^ yep

Problem is Segeyaro didn't have to go public to the Aussie press. If he went to the club privately, said sorry to mess things up for you but I really want this opportunity that's come up and they could discuss it then he arguably would've stood a better chance of getting a release.

Once he made it a public thing I can't see how GH & McDermott can take the lets not say much route because all that would happen then is fans complaining that they aren't being told what's happening and that the silence from Leeds is deafening.

As for anger well it depends how you want to read GH's comments with regards to tone. McDermott's comments that you could hear sounded more like a guy who was disappointed rather than anger.

All fair points Printer but to me Segeyaro is contracted to Leeds and isnt due to return until Jan 3rd. Therefore all Leeds had to say was he is due back on Jan 3rd. There is no breach of contract, no integrity issue and no need to say anything publically until Jan 3rd when he does or doesnt turn up.

Ive not actually read Segeyaro say he is not coming back just that he doesnt want to and it will be hard for him. Now obviously what hes said privately we are not privvy to.

Personally i didnt see need for McD's press conference at all or GHs comments at this time.

In what way does that relate to a RL contract only signed a few weeks previously when no NRL offer was forthcoming??
How GH/Mc.D reacted is no surprise for one this is a "Marquee" attraction of a signing & for the other more importantly the Team he was a genuine quality signing & a crucial part of the Team going forward after a dire year.
Now whilst i agree the situation which has arisen is of no surprise the reaction is exactly what was expected aswell.

That first paragraph was how the club reacted initially BEFORE JS went to the Aussie press the rest is a reaction to that interview.

The main headline to come out of McDermotts interview was that they expect him back January the 3rd and the first reactions on here were to call him delusional.

It relates to an employment contract which is what a contract is. Whilst to us supporters its a dream job to these guys its work and a career with plenty that dont enjoy it like we dont enjoy our job.

My point was its easy to criticise players for wanting to break a contract but in the same position we would do the same. Until Jan 3rd Segeyaro hasnt breached hos contract so at this point i cant understand Leeds' stance.

I agree Matty thgat is my understanding.
Whilst we know it is unlikely he will return on the 3rd Jan he still has a contract and might just turn up.
Why we then cancel his contract before the 3rd surely means we have broken the contract and he can walk away for free.
Maybe what we should have done is make plans behind the scenes to get a replacement i.e plan B and stayed with the message of "we expect him back and we are dissapointed to hear he is unhappy to return"
Yes of course we don`t want anyone who doesn`t want to play for us but then that`s not a reason to cancel his contract.
Let him do that.

It isn't just a straight forward employment contract though & breaking it has far more reaching consequences in terms of sponsorship/merchandise income as well as the disruption it causes to Team a contract he happily signed when no-one else was interested.
JS has publically stated his intent to stay in Australia so he is in effect in breach of his contract accirding to the Club im sure they'd know.

TBF we don't know yet if we've cancelled his contract. Nothing official about it from either side yet.

I have a feeling Chicko will turn up in Jan and all will be forgotten - I hope!

I think the club are as certain as can be he's not coming back otherwise they wouldn't have offered the shirt deal to the fans.

I don't know if you can play him now even if he did come back.

About as likely as Denny Solomona scoring 40+ tries in a yawnion season .

The article on the website on 05/12 talks about a "decision to renege", so I suspect he has formally communicated a withdrawal from the contract - hence the decision at this stage to consider legal action and offer to redo the shirts, without waiting until the return date of 03/01.

I'm going to take a punt that GH will get Cameron for 2017 and get 'Smith 9' put on the back

Joking apart Leeds haven't made a big name signing to get excited about since Buderus came over in 2009. And not one this decade!

Think I said "since Lauiti'iti" a few months ago, though I'd forgotten about Buderus.

Not just a Leeds issue though is it? Big name signings are a thing of the distant past among all SL clubs over the past decade.

If I were to summarise the past decade of SL in as fewer words as possible, I'd opt for [i"[uManaged decline[/u"[/i.

He will be lucky to get 40 passes if he signs for the bum sniffers mate!!

William surely you meant mismanaged decline

Leeds were given information that Segeyaro was telling players over in aus before anything was even announced, they just chose to ignore it.

You could certainly argue a very strong case for decline as a result of mismanagement.

There has also been a managed decline which is most evident when you consider the salary cap in SL. This has fallen in real terms (accounting for inflation) by around 40% since the late 1990's and by around 30% during the last decade alone.

Some SL club chairmen have also argued for a lowering of the cap. I believe GH himself is on record somewhere of arguing for a lowering of the salary cap?

There's other stuff going on which SL management has no control over like the recession and the value of sterling against the Aussie dollar which has also had a huge effect on the number and quality of signings from down under.

However, a state of managed decline is where the game resides with little knowledge or know how of how to turn things around as clubs do little more than hang around for their next handout from Sky. The fans meanwhile are being sold turds rolled in sugar.

I don't think they ignored it, but it would be stupid to make any rash statements before telling Segeyaro the potential consequences of him deciding not to come back.

If we take him to court there is a decent chance we could make him pay the value of his contract (or at least some of it), I believe SBW had to do similar whn he left Canterbury.

A more useful option though, might be to buy a hooker (say Dwyer) with a transfer fee, and then Leeds could quite clearly prove to a court that Segeyaro had caused them loss of revenue, and force Segeyaro to effectively pay for his own replacement.

Can't argue with much of that. Clubs don't generate enough income, but can continue to run at lower cost, so don't speculate to accumulate.

The salary cap and sky contracts mean there's little advantage to be gained by earning more than is needed to pay players.

The result is that when the best competition is paying way more money, it's a no brainer for the top talent to leave

A good summary of where things are, and have been going for a good few years. It's tough to see how things turn around from here and it's more realistic to think that SL will continue to slide in the wrong direction.

Mid 1970's and early 1980's were pretty grim, during that era when there was an international ban on recruiting overseas players from down under and vice versa. I'm of the opinion this current era is a match for those grim times, at the very least.

There doesn't appear to be any options to turn things around. The sport seems to be waiting for a magic solution to come along but in the meantime, just plod along with the downgrades year upon year.

If Sky do ever withdraw their financial backing and the game has to fend for itself, it will return to its former semi-pro status with perhaps a handful of the bigger clubs managing to maintain full time pro status courtesy of a wealthy backer. There will be several dodgy specimens with questionable business interests among that lot getting involved as well

I too fear that RL will wither on the vine.
You could argue that now that the other code is fully professional there is no longer any place for a second code of rugby.