He's better than he gets credit for imo & like every young player with potential he'll make errors.
I still dont think he'll start every game but im happy to back the kid.

As far as comparisons go, he's right up there with Lee Maher.

Not in my opinion. Saints might not win the GF come the end, but personally I think they will walk away with top spot in the league.

This whole notion of 'bulking up' is nonsense. He will naturally get stronger.

Look at Zak (apart from 2015 form) he is slight. Always lighter on collision but tore it up. In defence and attack.

I see what you are saying but Zak is tall, 6'2 i believe so just a little bit of bulking and he becomes decent sized for a full back. Golding is built like a half back and doesn't seem to be strong for his size like some are, he needs to really work at getting bigger imo, but he can do it.

Ash Handley is another that could do with a bit of bulking up also slightly. Performed well so far but can't quite give us the same carries from our own line like Hall and Briscoe. If he can add that then Brisxoe really needs an injury free strong year.

Imo it is a mistake giving him the 1 shirt. He will now be judged as our starting fullback by fans and the media and as such has to play to the standard one.
If he was given a 25 shirt or something then he would be allowed a lot more leeway and we could bring him in and out of the team without problems.
But if he doesn't start a game at fullback now it will be seen as him being dropped.

They should have given it to Sutcliffe, because no matter if it is him or Golding playing 1, he will still be in the team at some position regardless.

Think this is the key thing, especially if we can go away to Saints and win first week. Momentum is a great thing in sport and the first 2/3 weeks of 2015 we didn't play overally well but we picked up wins and what followed was 10 wins from the opening 11 and ever improving performances. On the other foot last year of course getting out of the habit of losing was very tough with confidence extremely low and the losses started to get worst and worst.

The main goal for Golding's preseason is to ''Put weight on'' (horses mouth - see vid interview)

What do you mean by he tore it up 'apart from 2015'? Zak would be an even better player if he put some lean mass on. He was found out to a certain extent in the NRL where he was dominated in the tackle to a much greater degree than in Super League.

It's really not nonsense at all. This is what young professional athletes do in order to compete. Ashton himself recently said he needs to add lean mass.

Golding always looked young rather than small to me. I don't think he will have a problem growing in to his body.

Good luck to the lad, very young for a starting fullback and whilst he has always been highly thought of at leeds, this shows just how highly.

I agree. I wish it wasn't the case because I think the size of the players is a big factor behind the amount of injuries, but I agree it's necessary.
Having said that, Leeds are very careful as to when they get the young players to start "bulking up". They generally wait until they're over the age of 19.

Yep, it's definitely something that they've got to manage well, and I think Leeds do generally, Stevie Ward and Liam Sutcliffe being good recent examples despite both having serious injuries.

I don't want to derail a thread I started but where does this leave us for goal kicking. If Golding is to get a start at 1 surely Lilley, Sutcliffe or Aston have to play the 80?

Kallum Watkins kicker extraordinaire



Can't see Sutcliffe out of the 13 so it'll either be

1 - Golding - 6 - McGuire - 7 - Sutcliffe with Burrow on the bench

Or

1 - Sutcliffe - 6 - McGuire - 7 - Burrow
Whether he'd then put Golding on the bench who knows but I don't think just because he's got the 1 shirt it's a guarantee he'll be first choice when the season starts as I think part of the reason he got it is because Sutcliffe will be given either the 6 or 7 shirt in the near future.

I'd have thought with Golding in at 1, Sutcliffe is probably pencilled in in the halves next to a hopefully fit McGuire.

Does Aston kick goals? Obviously Lilley does but might not be first choice 17. Beyond that I suppose Watkins is the emergency option.

pretty sure the article I read about us signing Aston said he was a "prolific goal kicker" ? Maybe a dreamed it.

This is from the Rhinos website

The Sheffield-born scrum half has played 69 games for the Eagles in the Championship since making his debut back in 2013 as an 18-year-old. He has amassed an impressive 31 tries and was part of the Sheffield side which reached the Qualifiers in 2015. He is also a talented goal kicker having kicked 93 goals for the Eagles last season.

It's fair to say he can kick a goal.

Fair do's I'd only seen him play a couple of times in the middle 8s and always thought Brambani kicked goals when he was at Sheffield.

Still unlikely to start the season as first choice so I'd have thought Sutty is the front runner for goal kicking duties.

Yep agreed, which would point to Sutty n Mags in the halves, which is still a better option the Mags n Burrow imo.

If Aston can do the basics well, organise, give us Some direction and kick goals this could be a pretty shrewd move.

Assuming we don't sign anyone else my main concern is the mental fragility that was exposed last year - the excuses and non-stop cobblers suggested very much a coach and squad that did virtually anything except take individual responsibility for how things went (in that respect Hardaker wasn't much worse than anyone else). Its easy to take collective blame and hence carp on about working hard in training to put things right, or for BM to put his hand up at the end of the year and admit to messing some things up when its too late to make any difference.

Given 2016 as a backdrop, its not hard to envisage almost a carbon-copy of this season if we lose a few games early. Its utterly ridiculous that a team of pro sportsmen, including some of the most decorated in the history of the game, are so mentally feeble.

Without any experienced signing it all looks a bit 'hit and hope' for 1, 6 and 7 - three of the four most important positions in the sport. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot of fluidity in those positions, particularly early on, as hand on heart nobody can really say what the best combination is.

I hope we've signed him because we think he can make it. His dad was a very underrated smart halfback - he and Powell were much better than a lot of combinations Leeds have used through the years.

I don't think we were mentally fragile last year. We were physically fragile.

Fair enough mate, but a Saints fan has posted the Saints team on another thread and even in my reserved optimism for our chances next year, i find it hard to find too many players i would swap with ours if you did a like for like comparison on the starting 17's.