward and to set a platform for us in yardage sets to get us to good ball for our halves because Gale and Lui will look like amateurs at times due to our pack not being on top. Me personally I don't really want Hurrell in pack because he is far more dangerous out wide running at smaller centres and wingers and can get over the top of them, the easiest way to fix up our weak pack is sign a big middle man to make then yardage metres we are desperately lacking but club are biding their time trying to get the right man but I really hope they don't leave it too late so that we are in another relegation battle.