Myler is contracted for 2024 (who made that decision?). That's fine if the plan is for him to give us versatile back-up in several positions, but concerning if he's being given the 6 or 7 shirt.

Agree

Have Leeds lost hunger as a club? Yes, definitely. Matt Frawley signing is a great example of that. He's bloody terrible.

If we are that broke that we can't afford to bring in decent quality players, GH should be honest with the fans and say so. Lay out a plan that shows how we will rebuild over 5 years to a team of young local players who will give everything for the club, and a sprinkling of top UK talent from other clubs along with the best available Overseas signings in positions we need to fill. Just like we did to bring through the goldens.

The silence from the club on the strategy for the future is absolutely deafening.

Everyone knows halfbacks are the most important positions in the team. Two quality halves and you can cover the rest of the team being average or worse. Two rubbish halfbacks and you can make world-beaters look like plodders.

Given the Goldens had three quality players to choose from for over a decade, you'd think everyone at Leeds would know this more than anyone. Instead, just have a look at this shower we've signed since McGuire retired:
Myler (201icon_cool.gif - signed as the main man despite being the support act for Briers at Wire. So good he's barely played halfback since 2019.
Lolohea (2019) - shipped off less than a season in due to being awful. And fat.
Lui (2019) - great job in an emergency, but we had to offer him a contract a season too long.
McLelland (2019) - I'd actually forgotten we signed him. Injuries aside lets be honest he didn't look much cop.
Gale (2020) - would have been a good signing in 2018 if he hadn't got injured. A few glimpses of a good player but nobody cried when he left.
Eastmond (2021) - played two whole games before retiring. Waste of time.
Sezer (2022) - kicks a lot. Occasionally runs and looks OK when he does, but mostly looks like he can't be bothered.
Austin (2022) - one good game in five, one shocker and three meh.

Of that whole list only Gale suggests a club looking to sign someone who could make a real difference. Never mind their NRL 'pedigree', lets not forget Sezer's form had fallen away at Hudds and Austin was basically without a club when we signed him.

Frawley doesn't even have the pedigree of Austin or Sezer. He is the definition of a below-average NRL halfback. We'd need to sign Nathan Cleary for signing him to make any sense.

If Frawley is the standard we're at then gawd help us over the next few seasons.

Nicked from someone on twitter far more eloquent than me, this seems to hit the nail on the head re our current plight..

"It’s a successful business model. Very NFL. Win just often enough to quell fan revolt and keep the ground fullish without spending money you can’t afford on match winners. I assume it’s deliberate. If not it’s woeful recruitment and management"

Given this season it felt like the club just had to make a statement about not accepting being rubbish any more. When we signed Miller I thought we were going to go big at halfback. Then Frawley. Its pretty damning when Peter Smith's comments are basically about giving Frawley a chance. Oh, and he's played 50 NRL games.

The criticism on here and elsewhere has been growing and its really hard to feel excited for next season. One thing's for sure, I doubt Rohan will treat the off-season and pre-season games as a glorified Its a Knockout. If we don't come out of the blocks strong I think he'll be in all sorts, even if its mostly down to the club not being willing/able to spend.

I'd swap excitement now for results next year. Not saying it's going to happen, but we've been here so many times with exciting sides on paper only for them to disappoint.

But what's going big at half back going to cost? When we were linked with Luke Brooks at the start of the year his salary dwarfed our marquee figure. Brooks is one of the most maligned half backs in the NRL (you probably dismissed as such) but he was out of our reach. You've been talking about signing young, first grade half backs with their whole careers in front of them. It just isn't going to happen. Best we can hope for is a young unproven half whose pathway is blocked (Volkman) or a veteran who is looking to extend his career, maybe Chad Townsend. We need to accept the grim reality that the UK game is no longer in the same financial ,universe as the NRL, and plan accordingly. The best plan is to invest in our own youth development, and pick up what we can from the NRL in the meantime.

I agree Arthur, it’s a painful truth that we simply cannot attract the cream of the NRL to come over here. So, with this knowledge, and that we’ve had almost certainly both halfback positions to fill at the end of the season, why are we still scratching around for signings? This reflects terribly on GH and the club IMO.

Agreed Batley and I think that we couldn't give the 2 halves this year a definitive decision on retaining them well into the season reflects those delayed plans. It's seems fairly clear that we are being more reactive to filling slots than identifying the targets early and working to a plan.

If we had a plan we should have de- registered Tetevano weeks ago when it became apparent he wouldn't play for us again, giving us a quota spot for this year.

Difficult that one really as theres rightfully in his circumstances an obligation to the player. However, we've known this was his last season all year.

They could have had a long list of targets that they want to bring in but if the players don’t want to come they don’t want to come. So now we’re probably looking at players that do want to come, where the quality isn’t as high.

For all we know, we started with Nathan Cleary and worked our way down to Frawley