Let’s see if we are back in business or still in the same place as prior to the break. Tough game for Rohan Smith this one, good news with Newman and Fusitua being back, bad news is Sangare gone for the season.

Handley
Fusitua Newman Martin MacDonald
Sinfield Sezer
Oledzki O’Connor Holroyd
McDonnell Bentley
Smith

Johnson Lisone Walters Donaldson

Hooley, Ruan, Roberts, Tindall.

Fully expect something like this…

Hopefully Hooley did enough to get another go.

Oledski has been poor to the point of im thinking he doesn't want to perform,so I'd start with our best front row Holroyd Johnson Walters.

If the plan is to start Newman, I'd stick with Hooley at full back and move Martin back to the second row and have either McDonnell or Bentley on the bench. Sinfield in the halves would be a bold move but I suspect he might go with Johnson.

Really not sure Sinfield rated that highly. To be picking Johnson there ( who offers nothing) is a bit of an insult….

He's only 18 though, Shabs. I think he is highly rated, but the worry would be that Wire would send a lot of traffic at him. For what it's worth, I would pick him.

But surely it’s time to see what can offer. Might not be fully ready, but not many are when thrown into deep end. Genuine half back at least, and not as if we are paying well in the halves….

Yep, we are in agreement.

Surely Newman will start on the bench like last time he came back from injury?

You can't say that on here Oldeski is a protected species.

I fail to see what playing Martin in the centres is adding - he is slow adds nothing to the attack another Smith missjudgement. Play Hooley at FB move MacDonald to centre and Hanley on the wing - his defense is terrible so being on the wing is the place he can cause least damage.

I agree Shabs.
Now is the perfect time to give him game time.
Nothing to play for as season is over (surely we can't go down...).
Let's give him a few games to get some experience and see what he can do.

Dodds was playing virtually every week at Saints as a 19 year old - these kids are either good enough or their not. How does never playing them because of their age help their long term development. By the time Leeds give them a go they have lost so much development time they aren't good enough as the players who have been given the exposure like Dodds are so much further on.

I see Smith wants to bring in another player he used to coach at Bradford in Milnes - another player deemed not good enough for his current club in the longer term but good enough for Leeds. No wonder we are where we are.

If we keep picking up players from clubs that are (or historically have been) below us in the table, where exactly do we expect to end up?

In terms of the rest of this season, we should definitely be blooding those kids who the club are expecting to play some games next season, if we don't do it now, what does that say about their current readiness and our faith in them to kick on?

Strange because he didnt say that at all at his press conference.

So we shouldnt have signed players like Senior, Ellis, Poching, Hardacker, Lunt, Moon, Aiton Briscoe etc...

All signed from teams that would be classed as below us in the table

Dodd made his debut in a dominant side when he was approaching 19. Sinfield made his debut at 17 and he's already got half a dozen under his belt and will likely be in double figures by the end of the year. Personally I don't think the "if he's good enough he's old enough" maxim holds true anymore. The game is so much more physical and we have probably paid a price (through injury) by exposing the likes of Ward, Walker and Newman at young ages.

When we signed those players, they were either international players or had already shown they were good enough to play for Leeds. It’s hardly the same when we are bin dredging in the way we have for years now.

So where should we sign player from? Only teams above us and the NRL?

The players you mention are on the whole ones who their clubs would have wanted to hold on to and ranked as one of their best, not those that were surplus. Milnes would be joining because they have recruited and already have better options.

Well there are currently plenty of teams above us so we could, although I think that would be a bit of a stretch. Similarly NRL players are not coming over here at the peak of their powers, but there are probably plenty that would add significantly to our team, I'm thinking of the likes of Donald and Kylie who weren't getting rep honours but were certainly good enough. Either of those two would walk into our team at the moment.

I'd have no objection to signing selected players, like those in your list, from clubs in the lower reaches of the league, but when most of your signings are coming from those clubs, or from lower divisions even, that's unlikely to result in a top 4 squad which IMO is what Leeds should be expecting each year.

My preference would be to hold on to the remaining quality players we have (as long as they are played in their right positions, no Handley at FB or Gannon at SO) and then supplement them with good quality experienced players from other clubs or the NRL, and this is used to bring the talented youth through into a strong culture and winning environment. That will take time I know, but signing players like Rowan Milnes who is constantly linked with us will not address the problems we have, he's just another body on the field rather than an improvement on where we were at the start of this season.

In fairness Smith said he hadn't been in touch with Milnes yesterday, so I don't know where this "Smith wants him" has come from. I agree that Milnes isn't the quality of player required to make the big leaps forward that the team needs. Let's hope the media speculation (which normally gets dismissed as clickbait when it's positive) turns out to be wide of the mark.

But most of the signings weve made from clubs below us recently, havent been players that were signed as starting players, apart from Macdonald, and he has been worth it.

A sensible post. Jack is still very young. Ideally next year he will be first reserve for the halves positions. In terms of this year you also have to take into account the lad had a concussion and his A levels that meant he wasn’t available at times he’d have likely played.

While I agree that ideally Martin wouldn’t be in the centres, to say he adds nothing is a bit of hyperbole. I’m pretty sure he’s our top tryscorer this year. While they might be indicative of how we’ve played, he’s certainly added more than nothing.