Rumour is Rhinos are after a quality playmaker from NRL, whose available?

Dunno. Nobody of any quality that's for sure. There's a real shortage of class halfbacks in the NRL ATM - hence the massive fights over Foran and DCE. The salary of a halfback with any talent will currently be astronomical.

I have absolutely no idea why there's continual talk that Leeds would be looking for another halfback for next year. Sutcliffe, McGuire, Burrow plus Lilley seems more than enough in a squad of 25. Besides which IMO Sutcliffe has earned the right to be given shot at replacing Sinfield. If it doesn't work out, sign someone for 2017.

Looks like Foran has opted to honour his Parra contract after all, so that should bring the half-back merry-go-round down a couple of gears.

Fully agree Brisbane.Hopefully Garbutt turns out to be a useful squad member meaning, imo, that we need one more quality prop and next seasons squad would be looking pretty good.Hopefully that is where GH is focusing his attentions.

So a prop would make the squad complete?

We have no quality goal kicker, we have nobody who is even half decent at field kicks, and we have nobody who can control the team around the park.

I just wonder if people realise just what Sinfield has been doing these last 15 years. And yes I know Biff Tannen it wasn't you who said we didn't need a half.

Now if Lilley was the one who had been pushed and had games under his belt so we could see if he was up to it, it might be a different proposition, as he can field kick and he is a quality goal kicker, and he can organise. But Lilley hasn't been pushed to see if he is up to it.

Gotcha, i was agreeing with Brisbane that we don't need to go for a big money half, why do we when we have Sutcliffe and Mcguire who have proven to be a more than competent partnership and Burrow as cover?

The squad wouldn't be perfect even with an Elite Front rower added. but would look well balanced and have plenty of quality in all areas imo. I agree the goal kicking is a bit of a concern but we have been fortunate to have one of the best Goal kicker of all time the last decade and they don't grow on trees.I certainly wouldn't look to buy just any player for his goal kicking alone.

Lest we forget that Sutcliffe has suffered a very serious injury, and there's no guarantee he'll fully recover, and Lilley is only 18/19 so, to me, signing at least one half back is the sensible option.

Although I worry about losing a quality goal kicker, I actually have a greater worry about the field kicking. Without Sinfield kicking we look completely and utterly lost. You look at our half backs and none of them can kick downfield with distance under the cosh. That is a greater need to have than anything else.

The point was if you can get a half back who is a good goal kicker, a good field kicker, and can organise then Christ we have a lot of ticks there. And there is players out there who can do those things (although not the best) at not big money.

Because leeds need someone to control the game. Neither McGuire nor Burrow have that ability and Sutcliffe hasn't demonstrated that ability either.

Who do you think fits this bill - Dureau would be one

I honestly couldn't place a name. I just know it is an important facet of the game that needs to be covered on the field, and we don't have anyone who can do it, yet people seem to be missing this completely, and instead looking at the players we have as a quality and assuming they can fill the role.

McGuire and Burrow throughout the golden era, have played in important roles in that side, but they concentrated on those specific roles and did it to a quality standard, whilst someone else did the kicking side of things. McGuire and Burrow, can come up with a quality kick from time to time, make no mistake, but they can not continually do it, and are much better at short kicking rather than clearing the lines when you are pinned in. Sutcliffe too has shown nothing to suggest he too can do that kicking role for us.

Dureau is a good shout as he can kick and he can goal kick, but I am sure there will be others. I bet Dobson comes available. I think Leeds had it right in their goal to get Widdop who I think is a fit that covers all the boxes and suits the Leeds way, and I can understand why they have focused on that.

I think the position we have is the downside of having Sinfield these years, if you can say that, and something you have said often. Because everything relied on him to do these things nobody else was developing that side to come to the fore.

I agree for reasons stated we need a new playmaker whose also a good kicker as well. Dureau is OOC, has loads of SL experience and wouldn't cost a lot? On twitter they're saying we've got somebody but not a superstar like Cronk, to be announced soon?

Is Sam Williams out of contract at Canberra, assuming he recovers fully from his punctured lung?

Very impressive in his short spell with Catalans. Good field kicker and goal kicker too.

Its a fair point, and we will lose a lot in this department with Sinfield gone. I personally feel though that we should be looking at the forward pack as our first major area for improvement this year.As we all know JP is, and has been 75% of the front row for a decade now.With Kylie gone too we will be missing so much in the way of grunt, go forward and obviously experience.Singleton has looked much improved this year but is still far from the finished article.Thankfully Cuthbertson has been a great signing and hopefully Garbutt turns out to be a good squad man, we will see.But there is no doubt we will need at least one more quality player in this position.

Of course if GH has a quality Half and a top class prop lined up i would be made up

Also, we do have only a limited amount of time from both Burrow and McGuire who are getting to the age when we won't see many seasons from them. The Sutcliffe injury is a big blow. I suppose Lilley can get a try if he is considered at a level. We may need him to be able to step in early next season, if sutcliffe is not available