Going with what we have, minus Hardaker. No surprise there then.

A cheap HB will be signed. Lui, Wood or Soward or

GH can hardly trot out his pre-season spiel from the last decade "We have the best squad ever at Leeds, and we believe we are well placed to win more trophies because of it" or whatever if we don't shake the squad up more. Otherwise the truth would be "Last year was a disaster. Hopefully the senior players have finished their year-long holiday and are ready to aim for 8th".

Its October, calm down



Any signing wouldn't train until december or Jan if they were an international so there isn't a huge rush

We may very well still sign someone, but around now is when most players worth having have been tied up. We are now shopping in the bargain bin or if your lucky star player X bonking team mate Y's missus therefore they becomes available or some decent player gets sacked from the NRL and seeks redemption in SL.

Lets see if we get lucky.

I just hope what I heard the other day isn't true, otherwise it will change the very fabric of our existence and cause a complete breakdown of societal structure the like of which destroyed civilizations thousands of years ago.

Why wasn't anyone in the coaching setup willing to admit to this in all the wasted time he was with us? A passenger all that time. Always wondered if Mac was waiting for a miracle of biblical proportions when suddenly Achurch would become a decent player.

That would then cast the spotlight firmly at the person who agreed the deal i.e. GH and we all know you don't criticise Gary and get away with it.

Last year Sinfield suggested he would like to have Gary's job - one day - where is he now!! a classic case of cutting your nose off!!

What exactly should they have done? Publicly slate his signing? That's not exactly how you run a club by slagging off one of your players in the press.

That he was out of the picture at the start of the year and at Fev showed what they thought of him and whenever that happened or he didn't make the 17 people use to criticise McDermott for not giving him a proper chance because he wasn't one of his "favourites"......then when he did pick him this year out of necessarily because of injuries he got slated for it and people saying Achurch is one of his favourites.

More balanced output from the club would be a good start. Saying every year this is the best squad on the planet is a joke nobody takes it seriously no point even saying it.

Last season was nothing short of a disgrace some honest appraisal of what they could have done better would be welcome

They could do that with regards to this seasons performance......we were on about Achurch though?

Sometimes signings don't work out you just need to be big enough to admit you got it wrong?

Plenty of back slapping when it works not much contrition when it doesn't ?

Oh look he's making stuff up again.



I can't remember anyone from Leeds Rhinos proclaiming 2016's squad as the best ever. Do you have a link?
I do remember you tipping Leeds to finish top of the league though and didn't you tip them to win the GF too?

I might be wrong but I think Mr H might have proclaimed Leeds' 2015 squad as the best ever.
The year you bet against them even finishing in the top 4.

yep



With predictions like that it's almost like you thought this was one of the best Leeds squads ever.

They'll know they got it wrong, saying it in the press serves no purpose.

People have this fantasy of wanting GH to come out and say certain things about airing the club's dirty laundry in public and pretending it serves a helpful purpose rather than just their intrigue. Also it might be his genuine opinion that the issues around the training ground and injuries were the key problems......so what else do you want him to say? That the problems we've had are because of the same issues/flaws you think? If he doesn't think that then he's not going to say it.

They've said what they think the issues were, McDermott has said there were some other issues that he doesn't think right to make public (without knowing them that might be a fair thing to do). Funnily enough after the Leigh game I noticed McDermott mentioned that playing the Kiwis last year after the GF and keeping the players in training for an extra 2 weeks was far from ideal.

I predicted that because of the overall standard of SL which I have consistently said is terrible. Not that this was a great squad just one of the best of a pretty poor group

The fact that squad finished below the likes of Widnes, Wakefield, Cas suggests to me somebody needs to take a long look in the mirror.

The fact the academy isn't producing sufficient quality despite all its advantages of attracting the cream of youngsters

The fact the club after its most successful period in its history cannot afford to bring its place of work out of the stone age should be a cause for concern

Perhaps instead of increasing the staff numbers to ridiculous levels for a business of this size perhaps they could put some money aside to build a bloody stand?

You may want to stop any dissenting voices but you can't defend the indefensible for ever

I thought we were talking about Achurch

But if you and nearly everyone else thought our team was good enough to win the GF again (or at least challenge) then why would GH think any differently?
People on here have bashed last years recruitment especially, but there were very few who were unhappy with our signings before round 1.

very true, that was the case and people just need to be man enough to admit it.

aghh, last December seems so long ago...no floods, everyone confident of more successand William Eve still on his sabbatical

We were that's why I answered that part first and then went on to the other point you brought up, not just skip to another point without answering the original point because you can't find a reply.

Well said.

Awesome









And where's the link to anyone from Leeds Rugby proclaiming the 2016 squad to be the best ever?

Oh I nearly missed this.

No one's trying to stop "dissenting voices" (deary me) but people blatantly making stuff up like you do on a daily basis is a different matter.

I have always believed that when you're in a hole, stop digging.

Because he runs the club and we are supporters looking on - if he hasn't got more of an idea than us then things really are in a bad way.