Could it happen? Out of favour at the Rhinos? A position where we would benefit from having a more cutting edge, and another academy product who could slot back into the fold?

Ken does seem keen on getting homegrown or hometown players back to the club (heard rumours about Murphy from Wakefield from next year too) and would love to see Kruise back as Hooker is an area we really need to strengthen. Can't see it happening, apart from cap issues he's their captain isn't he?

Leeming is not out of favour at the Giants he is injured.
Why is hooker an area we need to strengthen
There is
Peats
O Brien
Goulding
Roby

Because none of them area anything other than ordinary sadly. Levi made a huge difference last year, and 9 is one of the most important positions in the modern game to get rewards from our pack getting good go forward. You can hardly be inspired by us currently having a 9 who has been doing the rounds in lower divisions. He does a job and nothing more, we need more than that to push for trophies.

You must watch a different game to me. Peats has a far superior all round game to Levi.
Levi offered energy around the ruck but had poor distribution which often slowed play down.
Peats is
Not quite as quick off the mark but has accurate distribution to either side and is also a better defender. Hence why he has played origin for NSW.

I agree about Peats, his passing in the last two games has been spot on. Peats defense is also good I think in the first game he made 57 tackles, he isn't as dynamic to watch as Levi, but he is certainly a very consistent performer quietly going about his business and always putting in at lest a 7 out of 10 every game.

Seriously? Better all round game than Danny Levi? Levi was high in the man of steel rankings for nearly all of last year, i was watching the games the people that made those decisions were watching. Peats was playing for Toulouse before we picked him up, and Levi has gone back to the NRL playing for Canberra so i think my judgement is rather sounder than yours. Peats is a journeyman player who as you say has a decent all round game, theres lots of those playing for wakefield too!

Levi is the best number 9 we've had since a certain Bradley Drew but that's just my opinion.

I rate all of these players but Leeming is better than all 4

Well you were correct about him being out of favour and leaving Leeds.
Still don't see us making a move for him though, with Peats on a three year deal.
For what it's worth I still rate Levi above the whole bunch, but that's all water under the bridge now.

Couldn't understand at the time why on earth we signed Peats on a 3 year deal, must have got him for peanuts but he is still taking up an overseas spot and is not good enough anymore to justify that at a team with ambition. Yes his distribution is good, got to have more than that at this level and he doesn't have more hence he was playing for Leigh (who let him go on loan to us) and then Toulouse in the championship. Sounds like Leeming might be going to NRL, but i hope we are giving it a go because he offers attacking threat which we are badly lacking in the spine. Only Pryce offers that and he is still very much learning and doesn't do well when closed down as shown against Wakefield.

Don't forget Phil Hook !!!!!!!!

I remember him well If you are referring to Phil Huck. tremendous player back in the day when men were men

I seem to remember him doing some refereeing after he finished playing?
Or is that my memory playing tricks on me again?

He used to duck under tackles if i remember correctly, wasn't the quickest for sure!! Danny Russell was the other 9 that stood out for me, was a great player in his prime.

Danny Russell was a class act

And a nice guy to boot. Regards Hookers now, Like other positions we could have better players, We could have a fullback with more pace off the mark than Tui or Conner, we could have a halfback with the class of Brough in his great years ,but we have what we have and although it's very unlikely we are going to win anything again ,we have a decent squad and one certainly good enough to be in the playoffs but we wont be anywhere near the playoff unless we start to play some football, and Watson does not seem to me to be interested in coaching that kind of game, so we can dominate most teams with a very good set of forwards but anyone who thinks Leeming would transform our game and teach us how to score tries is dreaming, Danny Brough he is not and until the penny drops for Watson it wont matter who we play at Hooker, Individual bits of brilliance as good and welcome as they are will win us nothing sadly

The game has changed over the last few years and Watson doesn't seem to have changed with it. Most teams have really tough to break down goal line defence as it is coached relentlessly. You cannot rely on pressure and position alone to get points. We spend massive amounts of time in oppositions 20 and come away with nothing. You get more tries scored from deep at the moment by exploiting broken play and then it's the speedsters and the pacy half backs that take advantage. We don't have either. I would love to be proved wrong but like you i can't see us winning anything or being close to it this year.

I'd have Leeming back at Giants in a heartbeat, who on earth st the club gave Nathan Peats - a 32yr old a 3 yrs deal?!

No idea , terrible signing. I know Levi's decision to leave was fairly late which reduced our options but we should have been going all out to get a better nine, it's such a crucial position in the modern game. He's an overseas spot too so we could have scoured aussie reserve grade and SURELY got someone with at least some pace and the ability to scoot and trouble a defence.

I'd rather have given young George Roby a run, see how his he went.

This is going to be a long & frustrating season as it stands at the moment.

We are totally reliant on Lolohea, Connor and Fages being on the pitch at the same time and even then we have no nine. Fages doesn't exactly set the world on fire either and Lolohea has been well off last years standard. Once those are back i think we will win the majority of our weekly round games, but get ready for another hiding in the play offs when other teams up their intensity and match our pressure and line speed but have the pacey attacking players to finish chances off.