I notice you did not actually answer the question

What GH is saying is that with one new forward recruited and Jones-Bishop/Clarkson moved on, we feel we can win trophies next year..............i'm sorry but I dont share his belief.
The competition will be harder next year with London/Bulls gone and to finish in the top four will be very difficult with every game being tough. I thought our defense was good this year but can it improve ? I cant honestly believe it will.
Our attack was embarrassing at times this year with no clear structure with the ball, usually ending up with a kick for Hall to jump for on the last tackle.
When Sinfield states players could receive better wages elsewhere he's obviously talking about the young players in Hall, Hardacre, Watkins, Briscoe etc. GH has kept them by giving them long term contracts and promising them success. There's no way that any other players except probably Moon, Ablett would secure higher wages elsewhere, most are too old nowadays.
I'm most worried about the next generation coming through...Sutcliffe is a long way from being a commanding stand off, Ward having played over 50 games isn't big enough for the forwards and certainly isnt a half back. I was impressed by Walters and Mulhearn in their few appearances this year. I cant for the life of me see what we've kept Bailey and Kirke for so long, all I can think of is that their very cheap. My main concern is how can Peacock, Leuluai, JJB, Delaney, Bailey, Kirke improve enough to allow us to compete at the top level week in and week out knowing also our half backs are not getting and quicker
and Aiton has been a big dissapointment.

Whilst i do agree with most of your post, this is nonsense.Aiton had a promising start to the year and fitted in well.He missed a large chunk of the middle part of the year through illness which coincided with the teams spell of poor league form but he contributed well on his return in the cup final.

I would say he was a good addition on the whole although it is looking like he may not be with us next year if a ban comes his way.

Likewise, not sure how you would class him as a big disappointment.

Offers a different threat from dummy half to Burrow, in that he looks to engage defenders then move the ball on rather than just scooting for himself. Leeds being Leeds however, that often leads to him going sideways looking for runners who can't be bothered to offer themselves (see also Delaney on occasion, who crabs looking for someone to hit a line off him while his team-mates stand and watch).

He's also been asked to play as a ball-carrying back rower at times this season, and has put his hands up for carries in difficult parts of the field while others have gone into hiding.

Don't let the facts get in the way of your defence of him.

He missed 10 SL games in a row of which the team lost four - narrowly to Saints, Wigan and Giants, plus at Warrington.

But he was back for the glorious end of season finale as Leeds won 2 of their final 10 SL and play-off games.

Can't recall if he was involved in the throwaway defeats to Bulls and London,can't say i really care, and the games after the cup including the play off disapointment the whole team were below par.

My defence of him is in response to a poster claiming he was disapointing.My view is when he was used correctly like the first half of the year when we played some good stuff as a team he fitted in well.And played a good part in the cup final victory.would you not agree?

Aiton is, and always was average at best. He was a place holder, a Shane Millard. He shouldnt be a disappointment because you can't expect too much of him to start with.

Indeed soccer is a different sport thereby making your use of it for comparison purposes largely irrelevant. In your irrelevant comparison you missed the bit where Arsenal built a new stadium and the bit where they stated to win trophies again. You may be right about them not competing for the Premiership you may also not be...we'll see.

They've also got to 2 CL finals despite not spending anywhere near the amount of money other teams have.

I haven't heard Wakefield fans ever saying 'i wish we still had aiton'

enough said

I am not optimistic for next season, as a team we struggled in the latter part of the season. So to ask virtually the same team with another year on its shoulders, to win silverware is a big ask.
I said at the start of the season I would be happy to win the challenge cup, even to the extent of not winning the grand final.
What I did not expect was us bowing out in the first round, also watching some of the dire play off games has caused me to revisit my early season wish of winning the challeng cup without the grand final.
Beating the wire and cas in the cc seemed to be the only time we raised our game in the latter part of the season.
The team as a whole after the challenge cup looked jaded, maybe a longer close season than normal will refresh some of the squad.

I would tend to agree.I jusy don't think he has been disapointing.Lets be fair, he was never going to be Danny Buderus re incarnated but maybe that is what some did.He has brought what was expected imo.

Would i be disappointed if he left? No, i think there are several hookers around that could do the same job to a similar standard or better.Infact if he does end up leaving i wouldn't be against giving young Ward the job of being understudy to Burrow because game time will be probably be at a premium anyway.

It pees me off how he is used off the bench. He's not a bench hooker and from what we have it should be burrow off the bench if he's going to play at hooker.

Just dumb.

Again, i would agree.I've said many times, and i am not alone on here saying it, that Burrow is at his best running at tired defenders when he comes on in the last 10 -15 minutes of halves and rest of time we should have a proper dummy half who the rest of the side can play to structure off of.

Robbie is a fine player, but he is not and never will be a 'proper' 9 and the only way he becomes truly dangerous playing there is as impact from the bench.Just my opinion of course.

Ref Aiton.
I suppose the crux of the matter is how much we paid for him, also what wages is he receiving .
If his package is in the region of the money Lunt was asking then its a bad deal.
If his money is in the bargain basement bracket then it's a good deal.

Wouldn't argue with that though I would question whether bargain basements are where top clubs usually find their hookers.

Aiton was signed to rotate with Burrow, not be an 80 minute hooker. Aiton is a pretty reliable dummy half, which should be priority 1 for any hooker.

The idea of continuing to use Burrow as a part-time hooker worries me more than how good Aiton is, because IMO its a bit of a lazy tactic (throw Burrow on and hope he makes a break), and likely to become increasingly ineffective as Burrow slows down.

I had the same experience with Les Dyl when he came back from his extended Spanish holiday.

Not all players should be like the Jeffasuarus.

GH must be confident that Cuthbertson can transform us from our worst finish/position/form in many years to the best squad ever, I'm not so sure

TVOC, when was the last time we lost so many league games on the run?

Even in the horror show that was 1996, Leeds never lost more than four in a row so you're probably going back to the 80s somewhere (Dewhirst/Fox era?)

Think we lost 5 league games in a row under Dean Lance (year 2000, I'm guessing). That run might well have been broken by a win in the CC though.

I agree in general with Hetherington that stability is important for success in sport, particularly our sport, as seen by the general dominance of Saints and Leeds in the SL era. Teams that have a big turn-over of players year-in, year-out have rarely done the business in the short-term. Just ask Salford fans.

That said, stability does not have to mean retaining a virtually static playing roster. The successful Leeds teams have all featured some new faces, either signings or academy players - prompted by the departure or retirement of existing stars (e.g. Buderus, Senior) as well as other players not working out (Griffin, Hauraki etc).

The best way to ensure real stability is to make a minimum number of necessary changes with the most positive effect in a given season. But I am not sure that is what is happening at Leeds, since as Hetherington himself states, 2015 will be the last year to see the golden generation together - implying that 'stability' is merely rhetoric to sell tickets for this season before the inevitable period of instability from 2016 ensues, in which a significant part of the spine of the team will have to be replaced en masse.

So in fact Hetherington's rhetoric of stability is in reality anything but stability, and will do little to build the foundations of a future successful Leeds team. His message deflects attention from the real challenge of managing the transition in the squad and whether he or McDermott actually have any concrete plans in place to make this a success.

Of course we would all laugh if Hetherington came out and said that he plans to sign the Burgii to replace JP & KL, or that the current crop of young players would emulate the feats of the players coming through in 2003-4. While it is likely that some contingency plans for the future of the squad do exist, I cannot help feeling that GH and BM are simply working on the basis that some players will be forced to retire through injury (doing a Senior), and that academy prospects will have first crack at replacing them during the season. Only if this fails will they seek to identify new players to sign, which will invariably mean we end up with more short term options like Aiton for 2016. We will all have to wait and see what unfolds.

IIRC we lost 5 league games at the start and end of that season, with a record-breaking winning run mid-season.

Leeds are currently on a five Regular Round game losing streak. The last time this happened to them was in Dean Lance's opening games in the 2000 season. These are the only times this has happened during the SL Era (although Leeds also lost the final League game of the Centenary Season and the opening four rounds of SL1 in 1996.)

Leeds have also had two six League game losing streaks between April and September 1981 (3 under Syd Hynes + 3 under Robin Dewhurst) and another between August and September 1959 which is as far as my result sheet goes back to at the moment covering Leeds' most recent 2,196 matches.

Excellent post - and with GH confirming everyone was signed up for 2015 is seems any vacancies in the 25 man squad will be filled promoting youngsters.