The site is polarised that is how it is - that it is why it is so active. Long may it continue, god forbid it could ever end up like the sin bin where anyone who doesn't have a left wing leaning has given up dealing with the bias of the mods and their mates.

Printer-IF GH listened to fans about getting rid of players Senior wouldn't have lasted 3 games ,Hay & Mathiou would have had years knocked off their respective stints with us and a certain Scott Donald would have vanished after 06 we could go through virtually every squad during GH's tenure and find players who would have been dispatched had he listened to fans.
How we dispatched the 2 players you mention can be debated until the end of time fan pressure wasn't even near to being one of them.
In terms of recruitment we tried and failed to sign Huby and Mossop not rumour or hear say it's a fact.

How many seasons ended with such a negative feel towards during GH's spell as the 2014 season ended though? And it was a feeling that had bubbling away for 4/5 years but GF wins or getting close made things different. It was probably the most displeasure at how a season has gone for many a year at Headingley.




Like I said before, if we added to the CC with the GF last year do you honestly think he gets rid or lauds them as our best ever squad/season? So to say it wasn't anyway even close to reactionary to the displeasure felt at how the season ended isn't something I agree with when you think about it.

Remember he threathened to move players on mid-2012 when fans were fuming at the 50-8 hammering Wigan gave us at Headingley but didn't sell anybody when it all turned out rosy. If it had turned out rosy again in 2014 it's hard to see him changing that approach quite frankly.

Printer do you seriously think letting Bailey and Kirke go would impact the sales of season tickets one iota - seriously? What drives season ticket sales is optimism, new signings and the potential to win the GF. Letting Kirke and Bailey go would not impact that.

On Mossop GH needed to create the space and the opportunity for Mossop to be interested. No way Mossop would have signed if he had been 5/6 prop choice. Getting rid of two players competing for his position should have encouraged Mossop to join.

Not a huge difference no but people were (still are) fed up of seeing the same old faces in the squad. It wasn't a huge thing but it was all he could do by that point after the season had ended and promised and harped on about "bringing through our youth" instead or looking outside the club to recruit.



Yes and he could've had those sales set up ready to go and informed Mossop that certain players were departing. Didn't actually have to confirm the sales before Mossop was a done deal.

Well that didn't turn out too badly since I guess we signed Cuthbertson instead.

I remember many seasons which ended with negative feeling akin to that of last year and I remember it being reflected on here, particularly those seasons between 1999 and 2004 and 2004 and 2007. And of course GF and CC wins engender a more positive feeling about the club amongst most fans. Winning stuff is after all the primary goal of all professional sport




Is your premise that GH wants to hang onto players purely out of sentiment and loyalty? I reckon that GH is a shrewd businessman first and foremost. He balances player ability against squad need and cost and tries to get the best bang for buck. I also think the for sound financial reasons he prefers to bring players through from the academy. In short I think there is a sound business plan for a long term successful future on and of the field. Looking at our trophy cabinet I think it's working as well as any in SL and better than most.




So we weren't doing well, we got hammered at home and GH let it be known that if changes were needed in personnel to get an improvement, then there would be changes. Subsequently we won the GF. Sounds like an effective motivational tool to me.

I guess we all want improvement and would like to be in the GF every year, but life ain't like that and it isn't always good to get what you want. I'm sure my enthusiasm for the Rhinos would not endure if we were nailed on for everything every year. I hate it when we lose as much as anyone, especially at home but I know we don't have a perfect squad nor are we ever likely to have.

We had already signed Cuthbertson.

Dated January 2015


Ian Kirke is still in the dark over the reasons for his sudden departure from Leeds Rhinos but insists he holds no grudges against his old club as he prepares to kick-start his career with Wakefield Trinity Wildcats.

The 34-year-old ex-York City Knights prop forward was looking forward to starting his 10th season with the Rhinos when he was told in November that his chances of regular football in 2015 were going to be limited.

It left him with little time to find a new club but the Wildcats offered him a 12-month deal and he followed a well-trodden path from Headingley to Belle Vue.

"I had a conversation in the middle of last season when I was definitely staying for this year but at the end of the year that changed," Kirke said. "I'm not too sure why.

"I think it's because they're bringing on the younger players. They've got to look to the future. I've got no bitter feelings towards them, other than perhaps it wasn't ideal timing for me because most clubs were settled by the time I got to find out.

"As it happens, Wakefield is good for me. I don't have to uproot myself and I know a few of the guys here."

Back rower Chris Clarkson had been given the same message a few months earlier and front rower Ryan Bailey was similarly told he was not part of Leeds coach Brian McDermott's plans for 2015.

They moved on to Widnes Vikings and Hull KR respectively, Clarkson on a season-long loan, and Kirke anticipated an influx of new blood to replenish the Rhinos' pack.

However, Leeds' only close-season signing has been Australian prop Adam Cuthbertson, which has surprised Kirke.

"If it had been my choice, I would have stayed there until the bitter end but they said I would have limited opportunities so it was time to move on," he added.

"Me and Bails (Bailey) got told at the same time. I was a little bit surprised. I assumed they would be signing some other people. That has not happened yet but (chief executive) Gary (Hetherington) has probably got something in his back pocket."

That last line is rubbish. Kirke may not be on the same wave length as the rest of the game, but Bailey had agreed verbally with Cadtleford for thus year. Only the desperation of Hull KR and the money on offer changed that route. Funny how he the ends up realising a mistake, and just around the corner is a Castleford deal.

Sometimes what happens in the game isn't a secret. Also you get a lot of media interviews that are just meaningless words of nothing, to dill paper space. Well done Printer on finding one of those many Interviews. Third hand information is not the best route to use on a debate, you know that very well.

Hahahahaha you're honestly going with Kirke must not be as in-the-know of what was happening at the club as you were.

Considering your claim that so many people knew it's a ridiculous stretch to think a member of the playing staff for almost 10 years didn't know a thing about it. He isn't the only player to express surprise at the departures.

Perhaps your source was wrong, you ever considered that? It was at the same time around Easter your sources told you that the Daryl Clark to Warrington done deal had performed a u-turn and he was now going to head to Leeds for 2015 after a financial deal was agreed with Wire.

How did that one from your source work out?

What I said was that the Interview was rubbish. I doubt that Kirke didn't know. The comment about his wavelength was a tongue in cheek comment.

Funny how it all came exactly as stated last year, bit coincidental. And when I was saying throughout last season, I actually said he was going to Cas, because he was. Funny how that turned out.

As for Clark, give your head a shake. I said that Warrington were looking to pull out of the deal. I further said that Leeds had spoke to Cas about the possibility. I never said anything close to him heading to Leeds.

Like I said some things are not secret. Newspaper space needs filling. Don't believe everything you read in papers, or don't hear on radios.

So Kirke did know all along that Bailey was leaving from Easter onwards but has just randomly decided to make up a completely different version of events for no logical reason.

Considering you said Bailey to Cas from around Easter last year and they'd "verbally agreed" a deal......he didn't sign for HKR until 31st October. That's 6 weeks AFTER Leeds' season had ended and over 6 months since the Easter period.

That's one long ar*ed "verbal agreement". Again in what logical world of reasoning does it take them 6 months and plus several weeks after a season ends to get a contract drawn up and signed. What were they waiting for? To sign it on Xmas day?

Even this year when he left HKR it was another 4 weeks before Cas signed him.