It's been reported in the Aussie press that Farah is on his way to Leeds? The majority (including The Mole) are saying it's from 2017. Wonder if The Sleeve can use all his powers to get him in for the Middle 8's?

Cant see it myself. He earns a fortune in NRL and is captain of NSW. Is he really gonna give that up for a move to Leeds???

Different day different rumour. Hope so tho.

Leeds thought this deal was all done at the back end of last year - they'd agreed a deal with the Tigers and Farahs agent for him to come to Leeds for 2016, unfortunately nobody told Robbie, it was all agreed without his knowledge, and he wanted to stay in the NRL - he didn't want to give up Origin. This led to the big fall out between Farah and Jason Taylor and the whole 'if you stay, you'll be in reserve grade' situation. The Tigers wanted to move him on to free up some salary - he's on over $900k this and next season in a back ended deal, they were going to still pay a chunk of that, and had already signed Matt Ballin as Farahs replacement - they were that confident it would happen, but they didn't envisage Farah digging in his heels.
I posted something last year about a 'world class signing' being on his way, and that it would take marquee money, but Leeds still didn't need to use the marquee allowance to make it happen. It turns out that signing was supposed to be Robbie Farah, Leeds were also sure it was a done deal and didn't know Farah hadn't actually given the green light himself. The whole situation was handled terribly by Wests in the main, but also Farahs agent. Leeds started the chain of events by making an offer to Wests, Wests told his agent about the offer and said they wanted rid, his agent worked out the money side of things before speaking to Farah and then tried to sell him the deal.... Leeds weren't aware Farah hadn't been consulted.
Leeds are definitely still keen on the deal, though I've not heard anything as to whether it's now agreed for next year.

Fingers crossed but now would be better!

I wonder if its subject to us remaining in SL?

This would be a 'massive announcement' in my book

lets hope it happens, just the player we need to set us on the road to recovery.

We need an hooker. If we can get him in, asap please. Becasue Falloon is awful to watch.

I wouldn't play Hardaker again either, if he doesn't want to dig in to get us out of the hole leave him to one side until we get the right price.

So Leeds thought it was a done deal that they'd signed Farah?

Yet they never at any stage deemed it necessary to actually speak to Farah themselves (in person, over the phone or via Skype), if only to determine his attitude to the deal and whether he felt motivated enough to come and play for Leeds and make a positive contribution? Or more to the point, just to confirm that he'd signed a contract and would be heading over to Leeds?

Is that how signings work these days? Clubs only interact and do deals via agents and other middle men without conversing with the player in question? This is the equivalent of a cattle market. Cows don't get any say in which farmers purchase them either but at least the farmers turn up to market and give the cows a prod or two to ascertain whether they are fit for the purpose.

F****** barmy.

I don't think it's the usual way of doing things - but Farahs agent knew the Tigers were trying to push him out, so tried to sort the best deal before presenting it to Farah (don't forget, the agent would get a nice commission if he moved clubs, and nothing extra if he just sits it out at his current club).

Agreed.

Hardaker should never play for Leeds again.

They won't be needing him for the Middle 8's anyhow.

I understand all that.

It's Leeds role in it which I find ******* barmy, if true.

Best run club in SL? My @rse.

He is knocking on a bit but if true it's a good thing.

Hopefully he'll leave his handling errors behind him.

Absolutely ridiculous if true. Leeds are effectively trying to "sell" a 3 year deal to the player, no way in any sales process that you don't talk to the person buying at any point during negotiations. Whoever was responsible for managing that piece of business (if that's what happened) is totally unfit and needs replacing before they f*** something else up.

I'd say nearly all deals are agreed with player managers long before a discussion happens between prospective club and player - that's the way it works nowadays.

The managers negotiate with various clubs, get a list of options for the player, the player then decides which clubs he wants to meet with to discuss further - a discussion between prospective club and player is usually one of the latter during player moves, particularly when signing from NRL.