I would start Smith at 13 play Bentley in the second row.
We need a bit of luck regarding injuries at prop.

Agar like most coaches now sees 13 as an additional prop. I wish that wasn't the case but we can't unilaterally disarm in that respect.

I miss watching Dave Heron play, he was a proper loose forward.

With the evolution of the full back and hooker positions, there's no need for another pivot/creative player at 13.

I'm not sure I fully agree with that. If your Hooker can provide quick accurate ball on either side of the ruck, then you need three of 1, 6, 7, 13 to be ball players and the other to be a roaming runner. that way you can easily play both sides of the field with multiple threats. If you effectively play 3 props then you lose a ball player or a runner and you become predictable and easy to defend. A modern day Loose Forward should be able to plug the defensive line gaps and play ball too. This requires you to have 4 out and out props in your 17 man squad each week and that's actually where I think Leeds will fall down this coming season.

I think Cam Smith is your modern day loose. Both big and skilful. He, like a few others, just needs to get the bit between his teeth and go out and prove it.

Cam isn’t small is he? Filling out quite nicely. I wouldn’t say he has a high-strike D but he puts himself about and usually gets his job done. I still think there is a role for a ball-playing big guy down the middle. That offload in heavy traffic can be just as devastating as the silky six playing the margins.

You could argue that all forwards should be able to pass in the modern game but it’s statistics really: there are far fewer blokes who are fit, mobile and 18 stone than are “normal” dimensions but skilful.

I don't think 13 necessarily is another prop I think with the speed of the ruck now and new six again rules teams have a 13 who is mobile with good hands look at the top teams in NRL Penrith have Isaah Yeo, Souths have Cam Murray, Manly Have J.Trobojvic. even in SL saints use Knowles there I think Cam Smith fits the perfect mold of a modern day 13 he just needs too nail it down now.

Pardon my intrusion on your board but, i think if you guys can have much better luck on the injury side, i think you will be the one club who can challenge for honours again, and I honestly believe that i'ts you guys who can trouble Saints.

Having Smith or Bentley at LF also solves the issue of our missing prop forward as we use Tetevano there, with Holroyd too and then Muizz Mustapha is useful.

If Leeds were willing to part with 60k, they’d have Ebon Scurr for 2022 too

£60k that's quite a fee is he worth it?

We've already one undersized prop in Muizz, why would we want another?

Always welcome and thanks for the post.

I think we may need another year and a few more squad changes but if we can keep people fit in key positions and keep developing our younger players then I think we can get back to challenging seriously.

This is it for me - what's the point in us signing squad fillers at this point?

I can't pick how we're going to go next year. On paper, we have a very good side developing. On the down side there are risks and question marks over half the starting side.

Bringing in Hunwicks is significant, we needed something fresh for our most important pre-season in a good while. This should be our first reasonably COVID-free pre-season, and we have such a young squad that every improvement really counts, and there's plenty of potential to develop.

We will get the usual noises of confidence coming out of camp over the next few months but I would have been much happier had we managed to strengthen that pack with a King++ player.

Walker
Fusitu'a, Newman, Sutcliffe, Handley
Sezer, Gale
Oledski, Leeming, Tetevano
Mellor, Martin
Smith

Prior, Holroyd, Bentley, Austin

Some good players not in this side but of course we'll have injuries... Our RHS next season will be almost NRL quality which is exciting.

That Back Row still has some question marks over it imo. Particularly Mellor and consistency from Smith. Martin was very good back end of last season, lets hope that continues too. Bentley obviously makes it much stronger.

Jury still out on Sutcliffe at Centre but it's certainly heading in the right direction.

I think we will only need another 1-2 signings to complete our recovery for 2023 as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if we allowed most of the off-contract players to leave and then signed a couple of big names. Even with upgrades for some younger players, if we let Myler, Dwyer, Martin, Thompson, Gale, Mellor, Briscoe maybe a couple of others leave we'd have +2 OS spots and a decent amount of salary to spend. I reckon we'd be in the game for a Taupau looking to finish their career over here. It certainly gives us options if we're willing to make tough calls on some established players.

Pity we couldn't have made some more changes for this year due to some contracts being too long IMO, we look just about ready to go now. At least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel though and the cards look in our favour after some very tough years.

Does anybody else think that we overplay the wingers bringing the ball up from defence?
I understand them hitting it up when we have a quick ptb or if the forwards are still working their way back onside but what I dont get and it annoys me is when they hit up against a set defence. All the big guys lined up and ready, why not have another big prop banging into them rather than one of the more lighter weight speedier runners.
Can't see the logic

Does anyone see Blake Austin as a left centre instead of Liam Sutcliffe? Surely he offers more going forward and probably has a higher pass/kick skillset too? Gale>Mellor>Austin>Handley might have some bite to it. Just musing where he might fit in the team - I don't see him in the pack personally but he has the size and running game for centre IMO. I think he'd put Handley away for plenty of tries too.

Can definitely see an Austin/Sezer combination this year if and when Gale gets injured again. That first game selection is going to be mightily interesting though. Austin too good to be on the bench for us?

Rather get Tyler Dupree back after his season with Widnes.

Matt do you know why we let him go in the first place?

No i dont know pal. If i had to guess i would think that it was just in his best interests, go and play in the chamionship and get his career started...Which has worked brilliantly for him so far. He was behind Holroyd and was unlikely to get much playing time here. Really hope he has another year of progress like his last one and we'r monitoring him closely.

Possibly but i still see him as a six.The warm up games should give us an indication as where Gaile Austin and Sezer fit in.

Sezer is one of the first names on the team sheet if he's fit isn't he, so it's then a duke out between Gale and Austin.

I just think because Sezer is that rare animal who can play the right hand side naturally, I expect Gale to start on the left at 7 still. Could be wrong.

I'm just wondering whether Austin is significantly better than Sutcliffe, rather than a bit better than Gale if that makes sense. Sutcliffe is very good on his day but for various reasons we haven't seen enough of those days.

There is still an outside chance Gale might seek an early release if he can find a 2 year deal somewhere and thinks he can play on, who knows?

Good problems to have compared with last season that's for sure.

Got to remember Gale is still on a marquee contract. Extremely unlikely that he would get a commensurate wage anywhere else for 2022. He's a terrific competitor and I really expect him to fight hard for a starting spot. Ultimately his body could let him down over the course of the season and certainly beyond that.

The club deliberately wants three half backs for 2022 as proper injury cover. Gale would really need to make a scene to get a release.