It's got to be him. Won't be returning until Easter though.

Dont know where youve got that from, barring any pre-season mishaps he'll be in from season opener.

Definately be back before Easter cios weve all seen his medical and the physio kept asking "are you in pain? If you are this 150k a year contract will be ripped up" everytime he twisted his anklle by 20 degrees. Gale wasnt in any pain cos he said so.

Very thorough apparantly.

It’s unlikely a pro RL player is going to fess up to major pains and niggles when there’s a new contract on the line. I suspect as I said there is only so much a physio can do, there has to be an element of self certification and that will be for contractual/insurance purposes.

I suspect the Easter thing is another Jesus reference guys, but I really don’t want to go there!

its our friend mixing it

Flew straight over my head that did this morning, well played, very subtle

Stevie out of England squad with “hamstring injury”?

Oh I'm really concerned about this lad now

Also from the Leeds site

"Burgess ended the NRL season with South Sydney with a shoulder injury,"

Oh no, are we signing another crocked player

Its a shame and all has been said that needs to on that, but there has to come a point where Leeds have to make a call on him that may not be popular but he must be on a good wage and having a player on big wages playing barely a handful of games a season for a while now is holding the club back in as far as how they work with the cap.

I would love to see him stay injury free, he is a fantastic talent, but it seems his body is just not cut out for the rigours of playing the game.

I don’t think the hamstring will be that bad, I think it’s more a case of him getting a proper off season after his injury

It just seems like he lurches from one setback to another though. Hope you are right and he gets back.

I think with Ward he’s going to have to prove his fitness next year. All he can do is prepare as professionally as he can - there’s a bit of Lady Luck involved too.

I’m guessing the player himself will call time if he can’t get there and stay there. The amount of effort these boys put into training and playing, doesn’t matter how tough you are these chronic breakdowns will get to you.

Watkins out too

What about Reece Martin as caption ???

I'm not sure if Martin has the maturity just yet.

Still think Ward, Gale or Cuthbo would be top choices but it could be an as-yet-unsigned player too.

We go again....

I'm not sure it really matters who is named captain.

What we need is for the players as a group to stand up and be accountable for their actions and support each other.

A few years ago sinny may have been the captain but the team was full of leaders and players who were accountable to each other. We need to get back to this.

It is vitally important, playing it down is ridiculous. We have failed with it since Sinfield retired, and but for one year shown what a disaster it is.

Sinfield was the leader of this club for years, and without that we would never have seen the era we had. This nonsense about leadership groups is just that, nonsense. It is a team game and needs great players to support, but you never underestimate the influence of a captain who set the lead, sets the example, and inspires others.

Or have we failed miserably since Sinfield retired because the team was nowhere as good.

Sinfield certainly created the culture and discipline at the club at that time but team was full of leaders at that time that it sadly lacks now.

The squad now is unrecognizable to what it was only two years ago ,and it was changing even then . Hopefully new leaders not just Capt will emerge

And none of those so called "leaders" would have achieved the same without Sinfield.

Im sure they wouldnt but would Sinfield have won as much without JP?

Yes I think he would, as long as there was a team member doing that work rate in support.

Not easy to find those tho Gotcha.