Looking forward to the upcoming season moon is a good signing can see hall for top try scorer this year

gonna be an interesting season, we're one of the few sides to get markedly stronger this year over last. Warrington have stayed still, Wigan are noticeably weaker while us, Saints, Huddersfield, Wakefield & Hull FC are stronger. Reckon our best choice X7 atm is:

1. Hardaker
2. Jones-Bishop
3. Watkins
4. Moon
5. Hall
13. Sinfield
6. McGuire
8. Leuluai
7. Burrow
10. Peacock
11. Jones-Buchanan
15. Delaney
12. Ablett

14. Achurch
16. Bailey
20. Griffin
25. Ward

A big issue will be how often Leuluai and Peacock can play, for how many minutes and to what level. If they fail to fire our pack could get steamrollered as at times it did last year. If they are in fact rotated, we also need some of our 'lesser light' forwards - Bailey, Griffin, Kirke in particular - to really pick up the slack.

I'm confident Achurch will go well BTW.

to be fair, with the signing of Moon & Achurch the strength of the back row increases considerably. We now have JJB, Ablett, Achurch, Delaney, Clarkson & Ward fighting out for 3 starting spots, which is incredibly good. Up front we still have Peacock, Leuluai, Griffin, Bailey, Kirke & Moore.

The forwards is the key area to are league position, we know what the backs will do given the chance. Again we know what the expected starters in the pack can do but they can't do it every week so it's a question of whether or not the likes of Griffin, Clarkson, Kirke, Moore, Achurch and Singleton can do the job when called upon.

Griffin had some good showings but also some very poor ones last year.
Clarkson played well against Catalans and Wigan in the Playoffs but 2012 was mostly disappointing.
Kirke was rightly getting more game time and the start in France (in place of the suspended Leuluia) ahead of Griffin, hopefully we see more of this but it's far from a guarantee.

Saints are the tricky one to predict, on paper they have a good team.....if played in the correct positions. But with Nathan Brown taking over you could see Francis Meli playing prop.

If any of the major contenders fall in the 4th or 5th Round of the CC then that leaves them playing only 6 games in the last 9 weeks of the year before the Playoffs start, that could prove crucial.

Have I missed something? Where is Jason Davidson? Is he still doing his head of athletic performance role ?

See front page, all completed now with Academy staff and squad.

Try again....

So what happened to Jamel Chisolm, Luke Briscoe, Jimmy Watson, Alex Foster?

I mean in squad numbers - I dont mean on your list.

Moved down to academy as they haven't been given a squad number, once they have they will be moved up.

Griffin was consistantly a top performer whilst at the Giants. Think he will improve this year having had the benefit of getting to know the team last year.

www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/s ... -1-5164526 Sounds to me like Vickery will get the number 25 spot aslong as he gives a good performance in the pre-season games. Even if other youngsters impress along with him I'd imagine he'll be first choice.

www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/s ... -1-5164526 Sounds to me like Vickery will get the number 25 spot aslong as he gives a good performance in the pre-season games. Even if other youngsters impress along with him I'd imagine he'll be first choice.

I'd go with something like:

Hardaker.
BJB.
Watkins.
Moon.
Hall.
Sinfield.
McGuire.
Kylie.
Burrow.
JP.
JJB.
Delaney.
Ablett.

Ward.
Achurch.
Bailey.
Kirke/Griffin.

Big call for me is at hooker. McShane obviously needs the game time but think he may be victim of the fact he can't play another position like Lunt did at times last year. Lunt playing in the backrow, as pointless as it seemed at times, meant he was in on the bench as he could cover a couple of positions.

If we do go with Burrow at 9, I think we have some work to do on the defensive side of things. When we did that last year we were defending with 3 half back and no hooker at times which might just have contributed the fact we were pretty soft, and easily beaten, up front at stages.

As for the rest of the bench spots, I'm hoping Achurch brings a bit of impact out wide when he gets on and Bailey the same down the middle. Close call between Griffin and Kirke- have a feeling IK will get the nod most of the time but hope to see a fair bit of Griffin and Moore. Felt Moore, in particular, didn't get enough game last year.

Hoping JP and Kylie are given a bit of a rest at stages this year too but not too sure that will happen as there was the opportunity to do that last year and BM rarely chose to do so.

Looking forward to the season now, especially to seeing how Moon and Achurch go. Moon because he will add another strike play to the, already strong, backline and Achurch because from the bits and pieces I've seen online he looks like he could create some problems for teams with ball in hand.

I never did get an answer to this question so I am assuming all you lot in the know...Dont know!

If the squad size is only 25 and number 25 is vacant what has happened to these players who are training full time:

Jamel Chisolm
Jimmy Watson
Luke Briscoe
Alex Foster
Liam Mcavoy (or however you spell it)
Joe Vickery

I am assuming these guys will get a squad number so why does YEP and Rhinos say the last place (25) is up for grabs. Is this because number 25 is the last place in the Salary Cap?

I trust all these will get numbers 25 - 30 so why are Leeds not saying that. All the other clubs are reporting all their numbers - Am I missing something?

I would think that if Joe Vickery gets a contract he will take the no. 25 spot.

25 Joe Vickery
26 Liam McAvoy
27 Luke Briscoe
28 Jimmy Watson
29 Josh Sunley
30 Alex Foster
31 Jamel Chisholm

If Joe Vickery does not get a contract then move everyone up a spot.

Teams can give out as many shirt numbers as they like, but they have to submit a 25-man first team squad to the RFL each year.

They need dispensation from the RFL to play anyone in the first team who is not in that 25-man squad, e.g. due to injuries, new signings etc.

So pointless admin then

1 year deal for joe Vickery confirmed

1. Hardaker
2. Jones-Bishop
3. Watkins
4. Moon
5. Hall
13. Sinfield
6. McGuire
8. Leuluai
7. Burrow
10. Peacock
11. Jones-Buchanan
15. Delaney
12. Ablett

14. Ward
16. Bailey
17. Kirke
20. Griffin

For me Bailey starts instead of Kylie ,Ward to 13 with Abbo to SR and Jjb to the bench.
Also Achurch for kirke and i wouldn't play Kylie with JP in the same 17 this year so id bring Mcshane in.

According to Hetherington: [urlhttp://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/leeds-rhinos/leeds-rhinos-can-top-their-2012-glory-hetherington-1-5264531[/url

I think he's right.

I hope he's right.

Still chasing season tickets,but its a good positive way to do it

Beats the "buy a season ticket or we'll go into administration" line trotted out by Bradford and Salford in recent years anyway.