I was joking, in response to a rather silly post by Gotcha. But the rebuilding has already begun hasn't it? How many young players do we have out on dual-reg or starting to get regular bench time and if the rumours are true then Leeds are very much in the chase to sign Widdop, which is exactly what we need. I can see at least one new forward coming in too, maybe more. We might be a year behind where we should be and heads may roll as a result but it does at least look like we're now in full on transition mode.

I really wish I could share your optimism.

Its funny that you are joking when someone pulls you up - second time in a week!!

Leeds have always had a host of youngsters out on loan - the majority of which are simply not good enough for SL. As we saw on Thursday the depth of the squad is simply not of sufficient quality to challenge the better sides in SL.

Signings in the off season would suggest transition is the last thing on the club's mind - saving money seems the top priority. No changes in the coaching/conditioning set up suggests the bosses are happy with the status quo. I simply don't get where you see full on transition. The Widdop rumour is like the Segayro rumour on a settlement just a rumour. If you were Widdop why would you come to Leeds over say Wigan with a proven pipeline of high quality youngsters coming through?

Maybe Leeds simply can’t afford to compete at the top while the ground needs money spending on it. Perhaps there will be some years of bottom 4 finishes and scraping into 8th place until the major bits of expenditure are out of the way?

The parallels with 95-97 are clear. An old guard of professionals on big money that are growing old together and a new generation coming in that aren’t ready and in some cases haven’t even been identified.

The need for a Murray type coach to come in may help matters but he was helped by the signings of the likes of Harris, Glanville and Godden. Would Hetherington willingly make signings of that expense now? A change of coach might help for a brief period but ideally you need the young players of quality to come in and be performing – rather like from 2002 onwards.

Leeds still have some excellent players but many of these have underperformed for well over a season – they also have some that are past it and some that are obviously not good enough. As an outsider looking in it looks as if the cap has been poorly managed with a lot of money tied up in players who’ve lost their enthusiasm and are going through the motions.

And here we go again.

You know, you don't have to put a negative spin on everything Sal, it just makes you look a bit sad when you do TBH.

Isn't optimism and hope the main reason why we all support our teams? That's what sport's all about.
(for most of us)

The parallel with 95-97 isn't as clear cut as you make out IMO.

The opportunity to secure signings of the Harris, Glanville, Godden, Masella quality no longer exists like it did back then for numerous reasons which involve salary cap considerations and the value of sterling compared to the Aussie dollar.

Leeds back then were also in a position to take advantage of signing players who became free agents at the end of the SL war due to the demise of several clubs down under. Some of those available players salaries were also partly financed by SL Australia (News Corp) so they came cheap.

Leeds were also able to take advantage of being supplied with a free coach (Murray - a casualty of the demise of the Hunter Mariners) whose salary was bankrolled by SL Australia (News Corp).

Leeds were also able to take advantage of asset-stripping a club located in BD21 who were denied entry to SL and then tail-spinned into bankruptcy as a result in spite of securing promotion and healthy attendances. Leeds snapped up Powell, Farrell, Fleary, etc for a paltry £25k.

Add to that the poor quality coming through an absurd academy system which decides upon players futures at the age of 19.

On that basis, Leeds climb back to the top may take a lot longer than it did from 97 onwards.

'Its not dark yet , but its getting there'

You mean this reply to a (rightly) cocky Cas fan who was slating the Rhinos?

Im not convinced the re-build has begun to the degree it needs to be tbh there's huge holes that still need filling & wrt youngsters out on dual reg id hoped the likes of Lilley Sutty Baldwinson would all be regulars in their favoured positions.
Of course the Sutcliffe situation & how it's been handled is a different debate aswell.
When we started the transition in 2001/02 the youngsters had a much more solid team to come into littered with strong leaders & with more mongrel about em.
Yes the Widdop links will be good if we pull it off but i think we've left it very late to start both on/off the which which imo wastes another year.

It's where to start?
We're desperately short on individuals both old and young. To some extent that's down to McDermott's team ethic but his point has been hammered home over the years by his two recently-retired on-field generals. The way the current youngsters have taken it on board seems total and it could take years to address this issue, unless of course the current squad suddenly finds cohesion and belief. It'll be a bolt from the blue if this happens, mind.

Makes it all the less likely that Hetherington will sack McDermott then.