Whilst I'll not yet completely write of 2016 (I think the core group of this team have earned the right not to be written off until it's mathematically impossible to reach the top 4), I am now looking at how we can be better in 2017, and what recruitment options we may have.

So, this starts with who's potentially going to be leaving and freeing up more cap space;

Achurch - Definitely gone, will free up a huge amount of cap space for a world class signing, or a couple of very decent signings
Falloon - difficult to measure as he's pretty much been injured the whole time, but if there are better options available, I think he'll be gone too
Ferres - apparently on a relatively low salary for this year, but will expect a big rise (probably taking the Achurch money). On his performances so far, I'd be inclined to say thanks, but no thanks and spend the money elsewhere.
JJB - I believe this is his last year, but wouldn't be against having around for another year as a squad pack man - brings some much needed leadership and enthusiasm

I'm not sure if we have any others off contract. I'd quite like Galloway to request an early release home as I don't feel he's offering much at all, but get the feeling he's enjoying his time living here.

So, with a reasonable amount of cap space available, and a marquee spot too, who should we be targeting? I think everyone would like as a minimum a top draw hooker and half....

Hookers - it was our approach to Wests for Farah as our marquee player last year that caused the whole issue between Wests and Farah. They thought it was an opportunity he should take and were already spending the spare cap expecting him to take the deal. When he said 'No, I want to stay in the NRL and Origin for now' they tried to force the issue.... He's most definitely the best hooker on the market this year and is exactly the type of player that we're missing. Excellent defensive work rate and attitude, a creative spark and leader of men. Gets some bad press for his relationships with coaches, but a lot of that is unfair in my eyes - he's a competitor and just wants the best for his team. I'd be willing to go all out for him... I'd certainly rather break the bank for Farah than settle for some of the other off contract 9's like Falloon, Kostjacyn, De Gois etc

Halves - Cronk is the only top half on the market, but will be staying at Melbourne by all accounts, so I don't think he's a goer.... So, what other halves could we target? Benji Marshall - not thanks... Peter Wallace - maybe, certainly not inspiring, but would bring a calm, old head, get us around the park type skillset without ever challenging the line, which is a big negative for me. But he'd do a job, come relatively cheap, and is a fantastic defender - could also do a shift at hooker - he's currently playing there and doing around 40 tackles a game. Could see him and Burrow alternating between 9 and 7.... There are some younger halves on the market in Keary, Brooks, Moses, but all will be staying in the NRL and couldn't come and do the job Leeds need of leading the team.

So, in terms of hookers/halves, With what's actually available, I'd be tempted to go all out for a Farah type hooker signing and go with a McGuire and Lilley combination, with Sutcliffe as back up. If Farah is still a no goer, could chase someone like Mitch Rein, but again he's likely to stay in Oz, so then you're looking at Wallace or a lower quality 9.

Other signings I'd possibly like to see us chasing who are off contract and realistic;

Luke Lewis - yes he's old and past his best, but he'd still add some much needed starch to the defence, a professional old head approach, some X-factor and speed around the ruck in attack - if certainly take him over Ferres.

Sam Moa - Like for like replacement for Kylie, and actually capable of quite big minutes

Ben Hannant - again, an older head, but a real workhorse front rower

Brenton Lawrence - likely to be in demand, but a good, hard and most important for me, fast prop - would be worth throwing a decent wedge at.

Unfortunately, I think of those available the type of signings most likely would be people like Jeff Robson, Kostjacyn, Nathan Friend, Ben Creagh, Dene Halatau all of which would be very much 'meh' signings....

Are there any players who are not off contract you think we should be chasing?

Can Farrah play in the halfs?

Think he would be an amazing signing for us. Is it at all realistic though?

I'd prefer us to stick with Lilley & Sutcliffe rather than bring in a 'meh' HB from Oz. I'm certain both will be future legends for us.

That's a pretty good summing up of the NRL market. There's not a lot of the requisite quality who'd be willing to come, though there may be a few Dave Taylor like players who have stopped fitting in there we could look at. Konrad Hurrell is in that category, maybe Jamie Soward.

Domestically, the player I'd like us to sign is the same one I've wanted us to sign for five years - Darryl Clark. O'Brien from the Bulls is apparently an option, but don't know enough about him. Holmes or McMeekan could be other targets, given the back-row I'd really want (Ben Currie) will not be attainable.

Would anyone be interested in Pelissier? Aggressive defence, quick, good hands and he can kick. I think he's also out of contract at the end of the year.

I'd be over the moon with Soward! He's had some questions about his desire, but he'd be a great fit for what we're lacking on the pitch. Im not sure he'd want to leave Sydney again though - seems to be at a stage in his life where he's wanting to settle. He's said he'd stop playing and move into coaching to stay at the Panthers previously...

Tony Williams could be a potential signing of a similar ilk to Dave Taylor, but he wouldn't have the same impact, and is dare I say it even lazier!

Pellisier is also a good shout - always impressed by him when I've seen him... And has a bit of mongrel in him - I always like that in a player.

What about someone like John Sutton? Equally adept in the halves or backrow/lock, so would allow us to go with McGuire/Lilley/Sutcliffe but switch it up if it's not working.

I wouldn't be looking for overseas players! Break the bank to fetch in Stefan ratchford! Sandow and gidley kept him out of the starting 13 at the begging of the season and when they're both fit it will probably be the same again. Matty Russell is playing out of his skin at full back so ratchfords game time would be limited. I'd go ratchford and lilley in the halves. Move sutty to loose forward and put stevie ward in the second row. As for hooker I wouldn't mind someone like Adam Milner from cas or even Brad Dwyer from Warrington. We've got to look at signing British players otherwise we will be changing players in key positions every 2/3 years!!

Sutton's a good player but tends to spend 3/4 of the season injured.

I would like to see us go for Clarke at hooker and let Falloon go.
Also happy to let Achurch go and I think we need to make a choice to release Delaney. He puts in effort but seems to be injured or carrying injuries in a large amount of games.
If we are keeping JJB and hopefully Ferres for another year and have Ablett and keinhorst we just don't need him.

Half back is a bit harder. With sutcliffe and Lilley both needing time on the pitch and some wins to improve confidence it's hard to suggest replacing them.
McGuire hasn't really had a chance yet and still hasn't settled into the captaincy given injuries.
Burrow has a skill set and some utility value but can't fill the gaps we are missing at 7 or 9.
If we signed Clarke and then a HB as well it would mean one bench spot between Burrow, sutty and Lilley so one would have to go and given his age, salary and etc I could only see Burrow leaving as the sensible option.

I'd say that some sort of steady eddie half back in the Dunemann mould would really benefit you.

A decent hooker/dummy half and a couple of decent forwards are also needed.

Leeds Rhinos are the best run club in SL with an academy system and world class sports science facilities second to none. That is the infrastructure upon which their success is based.

Surely it would be unwise to overlook all that by replacing it with a policy of knee-jerk signings? Leeds do not buy success. That's what other less well run SL clubs do. Leeds invest in longer term plans instead. In that regard, they are the SL benchmark which every other SL club must aspire to.

Leeds are not a Salford or Warrington or any other fanciful SL club whose mission statements rarely persist beyond the week after next.

One or two key signings perhaps but no more than that. Please allow Leeds famed academy system the time and space to continue producing the next golden generation.

Patience is required.

Lots of it.

I see you got your e-mail from Gary,William

Right the wrongs of this year.

Hold your hands up and say the likes of Galloway and Falloon havent cut it, get shot and replace. Instead of them falling into Achurch's position where somehow they've found themselves in employment for 4 years and have contributed nothing.

Nope, I'm not on the mailing list so not read it.

I was merely regurgitating the patronising views of the Leeds club and it's fanbase during its era of success.

It's only reasonable the club should stick to their principles of long term strategy based upon investment in academy production rather than attempting to buy their way out of their current malaise surely?

Lots of signings would be hypocritical and lack principles.

You are right William, it has been said by a lot that bringing through your own is the way to go.And it is, or it should be. Thing is Leeds got bang lucky to get so many quality youngsters coming through in one batch that is not the norm, and some always said and knew that it would only really be appreciated once they have gone.

For me, and you have brought this to our attention yourself on a regular basis, the quality of the overseas signings has been pretty poor by Leeds for a long time.We have been able to compensate for this due to having the likes of Sinfield and Peacock and others around, now we don't its painfully obvious we need to up our game in that side of our recruitment.So i don't think the majority on here are wanting a whole host of new overseas signings, just better thought out ones so that the young lads the are coming through, and there are still a few with jury still out, are not hung out to dry.

Priority has to be a quality 9 & another quality BR.
Jjb is playing well but id only renew a deal on either a payp deal or player Coach.
The Delaney situation needs looking at if we cant get him fit then maybe a settlement.

how long has Delaney got left on his present deal end of 2017?

I'd agree with Farah, although expensive and 'old' he's be a good head for the role. Also Ennis is OOC, but i don't expect will leave the Shire.

However, with both of those, money does talk.


Halves wise:

Daniel Mortimer is worth a punt - only 26 and has some good experience.

Feleti Mateo also - but age may not be on his side.

Locks:

Elijah Taylor is a good one, from Wests and utility or Michael Chee-Kam


Props:

Yeah, Hannant or Moa.





Of course, if we'd kept Amor and broken the bank for Walmsley - we wouldnt have this prop situation...

Priority has to be a coach who can get a team to play, otherwise throwing money at players isn't going to be the answer. A coach should be able to get a response and an improvement from players, reardless of senior or youngsters. How many games this season, and still to see that. That for me is the priority.

And I agree with you on the specificas of above.

Gotcha-That was purely my opinion on the playing side of recruitment i've said elsewhere id like to see a whole new Coaching set up etc.

Obsession with most-likely-out of our reach NRL players.

Some good hooker and 2nd row options over here. Add them and try and see if you can get Luke Gale from Cas.

As for props i'm prepared to give Galloway time, he was showing signs of improvement and he (like all the props) would surely benefit if we sign a proper (and good) hooker. I imagine he's always defended with a hooker in the middle with him during his career, shouldn't underestimate how tricky it possibly is to get use to not having that.

Galloway has been pretty decent last few games he certainly looks to be settling in now, And Garbutt has also been one of our better players.

This is one problem, and one you are correct on. I fear that due to Burrow's good attacking form, people will believe, and the club will believe, this can continue and happy with it. What is totally forgotten is the effect it has on the rest of the team, and weak we have looked without an accomplished hooker defending in the middle.

If we're buying in, what does it matter where they're from? We'd all no doubt prefer to have young British talent ready to step up from our Juniors, but where that's not the case, you have to buy in - I couldn't care less where that bought in talent originates from, as long as they're the best fit.

Having seen Galloways performances over the past couple of years at Wests, I don't think there's much more upside in him, regardless of which hooker is alongside him. He'll still be slow and cumbersome.

Hooker is a priority, we can afford to free up cap space by getting rid of some of our deadweight forwards and promoting Baldwinson and Smith, then go for a DECENT aussie (no more second rates) or someone like Daryl Clarke or maybe even Dwyer.

I have some faith in our young halves and would argue they are doing fairly well to create points given the lack of individual tries our backs are scoring compared to last year. Lilly needs to improve a bit and Sutcliffe needs to step up more but hopefully that will happen.
Having said that if we got benji Marshal on a 4 year deal or something I would snap it up, Id love to see him play every week, and it would be great to see him show up Sandow