This is Leeds all over. Supposedly having the best academy production line but simultaneously having the luxury cash to cover their ar5ses by sweeping up project/fringe talent from around the leagues. Ruan (Donny), Hooley(Batley), Sangare(Toulouse), McDonald(Wigan) and Roberts(Leigh). Nearly Aydin.
Four of those five will probably end up with careers elsewhere. Nice when you can afford it.

Ruen wanted first team rugby, which he got, and subsequently shone enough to attract Leeds attention. Whether he was offered a full time deal with Trinity I don't know, but we could not have given him the game time he ultimately got so it was the right decision for the player to leave, that's just how it goes sometimes, and whilst it's your MO, there's no real need to look for an angle on it.

Ruan wasn’t part of the academy this season. He left at the end of 2021 to Doncaster despite being offered a contract. Rumoured to be because he wanted first team opportunity.

From the successful academy team in 2021 we signed Murphy, Eseh, Windrow, Shaw and O’Donnovan. Eseh and Murphy along with Ruan were the best 3 imo but we managed to keep 2 and made an attempt to keep Ruan too. To me that’s a good effort.

Ruan is no longer a trinity player. Leeds didn’t sign him off us. He may yet turn out to be a good or bad investment for Leeds but it’s not something to have a pop at the club imo.

As I said before Apelgarth has been in his head coach position for 2 weeks at most and Ryan has been training with Leeds 1/2 month and the deal was rumoured to be done before MA was appointed.

We should be applauding the fact from our successful 2021 academy that we have given opportunity to the 5 young players above. There’s clearly an investment there and some of that is down to MA’s recommendations/efforts.

Regards signings, you have to display patience. We will have signings incoming and until they are signed we can’t accurately form our opinions on them or the squad as a whole.

We can all have a chat about perspective signings and offer opinions and play a little super league personal manager game but truly there’s no reason to be lacking confidence until the announcements are made. Half the fun is chatting about players coming in and out and if Ruan had been snatched out of our own academy I wouldn’t have been happy but he’s not a trinity player and just a trinity product who we should wish well to.

Why can't you wait then just like the rest of us....????

You don’t like negativity therefore I suggest you ask our CEO to stop being so because most of the times he comments it relates to how little money we have and the struggle we will face time after time, season after season.

That's as maybe, but he doesn't come on here and moan about that (and anything and everything else) on here like you do all the time.

I suppose you have a significant stake in the club that allows you to call investors out

Again, that is not true.
We've been here before. If you have an opinion, by all means share it but you are currently posting things that are either not true or simply winding individual posters up for their opinion. Stop it now please.

Ruan wasn't released - he chose to take another offer, which gave him more game time. His choice.

Time will tell whether that choice was good/bad, but it was his choice, not the club's.

X

I guess this is your new sign off can I suggest you go for the full title Great rather than the abbreviated one you used here. I don’t know why you felt the need to hide what I knew about you based on your previous contributions.

I don't understand this bit. Can you explain?

Cleaned up.
I know the word you used isn't in the swear filter so no big issue but if I leave it there it'll only escalate so let's not.

God forbid we actually sign someone if this is how SP reacts to players we haven't signed.

So let's get this straight.

Unless the players we sign are between 23 and 3/5th years old to 26 4/8th years old, have only ever played SL or NRL, have 500 games under their belt, have been SOO or at the very least won a SL GF medal, are 7 foot tall weighing 20 stone but can out run a Gazelle, have never so much as had an ingrowing toe nail injury wise, and have a perfect Colegate smile, then they are rubbish and we don't want them?

Is that right?

Just so long as I know.

Not that keyed up on the NRL these days so don't know with one obvious exception if these OOC are either eligible or any good.

Halfbacks

Billy Walters. HB Broncos Age 28

Brandon Wakeham HB Bulldogs Age 23

Cooper Johns HB. Storm Age 23

Phoenix Crossland HB. Newcastle Age 22

Jaeman Salmon HB Penrith Age 23

Hayze Perham HB Parramatta Age 23

Forwards

Franklin Pele Prop Sharks Age 21 6'3'' 19 stone

Morgan Boyle Prop MAN Age 26 6'4'' 18 stone

Emry Pere Prop NQC Age 24 6'4'' 17.5 stone

Poasa Faamausili Prop Dragons. Age 26 6' 2'' 17 stone

Angus Crichton SR Roosters Age 26 6'2'' 16 stone (I know a pipe dream)

Franklin Pele, at 21 looks a beast.

Runs it in very hard.

Only 1 game in the NRL, would he get a visa.

Wakeham, can play 6,7 and 9, so would add a bit of utility value too, at this stage. Also, Being Fijian, may not come with a huge price tag

Pele looks like an Aussie Eseh. If coaching younger players is Applegarth speciality then why not

I’m all for signing young talent and he would fit the bill for us I think.

Visa is the issue.

He got injured a game after his debut so that's probably what kept him at one first team game.

I always add 2 years onto a young NRL players age to compensate for their superior development. So in SL terms he's 23

Any playing in the World Cup ? Ref the visa

I think Walters, Crossland & Salmon are expected to re-sign with their current clubs whilst Johns has been linked with Newcastle given the family connection. Pele has been strongly linked with Canterbury Bulldogs so likely isn't an option and as you say Crichton is a no, he won't be leaving the Roosters. There will be visa issues with some of the others. Wakeham hasn't had much NRL gametime but is probably the most likely should he play for Fiji in the world cup although he'll need to get some of the 'stupid' out of his game. For example he got banned earlier this year for a pretty nasty eye gouge. It could be a fresh start for him though.

Just looked at the 'eye gouge', it was silly but not what I'd call a gouge, more like a flick. I've read some harrowing accounts from the sixties and seventies of this diabolical assault and that isn't one of those. I've no reason to defend him as I doubt he's on his way to us anyway, but that wouldn't put me off, we'd just hire Knowles solicitor

Linked to James Tamou but so are Huddersfield, Leigh and North Queensland Cowboys…… https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/huddersf ... fer-59799/

Linked to James Tamou but so are Huddersfield, Leigh and North Queensland Cowboys…… https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/huddersf ... fer-59799/

Could be a "project" signing Vasty

What’s everyone’s idea of a realistically perfect off season for us. I hoped in the coming months we could.
Extend Murphy (hope for 2/3 year extension)
Extend Hall (done)
Extend whitbread (done)
Sign organiser halfback
Sign 2 big impact props
Resign Isaac Shaw
Extend Jay Pitts (rumours this is done)
Release Lineham / Battye (understand probably won’t happen)
Sign Jamie Shaul
Decide captain Pitts / Crowther / Lyne / Ashurst my choices
Sign min 2 new academy players to full time

We’ve already achieved a couple of them and get some won’t probably happen but with potentially 5 new players coming in as mentioned by John minards I think a halfback / 2 props / fullback and backrow are needed. With a squad running at 30 players

I’m glad somebody else has noted Pitts value to the team. Another player being prematurely written off when in truth he’s a valuable experienced utility player with a few years left in him and a true leader, hope he is signed up.