Re: Is it time for Hetherington to go ? : Wed Oct 18, 2023 9:36 am  

GH OUT

Re: At last the Rhinos are investing in the team correctly. : Wed Oct 18, 2023 9:39 am  

Hopefully a full injury free off season gets Oledski back to his best.

We also need an improvement in Sangare and Lisones fitness to ensure we start the season well.

Re: At last the Rhinos are investing in the team correctly. : Wed Oct 18, 2023 9:40 am  

Personally think when fully fit our back line is alongside Wigan's as the best in the league. I also think we now have the best hooker in the league, albeit some may prefer Clark.

It is the front row and back row where we really need to stand up. Holroyd and Oledzki have the potential to be very good and I like Lisone. Likewise, McDonnell, Gannon and Smith have the potential to be very good. A highly experienced prop would really help out our forwards.

Re: At last the Rhinos are investing in the team correctly. : Wed Oct 18, 2023 10:46 am  

Hetherington is cooking. He’s purring. He’s back!

Re: At last the Rhinos are investing in the team correctly. : Wed Oct 18, 2023 10:56 am  

I think he finally realised fans weren't going to put up with anymore Wellington Albert tier transfers.

Re: At last the Rhinos are investing in the team correctly. : Wed Oct 18, 2023 11:29 am  

I'd say that's exactly what has happened. To be fair to him we probably wanted to do more last off season but were constrained by the cap and contracts. The turnover between when Smith arrived and now is probably only rivalled by the 1997 reset after Caddick took over. The big difference is that Leeds were almost bankrupt in 96 and lost most of the good players we had under Douggie. This time we let the poor quality build over a period of years. Still, glad to see we've drawn that line in the sand fans have been asking for.

Re: At last the Rhinos are investing in the team correctly. : Wed Oct 18, 2023 11:57 am  

If the end game is have a successful side that sells season tickets and grabs the corporate cash - difficult to see how GH could have done much better.

I have been a critic of the direction of the club - this is the best off season in terms of recruitment for many years and you have to praise GH for putting the clubs money into the squad.

[Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino]

Re: At last the Rhinos are investing in the team correctly. : Wed Oct 18, 2023 12:01 pm  

Indeed, the real keys now are to get the academy producing, so in the next 2/3 years we can start to replace "bought in" players with home grown academy players ready to rock and roll.

The other is to drastically improve player fitness / preparation as we've been riddled with injury gluts for the last few years with large chunks of salary cap twiddling thumbs in the stand.

I have been a vehement critic of the cheap "project" signings but fair play to Gawwy, this has been a stellar intake.

Re: At last the Rhinos are investing in the team correctly. : Wed Oct 18, 2023 12:22 pm  

Ex-Swarcliffe Rhino wrote:

I have been a vehement critic of the cheap "project" signings but fair play to Gawwy, this has been a stellar intake.

Every club makes "cheap project signings", its a salary capped sport, you cant just go and buy a team of international players when you have salary cap been payed to other players.

Re: At last the Rhinos are investing in the team correctly. : Wed Oct 18, 2023 12:25 pm  

I'm certainly excited at the prospect of hospitality for next season.