We missed the boat on that when Shenton and LMS went to Saints last season. (I wrote this before I saw Gotcha's post).

Other than that, who is the best British talent in the positions we need to strengthen? Prop: S.Burgess, Graham. SR: Ellis, Westwood. Scrum Half: Brough.

Do you see why this isn't practical?

Below that, looking at unformed potential, there are players like L.Farrell, J.Tomkins, Patrick, Watts, Harrison who are also for one reason or another going to be near-impossible to get away from their clubs. Of course we'd ideally be signing Adam Blair and Jonathan Thurston, but with the NRL TV deal "best player in the position" is dreamland, and if anything it'll be more of a battle to stop *our* young talent (Burgess and Watkins as well as any British players we might be interested in) going over there. Hohaia is about the best anyone is going to get for next year.

Has Adam Blair tied up his move to Wests yet, or is he still potentially on the market?

Would be ideal to bring some mongrel and a bit of ability with the ball to the forward pack.

Two issues with trying to prise the likes of Arundel, Owen and Patrick away from their current clubs:

One - they are going to demand substantial transfer fees or players in exchange. As we saw with the Ellis to Bradford deal, the sticking point there can be convincing a player that he actually wants to move to another club bringing the whole deal crashing down. IMO Leeds don't have the cash to be throwing around the sort of six-figure fees plus clauses Castleford and Huddersfield are going to want.

Two - why would any young player necessarily want to join Leeds if the club they are currently at is in a better position to challenge for honours or just about to move to a nice new stadium which will help take that club forward? Playing for Leeds is not the be all and end all of a career, particularly for those players brought up in areas where Leeds isn't the most popular of clubs to start with.

Agreed on all those players. I'd take Huby as well. And Chase, obviously.

In fact I hope the GH masterplan is a denial of the Cas franchise and an evil asset strip.

There's sod all chance of Cas not getting a franchise. If that is GH's "masterplan" then he truly has lost it. Sadly, the most likely losers come July have already been asset stripped and there's nothing left worth taking.

Even if Cas did lose their franchise, I would expect a lot of their young players to stay loyal to the club that has given them their chance.

Huby is no surprise to me, and for those that have been posting a few years will know that well. I have long had digs at me for saying we should have signed Huby back in 2002, and I have always countered back that had Huby been playing in a good team he would be a star player.

What you are seeing now is Cas playing well, and Huby standing out. I accept I have not been "proven" correct yet, but I am sure I will be in time. More importantly would have been proven had he moved earlier in his career.

I should have put a smiley face after my post. Of course Cas are going to keep their franchise.

Hwo long were the "stupidly long" contracts given to Senior and Ali? 12 months werent they?

I'd imagine Senior has "been allowed to stay on" because the club didn't have a better option at left centre as the season opened.

Makes you wonder how hard they looked (if at all) and when they started looking.

Our recruitment policy should focus on young british talent with foreigners who have funny names, i think Siuatonga Likiliki should be our #1 foreign transfer target!

It's already been said by others they got very far down the line with both Atkins and Shenton but both went elsewhere for, no doubt, a larger contract.

If that is the price you pay for our much publicised and hugely succesful salary policy then so be it.

This signing doesn't make me envious - a steady player who has been fortunate in the balance tipping between Australia and New Zealand.

I would like to see a team with no more than 3 overseas but those 3 have to be top quality. We need to bring the youth through e.g. McShane, Watkins, Clarkson, Singleton, BJB etc and if possible sign an odd british players e.g. Tony Clubb, Johnson at Wakey etc

Andy is correct why would any young player want to come to Leeds over Warrington, Wigan, Saints, Huddersfield - where there is an ingrained culture that will be very difficult to fit into/change anytime soon. Why should you earn less so the likes of Senior/Ali can continue to play two years beyond their usefulness?

Agree plus whilst i think there's need for "outside" reinforcements i think there's still plenty of potential to come through the ranks in the shape of Singleton ,Wilson ,Chisholm ,Hood and Stewart and that's not taking into account others that have started well in both the u20's and u18's.
On the departure front i would'nt be surprised to see Webb ,Senior ,Kirke ,Burgess(if the nrl come calling) and Kylie possibly going.
I also think that Leeds is still an attractive proposition for ANY young player despite our recent lapse in form.

Explain to me why that's the case.

Unless you've some emotional attachment to the club from childhood, what makes playing for Leeds that much more attractive than say Warrington, Wigan, Saints or Huddersfield?

Because Leeds give more first team opportunities to young English players than almost any other club in the league?