Re: 2019 | Squad : Mon Oct 01, 2018 7:10 pm  

Sir Kevin Sinfield wrote:

Cuthbertson should be our 13 IMO

If Ward ever gets an injury free run then Cuthbo would be coming on from the bench IMO and doing high quality stuff with ball in hand rather than having to do do the tough stuff that he can't really do when he's a starter IMO

Re: 2019 | Squad : Tue Oct 02, 2018 1:25 am  

So Cuthbertson's either not a prop at all or a pretty rubbish one then, given that the 'tough stuff' is priority #1 for anyone supposed to be in that role?

Re: 2019 | Squad : Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:48 am  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

So Cuthbertson's either not a prop at all or a pretty rubbish one then, given that the 'tough stuff' is priority #1 for anyone supposed to be in that role?

Pretty much. I'm not 100% clear how he's managed to sidestep the opprobrium that the likes of JJB, Delaney and Ablett attract.

Re: 2019 | Squad : Tue Oct 02, 2018 6:35 am  

Clearwing wrote:

Pretty much. I'm not 100% clear how he's managed to sidestep the opprobrium that the likes of JJB, Delaney and Ablett attract.

Because his contract is done and dusted not much to say - sadly another very average squad player for an club with elite aspirations. no wonder Sinfield is so scathing of the quality

Re: 2019 | Squad : Tue Oct 02, 2018 7:04 am  

Sinfield was just justifiably hugely upset with that performance. Hopefully some cards have been marked with respect to how some players have responded to his requests for improved performances.

WRT announcing recruitment not being announced immediately, might some of it have to do with Furner reserving the right to be involved in any discussions about the squad? I know I would if I was in his position, and he only finished up with Souths a week ago. Given that Souths were competing right to the end of the season he probably didn't have a huge amount of time to look at the Leeds squad in detail, and then assuming he had a break of some kind lined up, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't want to be rushed. After all, moving forward he'll be the one having to explain performances whilst Sinfield moves out of the limelight.

In any event hopefully the watchword is quality not quantity. We made a great song and dance about having a squad of 30 rather than 25 this year - sadly all that showed is that if you've got too many average to rubbish players you can have a squad of 50 and still fail miserably.

Re: 2019 | Squad : Tue Oct 02, 2018 7:08 am  

There should be some cap space to play with, even if we were (incredibly) spending it all last year. Gone are Hall and Moon who will have been two of the highest earners, and also Keinhorst who will have been a mid range earner. Coming in we have Lolohea who will be a high earner and McLelland who will be a mid to low range earner. That leave one high range wage and perhaps some spare from Keinhorst.

Additionally we lost Galloway early in the year (high earner) and replaced him eventually with Crosby and Thompson (two mid to low range earners), so Galloway's high range money should be free too.

I don't think so many will have taken a step up as this is based on rep appearances / squad listing and we've not been troubling the selectors for a year or two. Perhaps some small (<£10k) increases of a few of the younger players, but nothing huge.

Then you've got the 3 back rowers who everyone is thinking we should be letting go. They will all have to take a cut or leave, maybe this balances the increase of the kids (Smith & Oledski) wages?

All in all, there should be room for at least two top players (replacements for Galloway and Hall/Moon), the question is where will they come from, not can we afford them under the cap.

Re: 2019 | Squad : Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:40 am  

The simple thing is ; The transition from our Golden Generation to now has been handled badly. Also recruitment hasn’t been good enough. !

Re: 2019 | Squad : Tue Oct 02, 2018 1:04 pm  

Clearwing wrote:

Pretty much. I'm not 100% clear how he's managed to sidestep the opprobrium that the likes of JJB, Delaney and Ablett attract.

I'm not sure - a few weeks ago Cuthbertson was on the receiving end of criticism on this board for seemingly shirking the tough stuff, which led to another discussion about him playing injured and needing a rest (etc). In fairness to the fans, it can be difficult to make a judgement on these issues without having the benefit of not knowing what is going on behind the scenes. We can only really see what goes on on the field.

I have no idea why players like Cuthbertson, Parcell and Moon have variously looked like shadows of themselves compared to performances from last season. Perhaps it is telling that Moon has opted to retire instead of continuing his career. Otherwise, Cuthbertson and Parcell ought to have ripped up the Middle 8s, so one can only assume there are other issues (compare Dwyer, IMO a player with less natural ability than Parcell). The most likely one seems to be the impact of injuries sustained earlier in the year - at least I'd hope this is the reason, over factors like desire or not wanting to play for the club.

Re: 2019 | Squad : Tue Oct 02, 2018 1:52 pm  

We still need another two good players if we are going to stay above the middle 8s next year.

Re: 2019 | Squad : Tue Oct 02, 2018 1:55 pm  

When was the last time we didn't have any players on international duty? (top tier nations) that kind of sums up where our squad is at the moment.