Oh, I see.
my guess, wild as it seems, is that the player who traditionally wears the number 9 shirt, the one most frequently gets into the dummy half position, and also packs down between the 2 props in the scrum giving him the best position to hook the ball in the scrum. But I'm guessing you already know this.

Here's a prediction: with Aiton at hooker we'll win trophy(ies) this year; should Burrow fill the role next year then sadly we won't.

Heath l'estrange is available next year and his wife has been offered a nice cosy teaching job in the UK too.

Wasn't he at Bradford ? Or am I thinking of someone else ?

This could single handedly wreck next seasons chances if a suitable replacement is not found. I was feeling fairly confident about our squad after recent additions. Fingers crossed we knew this was coming and have made provisions.

He was. Believe he captained them for a season too.

I don't recall him being that impressive but then Bulls by that point weren't much anyway.

I remember the opposite to be honest.....one thing for sure.....he's a darn sight better proposition than Burrow playing hooker in 2016.

He did. He was co-captain with Matt Diskin for the 2012 and 2013 seasons IIRC.

I don't disagree there. Just hoped that if GH knew that long ago we needed a hooker, that we could/ should have better prospects.

If he was hoping Aiton would capitulate and 're sign a contract and is now left looking at older / average stop gap then it's a bit poor.
If it's a L'estrange/ lunt or Burrow then it's better than nothing.

I trust GH will have a plan .

I'm hoping it's Houghton. I think at Leeds he's a player that could really take his game to the next level, much like Aiton has done this year. Lunt seems to have gone off the boil a little in the past couple of seasons. Could Adam Milner be another option? Seems to be having a good year. Heath L'estrange would be a bit of a 'meh' signing IMO.

Don't think its was hard for him to shine in a lackluster/mediocre Bulls outfit TBH.I thought Manakafoa? burned a bit brighter in that side.
Maybe it would be worth a punt on Robbie Ward if he could bulk up in the off season in a similar manner to Stevie Ward. Just a thought.

Why not test Warrington's resolve for the current man of steel ? A player who has gone from the hottest prospect in the game last year to a shadow of himself this season imo . I could be very wrong but it doesn't seem to be working out that well for him over the hill .

Anyone read these forums and think, it's time to trim the herd?

Yup.

He's certainly been the second best hooker there since Higham left and Dwyer came back from London.

Not sure he's a Leeds signing though. As an incumbent England international he'd be at the top of the salary structure, and I'm struggling to think of anyone of that status we've brought in since JP. Maybe Eastwood, and we know how that ended up.

Tom Briscoe

I would have thought Clark would go back to hometown cas

A week before Aiton announced he was leaving we were all concerned about the half back situation for next year and beyond. Now it's all about a replacement hooker. Have we decided the half replacement isn't as urgent anymore, or are we hoping gawwy delivers in both position .

As things stand, to fill 6,7,9 & 14 we have:

McGuire
Burrow
Sutcliffe
Lilly
Ward

Am I missing anyone? I personally think this has been one of McGuire's best seasons for a while and Sutcliffe is only going to get better. Burrow I feel could do a job of the bench but no where near the same impact as 2011/12.

A fortnight ago I was feeling great about the squad for next year, specially with Galloway, and hoping for maybe another half. Either an older head to help nurture on Sutty and Lilly, or some one like Widdop who fits the Leeds ethos (I know some on here think he's over rated but realistically I think we'd struggle to better-although I must say I could never see it happening) in not being pessimistic here, but to emphasis I do feel losing Aiton is a bigger loss than some might think.

Leeds Rhinos coach Brian McDermott on replacing Paul Aiton - " There's a few on our radar and a few putting themselves on our radar. People would like to be a starting number 9 for Leeds Rhinos, so there's a fair few candidates putting their arm up"

Perfect replacement for Aiton then

Clarke would be a relavation feeding off all the offloads. he'd be a super signing for me

I think we retained Hodgsons registration when he signed with Canberra, or have "first refusal", if I remember the articles correctly.

Since Diskin, the hooking role at Leeds has become the equivalent of being the Defence Against The Dark Arts Professor in Harry Potter. No one seems to hang around for more than a season or two.