In 2022 we used 31 players , of those only 13 are still at the club plus Holroyd who did not play in 2022.

The 13 includes Fusitua, Donaldson, Corey Johnson, Gannon and Max Simpson who will add very little this year and likely the first 3 will all leave.

We’ve also seen Hooley , Olpherts & Nene come and go from 2023.

We are back in the 80’s with a revolving squad. I don’t know how much is down to Smith and how much GH.

I worry how this season will pan out as our squad is thin, out of the first 26 players we have Bentley and Gannon struggling with concussion plus Holroyd may be joining as long term absentees. Fusitua will barely play, Donaldson adds little, and we are down on cap with Olpherts at wakey and Johnson at Bradford.

If anything emphasises how our ongoing weakness we have Hudson in the 22 shirt, who has never played a SL game and Wigan have Sam Walters, and about 8 props.

For next year I would not keep Fusitua, Roberts or Donaldson. Roberts is poor IMO and the other 2 are finished. I’d try hard to keep Martin.

Sadly , I’d also look at paying Gannon off as well.

I don’t watch enough NRL to comment on whether Papalli is worth it.

I also don’t know if we have lost cap due to Myler leaving.

We have to get it right next year but I’ve no faith . Expecting it to be done well is simply a triumph of hope over experience

To be fair the club is trying to back youth. We have a better potential set of young backs as a group than I can remember if they progress - Edgell, Lumb, Smith, Simpson, McCormack x 2, Sinfield. Not sure about the forwards so much, but its clear that the aim is to bring as many of these lads through as possible. In order to do so we need fillers - players who can do a job for a bit but who won't be on big money and can be shunted aside when these younger players are ready.

The difficult bit is that these lads are too young as a group to get picked every week, and while we have squad fillers, we also need a core of high quality senior players. That to me is where we are miles off. Our front row options are not great, and we have too many small backrowers. A lot of our problems stem from the inability of our pack to hold its own.

I didn't see the logic of re-signing Donaldson and Bentley, and Fusitu'a was an accident waiting to happen. Momirovski was a risk and we had little choice given Nene's antics so late in the day, so I can't blame anyone for that even if he doesn't work out. The real problem was Frawley. I hope he does better, but right now he looks more like the below average reserve grade NRL half back some of us thought he was when we signed him. I'd hoped he might go well with a dynamic half back in Croft, but it just doesn't seem to be working at all yet.

Excellent posting, in other words we are in a real mess. On top of that we have a coach who is out of his depth.

If we are gonna splash the marquee cash on Papalii (which would be a great move btw).
It shows that we have recognised our desperate need for a pack leader.

Begs the question why we didn't go for Burgess.
British and presume there would be some salary cap relief?
Anyway, that ship has sailed now.

Papalii would be a great signing for both Leeds and SL. Much better signing than burgess would have been as he can play 60mins and is a pack leader. Burgess these days is used for impact at souths. I assume burgess probs has a very high wage because he is an elite British nrl player as well if that makes sense.

Great post. I still think Frawley has a role in this team (other than water carrier) but Smith did the right thing to take him out of the firing line. I suspect the moment he visibly had a go at ?Edgell after dropping a kick-off was the moment that did for him. The pressure was evidently getting to him.

Anyway, I hope Frawley has a blinder this afternoon. I wasn't thrilled at the signing either, but what's the point in bagging someone before they have put on the shirt, and every week since. I'm not sure if some fans are capable of seeing the positives in some players unless the team are winning by 20 every week.

Totes agree Exe. If Frawley can’t cut it at Leeds, at the end of the day he will be let go. Most of us don’t work in jobs with this level of scrutiny, not really, and he is clearly trying. We should support any Leeds player as long as they are giving their best every week IMO. If they’re not good enough then the club will (generally) take care of that.

Level of scrutiny?. He is a professional rugby play .

"As long as they are doing their best" is the malaise of mediocrity that is sweeping through schools and grass roots sport in this country.
It's ridiculous.
The Yanks and Aussies do not have that mindset in sport and it shows.

If what Frawley has shown so far really is his best, then he should never play again.
Criticism from fans is a part of professional sport and he should be a professional and use it as motivation to work harder to improve.
I really hope that is the view of Frawley and the club, rather than "well you did your best"
Sorry guys.

Well Frawley keeps letting our hopes down doesn’t he.. awful

I’m waiting patiently for Frawley to show us why we have signed him, but it’s getting harder to see what his compelling justification was.

I understand that we shifted a lot of cap, but when I look at some of the players we signed or resigned, I’m left scratching my head. Croft i clearly a great signing, and so is Ackers although I think he’s suffering with a poor rotation at prop. The others frankly I could take or leave so far, and some of them are really flat track bullies.

Would you like to explain how anyone does more than their best? Many of you are psychologically task/results focused and that’s fine, but then we resort to magical “win at all costs” mantras without having the understanding of how to get there.

You've totally missed the point Jim.
I'm not saying he should do better than his best.
I'm saying if that is his best, then he is not good enough.

The mentality we now have in schools and at grass roots level in sport in this country has been diluted over the last few years.
Winning is less important, taking part and "doing your best" is what kids are taught.
I always feared that this would work it's way into elite sport and that's what the original post suggests.
Like I say, that is not the mentality in Australian sport and that is why they are streets ahead of us in many sports, despite a massive population difference.

Certainly our coach along with his back room staff don’t know how to get there .

Maybe that’s how sport should be played though? In its essence….
My old football coach used to say things like ‘you can throw your runners up medal in the canal’
We all missed out on a lot of love for the game….