I hope your right, with him staying for another year, it would allow McShane and Hood to come through!

Looking at all these posts, it's interesting to see what people want for our squad.

I think Cross is absolutely shocking and we should never have signed a 31 year old Aussie reject. We need a good, young replacement for him. Somebody who can actually go a game without giving away a needless, stupid penalty.

I think if Webb goes, BJB is the perfect replacement. If Senior goes, Watkins is a brilliant player to fill his boots. Smith should go, he's not really been good since his return from RU. He's had a few good performances but isn't good enough. Hardaker should go on the wing instead of him. Our youth system has been superb for numerous years, and we don't need to sign many players from NRL because of that. Kylie and Ali should both stay, I rate them both very highly and believe they need to stay at the club. Letting them go without getting good replacements would be taking steps back!

Lets hope Brian McDermott can make some decent selections here and help us progress!

Unless we do a deal with Widnes or similar, Cross will unfortunately be at Leeds next season.

Assuming Webb and Senior go, we need BJB, Watkins, Hardaker and Smith to step up between them. If that is the case then Watkins needs some games at left centre this season. FWIW I would keep Smith as even if he's not as good as he was, he can cover all positions 1-5 reasonably well.

And 9, indeed I wouldn't be surprised to see him developed in that position. He's always been good out of dummy half when tasked with the role. Wholehearted in everything he does just lacking a physical presence and top speed to stand out in the backs.

Absolutely. Nothing wrong in being Neil Hague Mk2. He's certainly a far better 'backup' fullback, wing or centre right now than most teams have.

That could potentially mean 11 'forwards' on the park against Warrington this Friday ...... 12 if we consider Burrow to be another impact hooker.

Smith's apparent loss of pace is a concern, but his utility makes him a valuable part of the squad IMO.

Yup. There was a reason he got the '15' shirt.

Juan C loves Cross. There's lot's to love: technically awful / former steel lumper arounder and soon to be one under Caddick PLC / old / Buderus' mate so get him signed up / 100 game rookie and well over 30 / silly penalties and errors that stand out like a black man in Texas / not the former State Of Origin player of the caliber of O'Hara and Cashmere that dipped their toes in the SOS scene / above all he's not very good and we have younger better prospects rented out to other Super League clubs while this guy hangs around looking puzzled.

On that point alone it's worth making a judgement on his rugby acumen, or lack of one.

Cross is a crap signing, as is huraki but we are stuck with both of them!!

On smith, not every player needs to be as fast as the wind and 18 stone of muscle. Being neither fast or big did wellens any harm. I think he should be retained, he may not be the best player in any position but few teams could put a full back in there team of his quality when their first 2 choices are injured

Neil Hague for a while was like 's[ihi[/it off a shovel' there wasn't a player in the league who could catch him for pace in '78. Don't know where it came from or where it went. For versatility Hague was the man but he didn't just cover positions .... he owned them.

Watching the Leeds vs Saints Wembley final that was on TV a few months back, it surprised me just how fast and how good Neil Hague was. Certainly better that the decent utility he was by the time I started watching (83ish onwards).

Smith is a talented footballer with a good reading of the game that makes up for the extra yard of pace. If he was playing for a Quins/Wakefield/Bradford level club he'd probably be at stand-off and the main man.

I suspect it maybe be because it wasn't particularly a position of need heading into the off-season.

Leeds had Peacock to come back part way through the season, plus Leuluai, Bailey, Burgess, Kirke, Amor and Ambler all capable of playing in the front row. If Cross was going to come in, he had to be better than the majority of those names to make it a worthwhile signing. Fact is, he hasn't been and finds himself out of the first team squad which is a waste of a quota space and (I'm guessing here) a slice of salary cap.

Can't argue with that, although I think the signing of a hard running prop was a good idea, bit agree, whoever was signed needed to be as good/better than what we already had. I just think its a bit below the belt and uncalled for to give him so much grief.

He is what he is, and Leeds knew that before signing him. Bagging him the way some people do is pathetic, and in truth, he could easily come into the side and do a decent job. We've got him, we know what he is, let him just get on with it. At least he is available for selection, and not stealing a wage on the treatment table as we have come to expect from some 'favourites' and big names, both past and present.

On the money!

And just to add to that, I actually think under a good, disciplined coach and structure, his straight and hard technique would work well. Put him in the Warrington pack for instance and I think he'd be a bit of a fans favourite.