Well, it could get lonely on those long tours but i won't tell. What goes on tour stays on tour.

I am not sure that was the quite case - I think you were just hoping for some easy points!!

I think we are paying the price for our promote from within approach, which I still believe is the key to long term success.

The problem has been that the players coming along have not been as good (or the potential to be as good) as the players we have had to replace.

I don't think we have adequately replaced Buderus, Ali, Senior, Eastwood, with players of similar quality or potential to be there.

The best model for how this should work was Ablett effectively replacing Ellis, after playing along side him in the squad for a couple of years.

I'm hoping that pattern is being repeated for Sinfield with Ward, but I don't see Peacock's successor coming from within, and its a massive hole to fill.

As such I don't think its a case of deadwood out, its about its about managing our squad and identifying where the replacements are going to come from, and if the right option is not available internally, look a bit further afield

It quite obviously was. Did you miss his response to TVOC with this?



Why are you try to provoke a debate about what Juan wrote? It's there for anyone who can read to see and it's there for anyone with a brain to interpret. Bored?

JP was a signing from outside anyway Eagle so it's not a bad thing to sign a replacement from outside.
FWIW i think yer been harsh on some of the younger lads coming through from the Acadamy i think Watkins,Mcshane ,Singleton ,D,smith and Ward etc will prove to be real quality for us given the games and time.
Also the times have changed since we were able to bring in Ali and Webb so the longer term replacements should be from within IF we cant sign the required quality.
I hope we dont have to sign players like Hauraki again tbh and would much rather hrow a raw 18/19 yr old into the mix.

The youngsters are good enough but the coach wont play them. Imo its the fact we haven't signed top class players to supplement the british players. The fact is we have little in the way of top quality in our squad anymore

I think you mis-understand me. Watkins, HArdaker & Ward are excellent players and ones who will be up there for Leeds hopefully for years to come. You could argue that Watkins is Seniors replacement (though different side). Ward is Sinfield's replacement.

Its not about the players who we have in the team, its about the ones we don't have. McShane was obviously rated enough to get a 4 year deal, as was Hood, but both were shipped out despite our main hooker leaving, and us continuing to use a square peg in the round hole left behind. Clarkson could have been considered a replacement for Eastwood, and has been solid, but has stuttered somewhat this season.

We have signed great players extrenally over the years, and I guess I wonder why we have not had more in to replace the quality that has left recently

This is my first post on this site so I do expect a barbed comment or two, although I do bring 60 years experience of following Leeds.
Dead wood we must start at the top Brian Mcd must take most of the responsibility. Why on earth did he buy Moore,Griffin Harauki and Lunt None of these improved the team. McShane should have been given more game time, this also applies to Kirke and Clarkson. Peacock and Kylie should have started on the bench and used as impact players along with Burrow as he did in the grand final. McDermott appears to have overused JJB and Delaney.
Next season the four new players should go plus McDermott, Peacock and Kylie should have a reduced role and the academy players should be given a chance if the club do not feel they are good enough they shoud should also leave.
Leeds must urgently look to replace most of the forwards and half backs in the next two years.

So most of the responsibility for getting to every major final so far since he was appointed lies with the coach?

I can see why fans would want rid. Clearly this all-conquering group of pensio...players should still be sweeping all before it like it was in 2009.

Fair do's eagle!!!

Whilst I have big concerns over our coach, it does appear that GH does not want to invest in the team. This is the only explanation for our pathetic recruitment policy over the last couple of years. To bring in lightweights like Moore , Griffin & Hauraki , while we lose players of the calibre of Senior , Ali , Eastwood & Danny B ( the best hooker seen at Leeds for years ) must have cut our wage bill dramatically.
A big decision is now needed as we now need 4 to 5 top class players to make us competitive with the top teams - does GH have the balls to do this ?

Hetherington has one eye on a very large capital project, for which the club is not going to be able to rely on some bat decision making from its local polytechnic to cover the costs.

Spending a great wad of cash on transfer fees is a thing of the past - at least until the South Stand is completed.

As stated there is a lot of rebuilding to do on the ground, and there is no bottomless pit of cash. Our "sugar Daddy" is in construction - probably a little cautious with the cash at the moment. GH doesn't have that kind of cash and never has had. What he has done is invest wisely and sustainably. Chucking cash you haven't got at the problem isn't a good idea. Ask Bradford. It's not about balls, it's about cash.

Completely agree with this.

What I would say is that if this is the case, a coaching structure needs to be in place to get the absolute maximum from the players at our disposal - This is one of the areas we fall down on in my opinion. With the current playing rostar, the tactic is to coast through the season and try and lift for the business end to save our old guard from burning out (I've mentioned on other threads I dont like this as a long term solution, but that is a seperate arguement). However, even for this lift, the attacking and defensive structures are still way behind other top teams. Even if we want to coast through the season and keep the players fresh for the business end, the same attacking and defensive structures should be in place all season long, with greater rotation of players to keep them fresh.

It's generally agreed that the players brought in over the past couple of years have been average at best and nowhere near adequate replacements for those who have left.

But how do you know it's GH restricting recruitment? Maybe it's a symptom of having a poor coach in charge - poor decisions whether in terms of tactics, player development or recruitment.

There's a saying - A class people bring in A class people. B class people bring in C class people. Maybe this applies to BMcD.

I agree re throwing cash in terms of transfer fees isn't rfeally feasible currently.

But Leeds is a club that is able to spend to the full salary cap, and in these terms is on the same level as the likes of Wigan and Warrington. It's the choice of players brought in rather than their value that gets to me.

We sign Griffin, Moore, Lunt, Hauraki - all very average players (and players who won't cost much in salary), while players like Gareth Ellis, for example, get overlooked as presumably they were asking for too much. It's this lack of ambition that gets to me and is the reason why our squad is now weaker than before.

Warrington should be applauded for being ambitious and taking a punt on Morley when he came back to SL. Lots of people at the time said he was too old and demanded far too big a wage, but he's lasted six years and has been the lynchpin of Warrington's pack during that time.

How we need a Morley at the moment.

Sam Barlow at Halifax.
Just re-signed for (I think) 3 years but could maybe be bought-out of his contract.
I'm amazed he's not a SL front-row by now.

They got Morley, we got Peacock. Reckon we got the better of it.

True dat.

Word!

Is that lack of ambition, or would thinking "we're a bit short of a couple of props and a hooker" and then blowing the wad of cash you have on an expensive back-rower instead really good business? Even allowing for Hauraki being a flop (are you really telling me every signing Wire have made under Moranovich's regime has been brilliant?) we're not exactly short of back-rowers.

And to my knowledge (because a couple of people have brought it up) Lunt isn't a permanent signing is he? Unless I missed an announcement.

Hull have spent big on Gareth Ellis. If he blasts them to a title next year, maybe we can laud their more ambitious recruitment. I think we'll finish above them myself. Wire's much-vaunted super-recruitment may have delivered 3 Challenge Cups, but has yet to even yield an Old Trafford appearance, so it has hardly been an instant success.

Since McDermott took charge, for all the moaning and bleating and tales of our demise, Leeds have had 4 trophies available to them. They've won 2 and reached the other two finals. Acknowledging the need to refresh and rejuvenate a bit, is it really Doomsday just yet?

Innit tho. I'm down. I've got the 4-1-1.

I want to reply with the phrase "my Nigga" but as a middle aged white man it would probably by highly inappropriate.

So I won't.

But you kind of did.......

"Mississippi inappropriate" or "Vanilla Ice inappropriate"? Could be read either way.