Catalan must have made him an outstanding offer, be interesting just how much. Players move on that's life.
Meanwhile the rumour mill springs into action. Latest one circulating is the wires Clarke is reportedly unhappy in lancashire, wants to come back to gods own county. Cas would not be able to afford him. Him and Lunt would be a decent combination .
I don't want houghton, good tackle machine but does not offer much going forward.

I'm with Tad on this.
GH will have it covered. As soon as Aiton rejected the offer, they will have been sniffing around
How many players have left Leeds and gone on to better things, and the team has suffered?

Good luck to Aiton. At 30 it's probably his last big contract, so take the money it seems.

Like this guy. He has knuckled down and silenced his doubters this season. He is a good team player and has fitted into the style we have played well. There are a lot of "better" hookers in SL (that others have already listed) and think he could count himself fortunate to be playing at one of the "big" clubs. Therefore it can only be described as a backward step (showing little professional ambition) moving to Catalans.
Strange days, indeed.
Good luck Paul, you'll need it.

You mean like the three months he had out with illness, and the fact that he signed with a potential drugs ban hanging over his head? Pretty sure the club stood by him through all of that, so I'm not sure you're making the soundest of points there.

It was a pity that Lunt chose to go back to Dwarfs as this did not work out well for him

He didn't.

I believe HKR are in the process of signing Lunt from the Giants .

I was talking to a Cas fan on Friday night at the semi who told me Clarke was on his way back. He did say he was going back to Cas. There were some financials to sort out with Wire but the lad seemed pretty sure about the details.

As pointed out by another poster, we did stand by him thoughout his illness and the rhetoric from the club was very supportive during the drug saga. Money is not my God, and I simply can't believe a player who is with a team threatening to win the treble and great players signed on long term deals, is simply going to walk out to get a few more quid. Ailton pretty much sums up how shallow the human race has become regarding money. Not everyone is like him, despite the majority on here saying anyone would do the same. If making more money is such an important part of his life I genuinely feel sorry for him. Only my opinion, but if you are blessed with a God given talent I think you should use it to achieve as much as possible in your chosen sport. In most sports the better players end up at the best clubs earning the best money, unfortunately that is not the case in RL, and I think Aiton has made a decision based on greed.

Maybe Paul Aiton values quality of life over personal achievement in one area?

Maybe to Paul Aiton his life would be better by living and playing in the south of France and a better standard of living than staying in Leeds and potentially winning a couple of finals?

One sided.....- -- how about the fact (leaving out, life in France, new culture, sunny skies and family decisions) that a rugby league player even playing top level is never really in a retirement stage after a career, because the money just isn't there, so the prospect of having a 10-15 yr career getting a fair to good living (excellent maybe top 10%) still leaves them with 25-30 years of required income, starting off at a graduate or entry level wage at age 35 then I have nothing against a player signing his last contract to the highest bidder. Your argument may hold water with players in the 20's or mid career, but not in this case - Aiton has won with Leeds this past couple of years and should do so this year so he has got to where he maybe wanted to go personally, now its more business focused - not greed just realistic

Money isn't my god either. However, I can see that a spell in southern France might be an attractive proposition.

Some people are so 'up themselves'....for heaven's sake the man is doing no more than doing what he thinks is best for himself and his family. How do you know it's 'greed'? Maybe GH is being less than generous.

As already stated he has tasted the pleasure of a cup final victory and - due to his not insignificant contributions this season - very possibly with more to come. He is 30 years old with maybe one last throw of the die .....

As others have said I just hope the club saw this potentially comingso[/i with the recent rumours of Leeds being linked to Houghton.
Fingers crossed this isn't why Burrow re-signed after all the rumours he was leaving. First choice hooker Burrow should not be.

GH has demonstrated once more that he won't pay over the odds and if they don't like what's offered they know where the door is

WOW!!!!

Talk about an over reaction - he sums up how shallow the human race has become..... PLEASE!!!!

He's got a family to support and only a few years of earning top money before having to find a new career that in all likelihood is not going to pay the same amount of money - as a family man, I'm 100% with him on earning as much as possible whilst he can to support his family. Nobody on here is privvy to exactly how much extra he's been offered, and he's only been with us 2 years, so can hardly be expected to show the same sort of loyalty as a Sinfield, McGuire etc.... Plus, we've paid him a salary and had a good return in terms of both effort and performances - his only loyalty should be to his family!

As for us 'standing by him through his illness' - that's only like any employer paying sick pay - I'd be very disappointed if the club didn't stand by him, infact, I'm guessing with his contract they're legally obliged to - he owes the club nothing for this, it's his right, and he's more than paid back with his efforts on and off the pitch both before and after his illness anyway.

Reality check needed for Leeds Owl I think....