Who stays / who goes ?

1. Ashton Golding
2. Tom Briscoe
3. Kallum Watkins
4. Joel Moon
5. Ryan Hall - Contracted to 2018
6. Danny McGuire - Contracted to 2017
7. Rob Burrow - Contracted to 2017
8. Keith Galloway
9. Parcell
10. Adam Cuthbertson
11. Jamie Jones-Buchanan
12. Carl Ablett
13. Stevie Ward
14. Liam Sutcliffe
15. Brett Delaney
16. Brad Singleton
17. Mitch Garbutt
18. Jimmy Keinhorst
19. Brett Ferres - Contracted to 2019
20. Anthony Mullally
21. Josh Walters
22. Ash Handley
23. Jack Ormondroyd
24. Jordan Baldwinson
25. Jordan Lilley
26. Cory Aston
27. Cameron Smith
28. Mikolaj Oledzki
29. Josh Jordan-Roberts
30. Sam Hallas

It's hard to say without knowing the player's salaries but this is how I'd go. We need a quality half, line breaking prop and second rower and this will hopefully free up the salary and positions necessary to make this happen. I haven't made a call on Aston as we haven't seen him yet. Ultimately though I do think any major squad clear outs will only be effective if we bring in some fresh faces on the coaching side.

All the ones i've selected to keep would all be subject to the New Regimes call.

This would be my call. I think Watkins needs a fresh start ala Hardaker and the money it would create would be better spent elsewhere.

Backs & Halfbacks:
26. Cory Aston; [2018 - stay, give him the opportunity to develop
2. Tom Briscoe; [2018 - stay
7. Rob Burrow; [2017 - go
1. Ashton Golding; [2018 - stay
5. Ryan Hall; [2018 - stay
22. Ashley Handley; [2017 - stay
25. Jordan Lilley; [2017 - stay
6. Danny McGuire; [2017 - go
4. Joel Moon; [2018 NFT - stay if he wants to, but can go with Keinhorst development
14. Liam Sutcliffe; [2017 - stay, give him chance, should be loose forward
3. Kallum Watkins; [2019 - stay, get the ball to him like Segeyaro and Aiton used to, there is no better on his day.
Forwards - stay

I think we would get more bang for buck by letting Hall go too. Not hard to replace for an acceptable replacement and he is on big money. We need some strong thinking to manage the cap.

Agreed. Both are great luxury players to have but are not essential to a re build and shouldn't be taking up big chunks of the cap when money is better spent elsewhere. Most of our cap money needs spending on a half we can build the side around (example- Widdop) and we need a couple of impact forwards at least to go with Garbutt. We really miss Garbutt, he was carrying our go forward for the first couple of rounds, a couple more from the NRL like him would aid us massively which is why i would also release Galloway, Cuthbertson and Delaney at the end of the year to free up the quota spaces.

Quality 3/4s are not luxury players. They're essential, and hard to come by (especially centres). All that would happen if we let them go would be that they would be snapped up by Saints Hull or Warrington, and we'd be left scraping around for quality replacements.
We have enough to worry about elsewhere in the squad without adding to our issues by getting rid of another couple of our backline, especially so soon after letting Hardaker go

We would still have Golding, Briscoe, Handley and Moon left in 3/4's Keinhorst could play centre too quite well enough during any 2 year rebuild, it also gives a chance to anyone else who is ready to step up from the lower grades. Watkins has absolutely proved he is a luxury player over the last 18 months and played nothing like the marquee player he gets paid to be. I just think he needs a fresh start anyway. Nothing against Hall either, a fantastic player but expendable in this situation imo. Again, both players will be on a huge wedge now which could be better used building the foundations elsewhere in the team.

Agree with Charlie . Hall is valuable both in attack and defensive carries , Watkins is vital to us he just never gets any quality ball and why get rid of Cuthbertson . Burrow still quality as an interchange . Would release/retire Mags , JJB , Ferres , Mullaly , Briscoe , Aston , Suttclife , Walters and Galloway .

Not sure about Golding , certainly do not think he is big enough or strong enough for full back

Shouldn't Leeds already be sitting on a fair wedge given who's retired recently?

27. ???
28. ???
29. ???
30. ???

Leaving 6, 7, 16, 18 free for new signings. three spaces free on the non fed trained & two spaces on the overseas quota.

Bullseye ,
What has happened is that other players have taken large pay increases . Such as Hall and Watkins plus i guess Garbutt , Cuthbertson , Parcell , Galloway and Ferres have not come cheaply so Sinfields and Peacocks wages have been swallowed up

Burrow hasn't been of a good enough quality for any side with aspirations of a top 4 finish for quite a few years imho. Square peg, round hole for a few years IMO

There's a lot of babies disappearing over the horizon with all the bathwater getting thrown out at the moment.

What else would you expect after the calamitous defeat at the Battle of Hastings (10-66) last Thursday?

Whilst I agree with some of the observations on which players should be culled/retired, I just cannot see GH making the sort of wholesale changes that are being advocated as I just don't see him bringing in the 4/5/6 players of real 1st team quality we require (even though I feel it's necessary) to see us challenging at the top end of the table again for honours.

I wouldn't be surprised if we just lose Magsy and JJB to retirement and try and bring in Widdop and a line breaking/mungrel forward.

Personally though I'd try and get rid of Walters (just don't see what he brings to the table and I fear his career here is destined just to be remembered as the guy who scored the GF winning try in 2015) and unless his injury record improves Delaney as well as I assume he's on decent money and other than wholehearted effort and body on the line kind of attitude (when fit and firing) what else does he bring as he certainly isn't a line breaker and doesn't have a pass or offload game in him (despite being signed as a centre) Granted he's been a great servant to us but I think we've had his best years now as his body appears to have 'cried enough' and he appears to be now just a plodder who gives his all but we have too many forwards like that already and IMO we need something different in the pack to compliment what we have.

We either need a brute with mongrel that can 'skittle' defenders out of the way and give us go forward and a quick PTB for Parcell and/or a skillfull and pacey back rower with an offloading game so that we are not completely over reliant on Cuthbo for that

On the subject of Cuthbo, if we hadn't seen the 2015 version then I think most would be wanting rid of him as well

The 'problem' with our pack that I see is that it's all 'much of a muchness' in terms of size/shape/build and pace (or lack of)

Golding is still learning, and has a lot of developing to do physically before we can determine weather he's the long term solution in that position, Handley is way off the required standard in terms of kick returns and defensive positioning. Briscoe has barely been able to string half a dozen games together, and probably hasn't had a decent game since Wembley. Keinhorst is a good player, but he wouldn't get in any RL side before Moon or Watkins. There's nobody in the 19s ready to step up next season in the backs so you're probably going to have to break the bank for a replacement from outside of the club, and given the fact that we're in dire need of investment in other areas, it would be madness to let any of our backline go. It would weaken us further and strengthen our rivals massively.

IMO we need a fresh coaching set up, and 3 or 4 new players in the halves and forwards, release the likes of Delaney, Walters, let McGuire retire, and give Burrow a player/coaching role. I think there's a lot of talent in our squad, and I think the best thing to do would to see if a new coaching team can improve them and bring in a bit more guile and class into the team before we write off the current squad.

Just on the subject of Cuthbo imo a lot of his "demise" is due to the workload he is now required to do.
He was never a "workhorse" type of prop but because we have'nt adjusted to losing JP he is becoming ineffective at what made him so good in 2015.

I think Cuthbertson has actually started the season quite well, and letting our only ball handling prop go would be madness at the moment.

Really think he is no better than last year and everyone made the excuse he wasn't fit - very disappointing for me a one season wonder who has been found out and whose impact has been negated

I'd agree with that, at times last year it seemed he was just trying to do too much, carrying the ball early in the set and trying to ball play at the back end of the set invariably led to errors.

I'd also agree with the poster a bit further up that all our forwards are much of a muchness, especially in the back row with plenty of workhorses but no bite.

More than anything else I think our biggest problem is the halves. Yes they are not helped by the lack of men in motion etc but that has never really been the way we have played.

I'd agree with that. He is currently our main attacking threat and ball player and targeted.

Cuthbertson as a straight up and down prop is average at best. He had a completely mediocre NRL career and was released by the Knights because he was adding nothing. If you take away 2015, and look at what he's contributed since, I can't see how you could make a case that you shouldn't do better from an import. Playing badly on a regular basis because they are 'trying to do too much/too hard' is an excuse I've heard down the years which has never made any sense - if that's genuinely the case then he's brain dead.

I'm with those who would hope we keep the good backs we have rather than try to offload them to buy strength elsewhere. The idea that good wingers are ten a penny is nonsense - before Hall we had Calderwood, then Cummins, then I'm struggling to think of any quality through the juniors over 30 years. Centres are even less common, so I'd keep Watkins and actually try to play to his strengths rather than flop him the odd ball flat in no space.

Being realistic we will probably only see 2 or 3 changes for next year. What we need to see is quality, targeting key positions. There should always be a place for project players, but right now its the core of the team which is a disaster.

More importantly we just look like a badly coached team with zero confidence or idea what we're trying to do in attack and absolutely hopeless under any kind of pressure in defence. That won't be fixed by bringing in Thurston, let alone a Widdopp. I just don't see us getting anywhere without wholesale changes in coaching and conditioning.