Considering the poor state of the team at that time and his horrible personal circumstances Merrin had his performances were superb. He’d have been even better had he stayed.

With a couple of decent props and gale organising the team he'd be great at loose.We've been unlucky with his and Ava's personal circumstances.

Not sure on the love in with Ava , yes he improved when he eventually got fitter but for me he was just an average prop

Yeh, I agree with Ava.
Not a massive loss - his heart wasn't in it and fitness questionable.
It was more about the timing of it, when we were already short up front.
Merrin was a much bigger loss - real leader and proper international quality.

Totally disagree - thought Merrin was over-hyped and wasn’t the player we needed for team balance at the time. He’s quality but another one too slow for back row and not big enough for front row. He’s hardly torn up trees on return to NRL.

Ava was extremely consistent making yardage and WAS big enough for front row. Literally the only other player who could get close to 10m carries was Oledski.

Thought Merrin was a good player in a poor team making him look worse. Not what we needed and wasn't too upset when he left.

Merrin was good, but Prior is a definite upgrade

Better than the average superleague prop in my opinion.Definitley came back from lockdown over weight but for me during his time at leeds overall he was our best prop. At 114kg he also had enough size and power to make an impact when he hit the line.

About sums it up for me too

Great post...

Yes I’d agree with that. Prior really hit the ground running.

Prior without doubt is an upgrade - POTY for me last year.
Ava had size but not fitness, only played 20-30 mins per game
If that's all your front row can manage, then you need plenty of others to play long minutes.
Hopefully Tet and King can manage longer.

Again before lockdown I don't remember ava be that unfit.For me 15 mins (ish) per half from a big prop isn't too bad,especially when you have other forward who can play longer minutes.

I think lockdown hit Ava hard hence why he’s now gone. He never looked the same

I agree.i remember agar saying that even after the cup final we had certain players who weren't at their pre season fitness levels.