Unless he's injured or abysmal in preseason Thompson gets in to our squad far more often than not.

Yes probably. Interested to see how Mellor responds this year; I expect Martin is safe but King, Thompson, Donaldson and even Walters vying for a back row spot too. Unless they push King up to front row. No idea until I see him play.

When McLelland and Lui are fit, now we have 4 halves plus whoever might be coming through the system: much healthier position.

Be interesting to see where Eastmond plays.
If and when he gets fully fit, I could see him at full back.
More pace and strike than Myler.
Myler was only ever a stop gap, not a solution for a full season.
Eastmond maybe signed with FB in mind, knowing Walker out for the season.

would be more interesting if we were getting tompkins from r.u

Wakefield fan in peace -
Be interesting to see how he goes - on face of it - 31 year old , hasn’t played more than a few games a season in past few years, can’t get a paying gig in ru which is generally less physical than league, returning players generally haven’t achieved much.

Can’t really see him as anything other than a temporary fix - but he was quality 6 years ago so perhaps he could still find a bit of spark. Looking at your injury problems if fit he’s going to get his chance

Ooof some bitterness here forums.redvee.net/showthread.php ... -in-League

Ooof some bitterness here forums.redvee.net/showthread.php ... -in-League

'A damp tampon of a club'! I presume that poster has a fever due to covid. On a serious note if roles were reversed I'm not sure we'd be much better.

Got to be honest and say I’m surprised how positive the reaction has been on here to him signing. The lad clearly had loads of natural ability before he went to Union but he wasn’t exactly made of stern stuff and missed as many games as he played with various knocks. He’s now the wrong side of 30 and standing with his hands in his Union Shorts pockets for nearly ten years won’t have toughened him up. Add in the general poor record of signings returning from Union (we’d know at Wigan) and it’s an absolute punt IMO.

You deserve a prize, how about a big orange ?

I think this signing is just down to Sean Long and if he can get anywhere near the form he left with then could be one hell of a surprise signing, Long is the best person to have coaching him too, very excited to see how this plays out

I think quite a few have said its a gamble to be fair.

I think it’s incredibly interesting signing. There’s no guarantee that it will work out, but kudos to the clubs for pulling it off. No doubt it’s a big coup.

I think Kyle has more natural talent than probably anyone in our squad. For those saying union is less physical, I’m not sure I agree. It’s incredibly physical, but in a very different way. It’s more the fitness that would concern me, I think you have to be much fitter in league.

My main concern is his attitude. In his interview, he speaks mostly about himself (maybe not a bad thing). If you listen to Tetevano, he goes on about the history of the club, previous great players, what it means to play for rhinos. I doubt Kyle is excited to play for Leeds anymore than any club willing to give him a contract. Hope I’m wrong, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Views have been very balanced on here. Most edged with caution. It’s pretty much risk free with 50% cap exemption. If he gets anything like he was it’s a good move as he’s an X factor player no doubt. But if it doesn’t work out we’ve not lost anything.

Totally agree on the physicality point. Playing 12 in Union is ridiculously physical. He is 5’7 or 5’8 the average 12 in Union is a big ball carrier who will be 5-6 inches taller and despite eastmond being fairly heavy 10-20kg heavier than him. He would also get the traffic from number 8 etc going into the 10-12 channel. Playing 6-7 or 1 in league is also incredibly physical but I would say less so than playing 12 in Union.

All about his attitude, if he wants to play then he is a good player, not the same player as he is 10 years older but there aren’t many players with his skill set who are available and have a big cap exemption