more shocking he gets picked for us

Nah don't be daft, he's great value for us.

Agreed he’s been a good signing, value outweighing both his cost and billing I’d say.

I suspect Gannon wasn't picked because of the concussion issues.

Could O'Connor potentially be eligible for Ireland for the world cup?

I think Smith was already in the England Knights set up so makes you wonder if he has a chance at the full squad?

JWH is using the Leeds warmup game as part of his suspension. Everybody's doing it. I don't mind for a big event like the World Cup.

Unfortunately the bans handed out this season were due to the insurer for the RFL declining to offer renewal terms and as a result the insurance cost doubling. The bans (agree with them or not) were to deter foul play and head injuries in particular and were severe so that the RFL can attempt to show that they were not negligent if a player tries to sue them in the future and avoid the insurer having to pay out. By allowing players to serve bans for games they wouldn't have played in in normal circumstances totally undermines everything that they've done this season and makes the disruption to teams earlier in the season look unfair (and I know some have already used reserve games already).

If clubs (and England and New Zealand) are going to circumvent the bans then it leads the sport having to pay even more for insurance, having to apply even harsher bans or changing the rules (RU has even hinted at banning tackles above the waist).World Cup or not the players have known the rules all season and if they're banned they should be banned. Remember we are missing a key play maker in a grand final thanks to one of the players that England Knights are bending the rules for.

I understand the insurance issue. Moving forward a lot will depend on the outcome of the upcoming cases in union and league by ex-players, as that will start to clarify the extent of the potential exposure.

The future risk issue is partly why I was entirely supportive of getting rid of shoulder charges.

Ultimately the solution will have to be based more around detecting issues and routinely stopping players from playing for longer when they have head injuries. I also think there will have to be some form of self insurance by sports, and maybe some discussion as to the extent to which individual players have to accept some risk or not play the game in the first place.

I get all the concern over head injuries.
It`s the tripping or other minor offences that the MRP shouldn`t bother looking at imo.
If it`s missed by the ref on the day then so be it.

Hopefully once the dust settles on the GF we'll start to see some of these rumoured signings announced. The game certainly highlighted again how lacking in grunt we are up the middle, and the lack of threat out wide with Newman out. We really need another halfback with a decent kicking game as without Sezer we're really lacking. Maybe that will be Sinfield, but he's still very young.

Leeds have a great Academy use them? Bennison great example?

The pack needs more beef without a doubt. That’s priority imo. Plus we’re losing briscoe and Sutcliffe so cover is a little thin in the backs. We won’t beat Saints in a GF with this pack.