If it's true, and I hope its not without an adequate replacement, then is sad. There're is definitely a good player in there, just never got enough time in his best position without getting injured.

"Rumours" and "on the mark" should never be used in the same sentence on this site.

I wish MA well but it proved to be a signing that never got going it does add interest to who else we may target though i would be chuffed to see us go after Oli Holmes.

Achurch has never forced his way into the team and never made himself undropable which in my opinion is a non negotiable for an import. Otherwise we should go with our own kids. Achurch is obviously a nice bloke and hasn't been crap but has only ever been a stop gap when injuries have forced his selection.

As I said simply not good enough for an overseas import. He is destined for NSW cup or Wakey/KR/Widnes

You could see what the management saw in Achurch to be fair.

Just kept getting injured and didn't have the heart that even the likes of Keinhorst and Walters showed in the GF.

I look at the likes of Kylie, Delaney, Cuthbo and how they took their respective careers to a different stratosphere in the blue and amber, and probably most obvious is Garbutt who in 14 games has done more than Achurch has in 3 years.

Anyway, Jarryd Hayne may be available soon...

If Achurch is on his way then McQueen would be a superb replacement - just the kind of player that would fit in well with the Leeds style of play

Even if he was. We really don't need another full back.

So you would turn down Greg Inglis if he were available?

Do you know I just might. But it would depend on how much he would cost us and whether we were more in need of an injection of talent else where in the squad. One superstar does not a team make.

Excellent article on the the "utter...utter shambles in the way Sam Burgess was treated"

rlhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-3298538/Sam-Burgess-pawn-game-never-stood-chance-betrayal-league-convert-hide-rugby-union-s-failings.htmlrl

Nail on head.

An excellent article and as you say hits the nail squarely on the head. Thanks for posting the link I genuinely want to see England RU do well on the international stage. But until the governing powers accept that they have been left behind by the Southern hemisphere teams, they are going nowhere. Root and branch review of why they have been left behind is required. But my money is that they'll do the very British thing of looking for easy answers that don't identify the real problems much less address them. In the meantime if their insular view ref Sam Burgess means they shy away from poaching RL talent then for me that's a good result (for RL) out of a bad situation (for RU)

England lost the plot a long time ago, when they decided that the "product" and the "brand" we're more important than winning and appointed a squeaky clean ex schoolteacher with no top tier coaching experience to "put things in order".
He was unable to manage the likes of Cipriani, Kyle Eastmond, Dylan Hartley or his own coaching assistants. To even think of blaming Burgess is rediculous.

I don't know much about the likes of Lancaster or how things work in the England camp but I was very surprised when it came out that Lancaster doesn't pick the team but it's done by a vote of him, Farrell and Ford. Obviously you'd expect the coaching team to discuss who should be picked but you'd assume that the head coach has the final say. I can't imagine Wane or even someone as collegiate as McDermott not having the final say on who's picked for each game.