Re: 2016 Leeds Rhinos Squad : Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:00 pm  

Agree with the others about a new hooker being key.burrow is a truly great player but is not equipped to play in the middle on defence for long or even modest spells, which is why he is often out at left or right centre. Losing the amazing peacock and all his work will put more work on other forwards which mean a tackling hooker is critical.

Re: 2016 Leeds Rhinos Squad : Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:05 pm  

Mark Laurie wrote:

Balancing the salary cap is an art and hetherington has done it better than any others over last 10 years. Last close season we released both bailey and kirke to make space for a prop. Chased Mossop hard but he chose wigan. Mid season we signed garbbutt. 26 years old with only 12 nrl games. We were not buying a new peacock. He has been key in giving us more grunt in particular as Kylie's powers have waned (we now know why). He is still improving but overall has been critical in getting the treble. See him as a kirke/ bailey replacement and you might feel a bit better.

It is amazing!! Already the doubters have started to moan. Garbutt has been a bluddy revelation IMO. Without his contributions up front I doubt we would have achieved the treble. I am glad we lost the chase for Mossop; instead we got somebody MUCH better

Without a doubt we DO need a hooker and better cover at halfback, but as others have said, somebody of the calibre of Aiton is all we need. A Cameron Smith (Aussie version) would be fantastic, but not strictly required.
We shouldn't forget Handley...if he is used in the threequarters then maybe Moon could become the extra cover at SO?!?

Basically I would be happy with a 'reasonable' hooker - who can defend in the middle - and Westerman as a bonus. Any more than that would indeed be a dream I think.

Re: 2016 Leeds Rhinos Squad : Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:14 pm  

Totally agree Nantwich. If we got Westerman and a good hooker it would be great. Also agree that moon is a potential halfback cover - played as a stand off earlier in career.

Re: 2016 Leeds Rhinos Squad : Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:23 pm  

IDonutWantOne wrote:

Where have u got that rubbish from? 2 crucial missed tackles vs cas leading to try's? Knock on in grand final and against saints, for me he isn't good enough

Thank god you have no say in it then.

Garbutt was the shot the team needed mid season. Would we have done this with Yates as back up prop? I think not!!

Just seen the greatest achievement from a Leeds team and already some numpty is saying someone who came half way round the work mid season isn't good enough. WUM

Re: 2016 Leeds Rhinos Squad : Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:50 pm  

IDonutWantOne wrote:

Loyal Leeds Fan wrote:

Garbutt's very error prone? He's made 4 errors from 158 carries in 14 games.

Where have u got that rubbish from? 2 crucial missed tackles vs cas leading to try's? Knock on in grand final and against saints, for me he isn't good enough

Has Peacock been error free? I think not.... (Not wanting to diminish Peacocks contributions, but you cannot simply use errors by Garbutt to compare him to JP and not also include JPs errors/missed tackles)

Undoubtedly, Peacock cannot be replaced like for like, but Garbutt assisted by some better squad players than we've had in the past is a good way to go

Re: 2016 Leeds Rhinos Squad : Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:52 pm  

Didn't the sleeve say he was recruiting a new hooker after Aiton decided to leave? I wish people would pipe down about Moon at stand off. He's one of the best centres around.

Re: 2016 Leeds Rhinos Squad : Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:55 pm  

Oh, and for the record, I also think Garbutt has been fantastic! Very good meter eater (more meters than JP in some games??) and some strong collisions in defence.... Couldn't have had a better start to his career with us - a real mid-season boost to the troops.

Re: 2016 Leeds Rhinos Squad : Tue Oct 13, 2015 8:00 pm  

Wow, somebody criticising Garbutt? Unreal. He's not just impressed when considering that he was an unknown, he's impressed because he's turned in some top performances. If Galloway - who is a quality signing - performs to the same standard I don't think there'd be many complaints.

Re: 2016 Leeds Rhinos Squad : Tue Oct 13, 2015 8:22 pm  

IDonutWantOne wrote:

Next year is the beginging of a huge decline for the rhinos.... For starters garbutt is nowhere near a replacement for jp, very error prone, Galloway is a west tigers reject at best. Lilley has played a handful of games and isn't ready to be first choice back up for a champion side. Mullallay is dreadful, not a leeds player. Can't believe we r letting go of Robbie ward, never been given a chance. If we don't sign a quality hooker we will struggle

Ha ha, what a plant pot!

Re: 2016 Leeds Rhinos Squad : Tue Oct 13, 2015 8:50 pm  

'IDONUTKNOWWHATIMTALKINGABOUT' would have been a much more fitting name I think. Garbutt has been a solid performer and has given us some aggressive running when needed, he's a player that leaves nothing to the imagination, runs hard and true every time, I don't know who that guys been watching but it's not Mitch Garbutt surely, maybe he meant Achurch not Garbutt....

As for next year, very few were expecting us to finish top 4 this year or get near a trophy at best, especially on this board, but we've gone and done the opposite so write that squad off at your peril. Yes it's going to be hard with no sinfield to fall back on especially, but we'll still have the best back 5 in the league and we'll still have plenty of experience in the squad, even in the relatively young players such as hardaker and Watkins, plenty of big game experience there alone. A lot for me will depend on the hooker signing along with how McGuire steps up if he becomes captain, be interesting to watch!