I keep hearing reports of other SL teams strengthening their squads for next year, letting players go and recruiting replacements but yet still havent heard anything from Leeds. I know in the past we have always been late and usually stuck by the policy of not revealing until 1st Sept, but it always seems that every other team has completed their recruitments well before us.
Im assuming, that since Seniors injury had compounded the decision not to offer him a new contract, that we already had his replacement in mind ?? and with all the talk of Darrell Griffin as a replcement for Burgess/Cross, these replacements would be the absolute minimum we should be expecting. Even if we sign Griffin and a suitable replacement for Senior, this just leaves us exactly where we were !!! i.e. "not a top 4 side" and this is not acceptable for us.
Any replacement for Senior is unlikely to be as good as he has been for us !! and Griffin is just an average front row forward, so where is the spark, the leadership, the breaks going to come from ? because Burrows has been a one-trick pony for ages, and it hurts me to say but Bailey has been our best forward for a while !!!
Some earliar decisions were baffling !! to renew Webbs contract was amazing when we have BJB who in everyones assessment is a star of the future is remarkable, and Leuluai beggars belief !! what he brings to the side is beyond me !!! I wouldnt have the cheek to hold out my hand for my wages when we have Paeacock alongside him doing twice as much work in metres gained and tackles and times on the field every week !!!
Time for some announcements GH !!!!!

Someone clearly exceeded their exclamation mark quota.

Leeds have a new stand to build, a full time RU side to fund, falling season ticket sales and an owner with no liquidity - what do you expect?

Yeah I know!! Then he was all like this!! And I was all like oh my god!!

You don't have to pay big transfer fees to build championship winning sides.

How much did the core of the squad that won four Grand Finals in six years cost in transfer fees?

Whoa there champ.

Whilst I agree BJB has a bright future in the game he is not the finished article. I may not be Webbs biggest fan but he is a god role model for BJB and having both of them gives us good cover at FB and BJB can also play on the wing. BJB will get plenty of game time so his development wont be affected.

As for your assesment of Kylie! Him and JP are different players doing different jobs. Kylie is still very good at what he does which is sucking tacklers in and wearing them out and he has at least another year in him.

Yes we need a few new faces next year but we also need to be careful not have a knee jerk reaction and go for wholesale changes. With Cross, Burgess and Senior now gone and it looking likely the Ali will also go thats quite enough for me. At least for Phase 1 of the upgrade to the squad.

We have some good youngsters but they need experience around them and also to not be worn out by being played week in week out when they aren't ready.

Ha. Says it all.

Tony Martin, Lincoln Withers available. Be careful what you wish for.

Agree with a few points raised above, but I would just point out that GH's recruitment judgement has not exactly been great this last two years, (Eastwood and Cross!), so I also think simply going out and buying anyone who's available just to fill the gaps is a pointless exercise. We need to find and source quality replacements or give our own youngsters a chance to step up and prove their worth over the next few years. GH has been on the lookout for new faces apparently, but maybe even he realises that the last two imports we brought in did not, ultimately work out, and doesn't want to make the same mistake again?
No need to rush things, and lets see what GH can come up with in the next few weeks. There is presumably space on the salary cap with Senior, Cross and Biff Burgess gone, so lets be patient and see what happens.

Bit harsh holding Hetherington responsible for Eastwood being an injury prone, homesick, obese baby.

Only bit I might hold him responsible for is not checking for potential visa issues first time around, but then again nobody knows what the player did and didn't declare to the club before he signed the contract.

NO!!!
WE SHOULD JUST BUY EVERYBODY!!!
I WANT TO SEE A NEW FACE!!!
AN EXPENSIVE NEW FACE!!!