Agreed much as I admire Sam Burgess he does remind me of Sonny Bill Williams and that's not The much vaunted Leeds culture that has been built up and envied .

Can't argue with your logic gents. Having considered the wider picture I wouldn't see a trade in against the 'Leeds culture' just to pursue an impossible signing and I do love seeing Kallum in a bit of space.

Unless Watkins made it clear to Leeds that he wanted off (and we couldn't change his mind) then I wouldn't do it. If we could convince him to stay here and sign for even longer then that's a better long term bit of business, even though I'd love a cheeky one season stint from Burgess.

Watkins has won everything in SL now, you have to wonder at what point he will want a new challenge.

Perhaps, or perhaps he should take a look at the following three men and seen how the last few months have turned out for them

- Kevin Sinfield
- Sam Tomkins
- Sam Burgess

He's got one ready-made: to emulate the old guard. He'll be up for it, I reckon.

Would be a great bit of business for Leeds. No guarantee how long Watkins will stay as he could well be tempted by big financial deal and new challenge sometime soon anyway. Not sure we could afford the additional fee though.

Much rather we kept Watkins than gaining Sam Burgess - no matter for how long.

IF we do lose him then I guess Handley can step up to being a regular, but then where is the cover for the threequarters?

Watkins would be a HUGE loss..... maybe a swap of Sam Burgess AND Eastmond would soften the loss, but even for these two I still think I'd prefer to keep Watkins - one of the most exciting players to watch in my whole life of watching RL.

That was exactly my reaction

Swapping one quality player for another doesn't improve the squad, it just creates a hole in a different place.

Some clubs might operate like this but I don't think it's how Gary wants to conduct business.

If Watkins does want to leave we should be targeting a quality like-for-like replacement.

So signing arguably the best rl player in the world would somehow weaken our quad?

Adding a player of the class and statue of Sam Burgess would strengthen any SL side including Leeds. IMO he would be involved in play far more than Watkins and bring that important on field leadership and motivation that we have come to reply on from JP. His go forward and tough tackling would put us on the front foot so often that out backs would not just "get by" but see more ball going forward.

As I said it is quite likely that Watkins will be poached at some stage anyway so to turn up a chance to sign big Sam would be a big mistake. That said it is pure speculation and I doubt we could afford the transfer fee anyway.

A statue of Sam Burgess, is about all we could afford if we want to keep a balanced squad. He is a great player but I would rather keep a balance of talent across the piece than the odd superstar in 1 position and a weakened squad as a result.