The last 3 paragraphs i agree 100%, im a massive advocate of the youth and bang on about the quality we'v got coming through all the time, the Academy should be every teams bread and butter and we'v got an exceptional one with brilliant talents right down to our 15's scholarship intake for this season, the futures bright, no doubt about it.

The first sentence is where i disagree, not really disagree because its your opinion of where you expect us to be, my expectations just a little different. The only one of the 4 defeats iv came away from not too dissapointed is saints, and even then, that second half, and some of the defence was very poor, even taking Hicks into account. The word transition is getting used too frequently for me, to the point of it becoming an easy out, yeah we'v got a new coach and 3 or 4 new players, thats not unusual in Rugby League and its no excuse for the dire defence we'v seen this season.

I see a massive improvement in our attacking structure, which id of thought would of been one of the harder things to instill. The stupid penaltys, errors and defence are just as bad as they were and imo team selections havnt been great. Not saying it wont improve but after 5 games as a whole iv been dissapointed with the performances

This was a problem that needs to be sorted. The people stood on the yellow steps blocking others getting in and out of the terracing need to be directed to the edges of the southstand where i presume there must have been more space?

Yeah maybe the quality of a good young'n here isnt the same as a good young'n there, although 7 of them, 8 now, have just beat some the NRLs best. Like you say Cam Smith certainly isnt a Tevita Pangai Jr level talent, but whatever talent level he's at, he's a backrow all day long, clear as day and a better one than Suttcliffe. If Furner dosnt know if he's a backrow or 6, thats worrying imo.

I believe so. Where do you see us?

Tenth

I see us between 5th and 8th if I'm honest. Thought the performances at Salford and Saints was both very good and worthy of praise last night obviously less so.

Is Callum McLelland injured? I was disappointed to see him leave Cas after looking to be an excellent prospect in the under 19s. Whilst I didn’t expect him to be in front of Lolohea and Myler, i spthiught he’d be the one to step in if needed.

We did win against Salford of course - I’ll grant you it might not have been the best performance ever but it was pretty good I’d say. We competed with Saints and Wigan for large parts, which I honestly think was beyond us for most of 2018. Like you say, attacking structures look worlds better.

It’s probably down to the difference in expectations - I didn’t and don’t think we’ll be back up there fully without a couple more real quality players in the pack, at the least. I never felt letting McDermott go was going to transform fortunes either. There is not much evidence that Sinfield, Lowes or Furner have managed to do better in terms of results, despite some new blood. The issues we have are deeper and more systemic; and take longer to fix. Years and years of poor signings, projects which just haven’t worked over and over, and a failure to develop youth talent sufficiently has had its effect, and now we’re in a bit of a hole. We have a world-beating academy now, but those players are years off becoming seasoned first graders.

Then again it was similar when Mags and Burrow etc were coming through. It’s a very competitive league towards the top and Leeds have been getting too much wrong for too long: we absolutely deserve to be where we are with the playing squad frankly. Having said that we are the best club in the country off the field.

It’s hard to say in hindsight; he should get a game in first grade soonish I’d imagine.

Hope so. Trueman, McLelland and Turner looked like stand out player pa in the Cas u19s team. Shame we couldn’t keep them all together (Turner is still with us and doing well at Fev), I hope McLelland goes well at Leeds too.

He played in the U19’s season opener on Thursday night and had a very good game

He couldn't actually do any worse than Myler..not sure what we'd lose by giving him a shot.

Having spent a good portion if the first half stood on the steps myself, it was a disgrace the stewards did nothing to prevent it or had no one idea how to deal with it when it happened, they should have closed the acces points to the middle 2/3rds and guided people to where areas were less full. People were stood on the yellow but there was nowhere to go once you got stuck in and on the steps, having said that it was made worse by some people pushing showing through to go get beer even though they could see people where trying to get up the stairs and into the terrace, very easy to see how Hillsborough started, kick off should have been stoped for 10 minutes to ease it. Second half was fine once people got in and out properly.

With regards to Callum:
Rob Burrow was sat directly behind me at the England Academy v Aussie Schoolboys and he was saying that Callum just needs to play plenty of RL games to get him back into the game after playing Rugger and playing a completely different style and role whilst in that code

He also said that Callum should have been allowed to play immediately for the Rhinos academy side when he signed late last season even though he couldn't have played for the first team (Not that I was eavesdropping )

Callum will get game time in the first team and then it's up to him to force his way into the starting side

The Sky pundits think that Tui's best position is full back where he played in the NRL. He certainly made an impact with great cut out passes for his 4 try assists and another one that should have produced a try. Ok so he may not be as fit looking as some would like but he has the class. His timing when he joins the attacking line and his ability to read the situation and create the space for others is up with Webb at his best and he has shown in previous games he has a good short kicking game too. So there is a strong argument to play him in his best position.

Myler is badly out of form and is not a good enough organiser. So I would like to see McLelland given a run at 7 with Walker at 6. Not sure if Jack has a good enough pass yet but he has the pace and step to make an impact on attack and would defend better that Smith and Tui on our right edge.

Golding has not been considered because he has been injured (ankle?) and is due to play for Fev, so if he proves his fitness he should also come into the reckoning soon.