Was never thrilled about the signing. Now it's off I bet all the rhinos yes men suddenly go off him or realise we never needed him.

GH could use the spare cap space to offer a few players bumper salaires paying them some of next years wages this year thus freeing up even more space next year. Has been a while since we opened the cheque book and signed a long term jigsaw piece(gaz ellis) who knows???

Just a curious slant on the news - I heard a statement on Radio Leeds last night from Mr H. to the effect that Eastwood was "on loan" for a year to the Bulldogs. That news story (above) seems to suggest that we are the ones who will "borrow" him in 2010 if his criminal record can be overlooked ?

It's not though.



Did Richie tell you to say that?

But he wasn't in terms of squad strength just one signing.

I think people need to learn a bit more about the modern game rathern than just the game.

Leeds through Bluey and Hetherington made a big thing start of season about how we are working on quality in the squad this year rather than quantity, and that players will adapt to various postitions.

They further pointed out on signing Eastwood, that he had played Stand Off, Loose, and Second row for Brisbane last season, and that he could play centre and prop. They identified this signing as key because of his versatility and the need to play various positions.

Who in our current squad gives us the variety that Eastwood would have? only JJB comes close, and we already had him anyway.

This will be a huge loss to the plans of the club. Might not disrupt us to the competition on offer, only time will tell, but he is certainly a set back to Blueys plans.

You yourself say we need a centre, I personally think we are short at prop, others will point out somewhere else. Players who can play equally well in various positions can be invaluable, and worth two players on the rosta straight away.

Nah boss it's quite common in the NFL on there 100mil salary caps, which is why I said it. Rich is a NFL/madden follower so great minds and all that

Why on earth would we want to front load a players contract so he can up and leave earlier with more in his pockets. This front loading suggestion is crazy.

Whatever Leeds decide to do with the money I hope they do something squad related with it. Either by making additional signings (my preference) or failing that this front loading of renegotiated extended contracts for players.

The cap is there to spend each year and it would be pointless leaving a surplus gathering dust in the company bank account while the team struggles for bodies out on the field of battle.

On that grounds you could argue no one is.



Fully agree. Common sense and a realistic approach is often missed. eg Eastwood was signed as a back up 6.



Andy Hay once lined up at Stand Off for us. Does that make him a stand off? Eastwood was signed as a pack player (prop 2nd row).

Fully agree with you on the versatility point in such small squads.




4 experienced first team props.

1 experienced first team centre.

Again common sense goes along way.

its also against the SC rules these days isnt it, im pretty sure they changed it after Ali

It's good managing if done right. Besides I suspect it's something GH has already been doing all along but in smaller numbers.

Lets say you have 50k free this year. If pay the right player or a few up front then next year you have that same 50k -50k for those wages for a total 100k extra spend.

bluey once publicly stated he wanted to play Eastwood at Stand Off for New Zealand against Aus

he has also played wing, and played SO more than a couple of times

He's not "on loan" anywhere. He's not contracted to Leeds, we don't have him registered with the RFL so we couldn't loan him.

He's signed for tbe Bulldogs with an option exercisable on his behalf to become a Leeds player on 1 December 2009 subject to obtaining visa clearance. It's quite possible that even if he gets a visa he can still refuse to take up that option and remain in the NRL, with the Bulldogs or anyone else.

Duh....just put a clause in that if the contract is breached, £x has to be paid back. FFS, this isn't difficult.

The Eastwood fiasco does leave us short of a World class player and it is more than possible that this will come back to haunt us as the season unfolds.

Luckily from a domestic point of view (unluckily from an international standpoint) the standards in superleague are likely to continue to dip for a few seasons yet, until the stream of young homegrown talent - from all clubs not just a few - comes full on board, so we may get away with a relatively underpowered squad this year.

Time will tell