Wouldn't surprise me if GH has a reasonably big signing in mind for when JP retires at the end of next season

I think we need to be thankful we are so well run unlike other clubs , we can develop outstanding talent from within and keep hold of it

All our major cogs in the machine are tied down and we will be there or there abouts at the business end again it looks as though Warrington are going with what they had , Wigan have lost a lot of good talent and replaced them with players of lower calibre , saints look strong to me for next season and Huddersfield , hull are shaping up but will need time for their numerous recruits to settle in

Some might be waiting for the regular season to become meaningful before they consider purchasing a season ticket. Some may not consider 27 rounds of regular season mediocrity as worthy of investment in time, effort and the stumping up of cash to watch dross.


That'll be September then. It's a long wait.

I have mentioned this a few times now on here and for sure there is only going to be a squad of 25. If you look at what we had last year (32 players) that means we need to reduce the squad not increase it (which we have).

The idea is to stick with the first choice 19 then bring in the fringe players when someone needs resting or injured. If you look at these players on the fringes who are in essence back-up we will have:
Singleton - to cover L-forward, Front or second row
Hood - to cover Hooker
Kienhorst to cover centres maybe back row and wing
Chisolm to cover wings
Watson to cover Full Back and wings.
L Briscoe - No idea where he fits in, they cant seem to find what he is good at. Maybe he will stick with the U19s for another year or two.

If you class Ward and Clarkson as fringe then Ward will cover the halves or L-forward
Clarkson will also cover 2nd row and centre.

So all in all our squad is complete and TBH I have no problem in bringing any of the above into the team as long as it is phased. They are all there on merit.

Hardaker seems to be taking over the word at the moment and can't do no wrong in peoples' eyes but I hope Watson gets a chance as he is more of an attacking FB and I have seen him devastate teams. 5 tries against Hull FC in 1 game should not be overlooked - even at any level..I hear you say it was only the U20s but Leeds, Warrington, Wigan U20s would give any Championship team a run for their money.

Re-Watson IF he does breakthrough that could see ZH back at LC imo and i wouldn't be gutted about that either because i rate Watson and ZH can comfortably play LC despite his detractors.

Hardaker can play centre quite comfortably. On the other hand he can play full back exceptionally (2nd best in the league at the end of last season in my view). I also don't think he plays centre as well as Ablett. Hardaker's an option there in case of injuries, in which case full back cover is great to have, but I wouldn't be moving him to accommodate anyone else. unless somebody truly sensational appears, I hope to see Hardaker in the 1 shirt at Leeds for a number of years to come.

There's a very strong belief in earning success at this club, from young players having to work unbelievably hard to even get a debut right through to the standards required to bring us regular GF wins. Whilst it's fine to want to see rotation, or to see young players blooded at the earliest opportunity, it's conceivable that there might be a downside to such an approach.

By way of an afterthought, I'd go further: there's a huge risk associated with developing players who expect success to come their way. Whilst they may be very good players, they may be found wanting when the big games come around. Or, rather than knuckling down if success eludes them, they jump ship.

Nope, on balance I'll go with McDermott's approach.

I would think it's more likely that Watson's early opportunities in the first team will be on the wing. Also wouldn't be surprised if, assuming the coaching staff feel he's reaching senior level, he spends some time out on loan next year.

I think you are probably right there but I would much more like him to go to somewhere like Cas than Hunslet. However, Hunslet would be more likely as they have a new partnership.

As good as Watson is, I don't think Hunslet will want him; they have at least 3 Full Backs on there books and have just signed Tom Bush. I think Watson is better than Bush but what will happen to the other Full Backs who have just signed 12 month deals? I just dont think they will use him for that reason alone.

Cas might be an option as they only have Tansey at FB. Owen is not preferred there and has been a naughty boy of late so might be having time out

Frosties posted on the Hock thread on the Wigan board that GH has enquired about a centre from the Eels. Willie Tonga?

Willie Eckerslike.

New players? No thanks. The ones we have are Champions.

Including the ones who aren't here anymore.

Two words.

Karl Pryce.

Is he signing for Leeds??????

I admire nearly every SL player for what they do week in, week out but how Karl Pryce ever manged to get a first team game for any SL club God only knows.

Biggest, laziest, softest lump of lard to ever pull on a rugby shirt. The only player I've ever seen who concedes every tackle made on him, sometimes before the defender even touches him. I've heard some posters complain about Ian Kirke not being hard enough for a man of his size but compared to Pryce (K) he's fekkin' Goliath.

If GH signed Pryce (K) I would have to seriously have to question his sanity.

My views on Karl Pryce's unwillingness to run into other RL players is similar to my view on Audley Harrison being unwilling to get into a fight and get hit by a heavyweight boxer: I don't blame them, I wouldn't want to either, but it does probably necessitate a different career choice....

More chance of us signing Katie Price.
Then again heard she goes down far too easily too

Someone at the club told me the Rhinos are interested in signing Iron Karl.

Stop it! Just stop it ok. It's not clever or funny to create such horrific rumours.

With our new pitch we need something big and heavy to roll around on the grass to keep it flat. Pryce fits the bill perfectly.

His jug ears stick out too much. He'll leave nasty holes in the turf.

In the event of other teams eyeing up the golden opportunities to be bestowed upon them by finishing 5th, the signing of Karl Pryce might just prove to be the golden signing Leeds need to nail that position instead.

Whilst I agree there's no need to recruit just for the sake of it.. the squad is very much in need of refreshing and improving to have hope of finishing top of the pile in the regular season.. it should be our goal to finish top next season and become champions again from there... GH is certainly right with regards to a signing only being made if it improves the team but he needs to make that happen!! Achurch should be a good one but the LC position needs a top class player filling it.. Ablett back into the pack and along with Achurch it's a pretty damn good pack again

I'm a bit meh with regard a new centre. We've rarely had 2 top centres at Leeds at the same time. It's generally been 1 top centre with 1 adequate/filling in. It's just for ages that top centre has been Senior on the left. Well we've still got 1 top centre, it's just he plays on the right instead of left.
If there is a good centre available for a reasonable price then great. If not then it doesn't really bother me. I'm more bothered by the pack. And I'd prefer we didn't pay over the odds for an average centre just so we can say we signed a centre.