I hear what you are saying but he's only on loan and if he's crap then he won't get picked.

League Express suggesting this evening that Holroyd might feature for Fev, rather than Bradford, with Mustapha and Waite-Pullan (who played for Fev today) mentioned as two of the likely loanees to Bradford.

Makes more sense. Waite-Pullan will never play for us anyway. But thought Mustapha might have got the odd inclusion this year.

What disappoints me the most about this is we are still cobbling the squad together within a few weeks of the season and with 2 places to fill in we are buying short term at this level.

We signed Rhyse Martin in June last year, any club that was really at it and straining every sinew would have got him sorting a PNG passport out on July 3 when he landed in Leeds. Not us we are using it as an excuse for poor management.

I understand Wigan have had Tommy L named as part coach and part player for a few years no doubt helping them stretch the cap.

Hull have had, their squad sorted for ages including plenty of big tough overseas forwards and Josh Jones, they have 4 wingers, Faraimo, Naulago, The Returning Fonua and Swift and at number 29, Gareth Ellis. ellis no doubt is being paid ten bob and a conker as a player.

I understand Sinfield has had a big job to turn things round but we don't look like we are frankly doing as much as our competitors to get the best squad we can.

I await to be hugely impressed by no 21.

Some fair criticism there but it was always going to take some time to completely renew the squad wasn't it? Yes, there have been some less than inspirational signings along the way. However, Merrin was good (if now gone), Hurrell is box office, Leeming and Mellor are solid, Ava and Martin are very good and Prior will also be solid for us I think. We've also brought in McLelland, Walters, O'Connor, Hall to bolster the junior ranks who all have potential too.

Half back needed sorting and although the jury is somewhat out on Lui and Gale for different reasons, they are a hell of an upgrade on what we had before IMO.

We have commercial constraints and there is still some leftover cap by the looks of things - really good mid-season signings are possible/likely and we should wait until the right player in the right position becomes available.

The squad is now competitive I would say, and going in the right direction. We should still be patient though. Even if we signed the best 21 in the world, I don't believe our young lads are at their peak yet and therefore Leeds isn't going to be at full potential for another year or two.

I agree we are still short and it will take time but the fact we have been poor for 3/4 years should be motivation to work harder to get things like passports sorted out. There was lots of talk of Prior coming in alongside Merrin, that would still have been impossible had Merrin stayed.

For example, could this season we have signed Gale as part coach, part player or even Prior. Our coaching options look pretty thin to me as well as the squad. Could cuthbo have been part coach. If others are doing it why not us

I repeat, how easy is it for an Australian to get a PNG passport? Can anybody get one? I want one, where do i apply?

Now that Blake Austin and Jackson Hastings have played for GB can they get a British passport? As Australians can they get PNG passports?

Its all getting too confusing for me, must be Sir Kev's fault.

From what I know of the salary cap registering a player as a coach doesn’t get around the cap. Their wage for both playing and coaching would count on the cap. The only way you could work around it is to not play the “coach” for the first half of the season say and then play him for the 2nd half. As the salary of the “coach” would only count from the point at which they are registered as a player or play in a game but then counts for the rest of the season.

So if Leuluai doesn’t play for the first half or a decent proportion of the season to begin with then they may have saved some cap space. If he does then they haven’t saved anything.

Is Martin even eligible for a PNG passport? We have no idea on here if he is or if that’s even what the club is attempting.

The passport issue is no excuse for loaning in mediocre 2nd division players.
Yes it will take time but padding the squad out with has beens & never will bes caused part of the problems we witnessed fighting relegation.
Also whats happening with the Coaching set up? Carr was earmarked but he's long gone home??

The coaching situation is a far bigger issue than players for me, surely nobody can see our management of this as anything other than amateur?

Agar got the gig by default, still a lot of questions outstanding there, but we wait. However, how did we move from been told the coaching structure would be fully put in place this time last year, to still messing around without adequate assistants this year, and the guy who was to develop it now just the head coach? Either the structure was needed or it wasn’t, and our previous poor seasons here tell you it was. Surely we didn’t only have the one target for assistant? And please don’t anybody tell me Walker is it, the same guy who has been one of the assistants through the poor previous seasons.

Quote: Him "Is Martin even eligible for a PNG passport? We have no idea on here if he is or if that’s even what the club is attempting.'" Agar confirmed it a while back https://www.totalrl.com/rhinos-to-consi ... placement/

Quote: Him "Is Martin even eligible for a PNG passport? We have no idea on here if he is or if that’s even what the club is attempting.'" Agar confirmed it a while back https://www.totalrl.com/rhinos-to-consi ... placement/

I see on the day 3 footage from spain that James Webster is there.

I know he is part time helping too. This is why we are such amateurs with this.

Last year this time, we had a highly rated first team coach (ok did not work out, but when left said we were looking for the right replacement), an assistant coach, 3 assistants to this, a head of coaching development, an academy coach with assistants, and a scholarship head with assistants.

Now this time we have a head of coaching development who is also the head coach in a role he has previously not succeeded in, who is utilising an assistant part time from another club. One of the previous assistants now the academy coach and assistant despite the previous failings, and apparently lost 3 of the scholarship coaches. So much for the much needed structure.

And that is not just a whinge, those are the cold facts of where we are.

And with all that, we were .

We were, and yet we are in a worse position now than then, because we don't have Carr to pick it back up.