I can see us getting a cheaper option at prop with Tetevano being our big signing this season, can see us getting Harrison on a year loan from Fev or Casty on a year deal or a prop who is without a club in NRL like Oliver Clark, Tom Amone or Darcy Lussick maybe.

Pack looks good if we add someone else to help with rotation and injury.

Tetevano, Oledzki, Prior, Holroyd, New prop.

Then Donaldson, Thompson, Cam Smith can cover as middle men if required.

Casty was great for Catalan over the years but there's a reason they let him and Moa go, they are both past it.

We need better to replace Ava.

For Avas replacement we certainly do. However depends on who’s available. Ava leaving early will cause us problems recruiting as it’s not planned. I’m wondering how long they’ve known

Fair point about Ava, we've known for a long while about Crosby and Cuthbo leaving.

We are now 1 prop in and 3 out. People on here seem to have known about Ava for well over a month, so I'd guess the club have known since end of the season or earlier. You could see the emotional strain when he spoke after the c cup win, Ava gave good service and good luck to him.

Hopefully a good quality NRL prop can be found.

Hopefully a British quality prop can be found. We should be looking to base our future around our own kids, the best British talent and a small handful of quality overseas players.

Happily take that.

If we're looking for an experienced campaigner on a 1yr deal, then I'd prefer Ukuma Tai (34) who is a free agent. Casty will be too old at 36. Sam Moa has already joined Lezignan.

Lussick (31) free agent could be the best shout.

Casty would be a good addition - seems tough but also a genuine team player

Hi all - I'm a long time reader, first time poster.
Thought I'd join the in the off-season discussion/banter....

Agree with a lot of comments on here.
Clearly front row is our priority.
We need to replace Ava directly with an available NRL option - I reckon Kev is on this.
We also need a seasoned British prop to replace Cuthbo/Crosby - the likes of Dudson or even Flower would have been good, or maybe Kopszak?
Or T Burgess, L Thompson, Watts - we can dream....
Not sure about Casty, too old - we may as well have kept Cuthbo for another year.

6 can wait til next year - I think we can live with Lui for next season and hopefully Long can get the best out of him.
I like Connor - he's got something about him.
But agree - he has too many games where he goes missing, can't afford that at 6.
He's no Danny Mags!
But again, maybe if Long had his hands on him....

PS - I live in York, grew up watching York as a young lad with my Dad, before starting to follow Leeds in the 80's.
I'll be watching Cuthbo and the other new recruits next season in the new stadium and hoping for a push for Super League in the next 3-5 years....


Cheers,
Simmo.

Welcome to the asylum.

Good Post Simmo. I live near York too.
Would like to go to some games too. Maybe we can meet up there at some point.....

In all honestly Cuthbo could quite easily be the best shout for another year.
Can we get him back? Pack would then be stronger than last year as Tetevano for Ava is fine, Tommy the tank will be a force next year without doubt. I really like what I've seen of him....

The only problem with keeping Cuthbo for another year would have meant we would have all our overseas spots taken now. If we got Casty on a year deal for example we still have that quota spot and if can't find anyone to bring in before season starts then we have great opportunity to bring in a quality overseas player if they became available to us and it means we wouldn't have to re jig our playing roster by trying to offload one of our current overseas players before we bring another one in.

Personally I'd rather play Prior at prop and Cam Smith at loose rather than bring in another journeyman. Thompson could possibly do a stint up front as well - benefit of this would be giving Smith more game time, which he probably deserves. Will we win the title without another proper prop? Probably not.

Let's move past these short-term signings. I'd rather use that money to retain some young talent (or bring new in if we're having to compete more at junior level)... It does sometimes happen that a good player becomes available mid-season from NRL, I'd like us to be in a strong position for negotiations either then or for the beginning of 2021.

Tyler Dupree could have done as good a job for us as some of the journeyman names being mentioned IMO, and we let him go.

We are working under cap and quota, off the back of a truly horrendous year commercially, with more uncertainty ahead for 2021 (we are not out of the woods yet with COVID). I say keep powder dry, be patient and only sign if that player is better than what we have and improves the team. Another Tetevano type player and we could well be challenging again - Leeds should have a fearsome pack which is the best in the comp, and new signings need to meet that ambition for me.

Sign mid table players and become a mid table club.

Agree, I would rather play Prior at prop and cam smith at 13 than sign somebody just because it is a body. I do agree we need to sort the pack out, we have needed to sort it out since JP and Kylie retired. However if the player coming in isn’t one of the top props in the comp then rather we didn’t sign a filler and just put prior at prop and let Cam get more game time. Before he got injured he was looking great at 13.

If the people in the know are correct then we have the makings of a top pack in a couple of years.

8. Mik
9.
10. Tommy
11. Levi
12. Walters
13. C Smith

We also have Gannon, A Sutcliffe, Mellor if he is retained and improves and O’Connor. The aim I am sure will be to add in some real top quality players into that pack. Essentially it will be a couple of top quality props.

Bottom line is we aren’t going to challenge this year, or probably the next. Third year we could be looking really good with a very handy pack and a mainly young British squad with some touches of class from abroad.