Quote The Magic Rat="The Magic Rat"That may be so, but by his own admission the Cas friendly was a kick up the backside he needed. He said he was way off the pace and it was much tougher than he expected. Not what you hope to hear from your main off season signing. I guess a positive is that he has owned up to his shortcomings and is prepared to do something about it. He did show some glimpses of his offload and I do think he will prove a good addition but it sounded like a lack of professionalism to the start of his Leeds career.'"
I wouldn't take Merrin's comments too much on face value. He's moved away from his home and family into a completely new environment, under a hell of a lot of scrutiny, and is now playing in the middle of an English winter when it's Baltic outside.
I suspect what we'll find with him is that he will produce consistent quality, and become a really valuable player over time.
He clearly isn't big enough to play prop IMO, and I also don't think Leeds can afford to have that much salary cap playing short minutes in a role he's not really designed for. The squad number we gave him cheered me up, and then my heart sank again when I saw first game up in at prop.
I guess Crosby is still injured, and someone posted that Peteru wasn't fit either, so I'll give benefit of the doubt.
Re. big Mitch, I really liked him when he played, thought he was one of the best props in the whole competition. Whereas I can understand letting him go (and let's see how many games he does play for KR this year), and I also know we need to free up cap space before we can make changes, I think we had Ikahihifo lined up and then it fell through, leaving us very short.
