On a purely Leeds selfish point of view i'm pleased Ward has been omitted from the touring training squad.

There isn’t a British player anywhere near as good as Merrin that we could sign. The Aussies simply have a better standard of player than we do here and if you are going to pay top dollar SL simply isn’t a good investment.

Aye, and even the quality brits are wanting to move to the NRL. I expect more courting of english talent, mainly forwards, to happen now Canberra have shown the way..You can't really blame the players for wanting to go either.

Burgess, Graham, Walmsley? In theory we COULD sign anyone, it’s whether they would come is the other question.

I think there could be more big news on the way especially if Merrin goes .the club dont wa t another season like the last two

Yeah let's hope so. Kev and GH know they cant afford anymore seasons struggling

We have to manage the marquee and overseas allowances smartly.

KS must be working his nadgers off behind the scenes here.

Now we have 7 sorted for now, we need to sort out a few more squad players in the pack and concentrate the quality more.

If it were possible:

Ferres for Isaac Luke
Merrin for Sam Burgess or James Graham
Find takers for Cuthbertson, Petaru and Singleton and sign two very good props.
Myler makes way for Gale
Golding to Hudds

Then we are starting to look something like. We have space on quotas and cap and plenty of leaders.

Remember guys that Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that. We’re looking at an almost unprecedented, almost total squad overhaul at Leeds and even 2 seasons is quick for the scale of change needed.

What we are seeing is KS and Agar putting their stamp on Leeds and sweeping out the previous era players where the club got sloppy.

I do think we need one or two big name signings in due course, but 2020 is likely to involve some more rebuilding and some last-chance-salooning for a few more players.

We could make a singing or intent like Burgess for next year and he can still get injured. Or the players around him aren’t ready to step up and we still don’t compete at the top. Under the cap it’s more about balance and value for money - except your Marquees, where a club like Leeds could and should stretch the legs a bit.

Having said that morale and culture needs to be considered too, and as soon as someone comes in from the outside as a Marquee the existing players will need convincing that the new player is worth twice or three times what they’re getting paid, otherwise it’s corrosive.

Just show them the league table. If they still sook show them the door or a permanent place in the reserves.

Luke Thompson will be next

Which sounds great. But who do you play instead. You could play a team of amateur players who’d put all the effort in you want but will get you relegated quicker than a Daryl Powell smile.

Pure effort is rarely the issue. It’s correctly directed effort and conditioning in the right areas that’s the trick.

I have to say I think it's rare that a Leeds side goes out there and doesn't try. It's easy for fans to shout about that after a defeat.

In reality it's what you said there - organising a bunch of hard-trying individuals into more of a team (which I think Agar made good progress with), and then it's down to pure quality of player, which we've been lacking.

We're looking extremely healthy with youth now, despite getting knocked out of the play-offs. All those lads know they have a route to first grade and the opportunities are there to be part of the solution at Leeds.

I want to see who replaces Merrin and whether we're able to bring in anyone else (i.e. one or two others leaving, such as Myler)… but I just can't see next year looking like this year did.