"When players come out of contract, they are free to do what they want." - Gary Hetherington

Read between those lines (or words on a line.)

Hang on who said anything about signing overseas players to replace smith????
I don't want to lose either player but the squad would be in need of a replacement to be signed if kylie leaves.
Whereas imo IF smith goes we have webb,Bjb and broughton who can cover his loss aswell as versatility within the squad to absorb that loss.
I also think wires have been crossed here disa re-signing a new centre now debate.

For the first time since the speculation began, I'm now of the opinion that Lee Smith is actually leaving for Wasps. He will take some replacing, but we will do it.

If Leuluai does leave for that great pension fund over the hill, will we be tempted to take Scruton back if the Bulls are doing nothing? I bet he'd come back for Kylie's salary.

its more of a pride thing, he won't come back

I want to retain his services, no question, he's added the steel us Rhinos fans have been demanding for donkeys. But this is where the salary cap issue comes in, as it makes it harder to retain personnel in a successful team. I'm not too bothered about that, I suppose you have to pay for your success one way or another.

The Kylie situation is similar to the Scrutton case. Both will have wanted improved contracts. Scrutton was younger and wanted a contract to reflect his progression and his his Grand Final ring. He didn't get it here. Now as for Kylie, he was a journey man in the NRL (Tigers, Roosters, Eels and Manly) so I bet his contract salary wasn't huge. Fast forward a few years, and he has been a huge player in winning back to back titles, his form is good, always in the 17, and our starting 8, not injury prone (touch wood) and is a crowd favourite. So no doubt his agent will be demanding an improved deal. I bet the Rhinos will want to give him an improved contract, but it depends what funds are available. I hope a compromise can be made, and we can keep the service of the strongest freak in SL.

But if he does chase the £££ then I suppose a hook up with his cousin may seem very appealing. Like in the Scrutton case we can question 'job satisfaction' but Kylie's career is in the Autumn and a big pay day may be too strong a temptation to turn down. I wonder what Jesus Christ would make of this? Also would want to leave his Kiwi brothers to play alongside Fielden? I have a strong feeling that won't happen anyway, one way or another.

The Inns and Outs list could look something like this at the end of the season. The Inns are who I ope we sign

Outs:
Smith
Leuluai
Donald


Inns:
Burgess
Graham
Folau

What's hypocritical about the current squad covering the possible loss of a young british player???
Webb is no1 FB anyway!! So the cover comes from Bjb homegrown acadamy player!!
His perceived move to the centre's is covered by senior,watkins and gibson plus ablett as back up.
His wing position is covered by hall,donald and if needs be gibson and/or watkins. Then the next in line is broughton again homegrown acadamy player.
So after digesting that WHAT'S HYPOCRITICAL???????

Negotiations in progress, no point in saying anything now that might cost us some more money.

He's two years older than when we signed him, my guess we would be we don't want to pay him anymore than we are now. Maybe even less in fact.

In other words our esteemed chairman will have offered them both deals. Those deals will be in line with our structure. If they don;t accept those deals and choose to move on they are free to do so.

There are not many players in this squad, if any, that we should break the structure for. If McGuire, Burrow and Sinfield can play within it should be good enough for Lee Smith. If it isn't, good luck Lee and I hope the move works out better for you than it did Chev.

Same for Kylie. I can understand why he'd want to cash in and if he does, good luck to him. He'd actually be much harder to replace than Lee Smith, IMO.

I've eluded to his age, but to be fair, I don't think Kylie's age matters much. I bet he's doing a similar job now then he was doing 5 or 10 years ago. He plays in short, sharp, spells. So he could play to the same level (barring injuries) for quite a few years yet. His performances haven't declined and he isn't dropping off. He's a right goer.