Aiton was pretty good last night but come on he is no where near what we need , in general he runs up more blind alleys than most and his passing is awfull . On the Mcshane issue why Leeds have kept him is beyond me , our coach has never rated him , he is not good enough in defence whatever he brings to the attack and Widnes wanted him. The ideal way forward was Mcshane to Widnes and Lunt to stay at Leeds if someone can give me the real reason this did not happen i would be gratefull to hear it .

££££ ploinerrhino!

Guessed that in some form , but was it Widnes who would not match Leeds figure for Mcshane or his wages or Leeds who would not match Huddersfields figure or Lunts wages , because at the end of the day BIG MAC has never wanted little mac at Leeds so unless there was a massive gulf in the figures then it seems a strange one to me that we are supposedly back in the running to sign Lunt for next year given that his value must have gone up with this seasons performances

The chance to sign Lunt has already slipped through our fingers I'm afraid. That ship has long since sailed due to the fact we offered the lad no where near what he was already on at the giants. If the figures banded about on here at the time were true (as opposed to just simple rumour......as this latest one about us still getting Lunt for next season is) then I'm hardly surprised he stayed at the Giants, as if the rumour is/was true, our offer to him was an insult.

Given his form this year and the fact McShane has still not made the 9 role his own, I bet its a decision the club have regretted ever since.

IIRC Lunt has still 2 more years to go on his contract so IMO we have no chance of signing him before then and given how happy he is where he is now and how well the Giants are doing...why would he want to leave.

For all intents and purposes we had him. He had fallen out of love with the game at the Giants, came here and won a GF ring, settled in with the lads, wanted to stay with us but I think GH tried to use those factors to get him on the cheap and it backfired big time.

IMO had we made him a sensible offer he was ours

It is a difficult one as we try and use the fact that players could earn more money elsewhere but we win trophies tactic which has proved correct.
But there will come a time when that wont be the case and good players will slip through our fingers and we will be left with players who used to be good.
A club like Leeds should be able to spend a bit now and then to get the right piece to fit the jigsaw.
I can not believe we are anywhere near our full cap or have been for the past couple of years.
If Lunt was the right man we should have got him same goes for Clark at Cas.

couple of years? i'm not sure we have ever been near the cap.

but we should be

To win more GF rings because he'll win nothing with Huddersfield Giants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where does this insistence come from that Leeds ever had chance to discuss terms with Lunt?

He was a contracted Huddersfield player. Unless Leeds had first agreed a fee with Huddersfield (unlikely, certainly once Anderson took over given his high regard for Lunt) they shouldn't have been talking terms with the player at all.

rlhttps://m.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/leeds-rhinos/loanee-lunt-wants-permanent-leeds-rhinos-job-1-5002524rl

Lunt says he wanted his manager to sort something out with GH

That could suggest that a fee between the clubs had already been agreed

This problem with the hooking berth should have been sorted out months ago. I would expect this to be the number one priority once the season is complete . In the meantime now the business end of the season is looming I hope this positional problem does not cause us to miss out on another grand final win. Or even getting to old trafford .

Re hooker, our main problem seems to be that McShane's gone backwards since his Widnes loan. Plus, he's frail. Had Sinfield avoided injury I suspect we'd have seen him given more of a run out there.

Like the coach I don't fully trust McShane.

However, I have no doubt that we look a better team with Burrow at 7 so I would hope the coach tries somethinmg other than Burrow at 9 if he won't play McShane.

I also recognise that McShane is in the category of player the coach has little or no faith in and so, unlike some of his colleagues, McShane can leave little room for a poor display or he will be on the outer. Shame the coach doesn't sing the axe more readily when other players put in raspberrys on a far more consistent basis.

I was never that impressed with Lunt when he was with us. Having said that I haven't seen Hudds play once this year so maybe he's playing better?

McShane should know the score, he has no leeway, he has to go out and perform every week. If that's not motivation enough for him then maybe he isn't the right 9 for us. I personally think he's got the ability, but if he can't deliver it consistently then he's not going to make it.

He's the perfect Leeds player: good signs...indifferent signs...bad signs. Then come the play-off play like a hero. Some of the defensive hits he put on in the Wigan away and Catalans away in the play-offs I haven't seen him replicate since.

Last year I thought Lunt started well, faded to average for large parts of the season then came good during the playoffs. Certainly was less consistent than McShane has been, IMO, interestingly, given people are happy for the axe to fall on McShane after one poor outing.

From what I have seen of Lunt this year when Hudds have been on the telly he has really kicked on. Looks very impressive.