Catalan are rumoured to be interested but they would have to stump up a large fee as he is contract untill 2026.

wouldn't totally surprise me if Ash moved on, he's top class and wants to win things... we're a way off delivering that to him. We're at the stage now where top players won't automatically be drawn to playing for Leeds as they once were as we've not competed regularly at the top for years and we don't look like a club heading in the right direction.... it's starts to tell with recruitment and retention.

I know, it's not like we've just signed an England international hooker and a Man of Steel stand off or anything. Of course we can still attract players and keep them, Handley himself is signed up for another two years and we have just renewed Newmans contract.



How is signing for Catalans a guarantee of winning things, what exactly have they won bar a CC final six years ago, we have actually won something more recently than they have, yes they were in the GF last year but so were we the year before.

Lighten up guys, not everything is doom and gloom.

it's not Chris. my point is that Leeds has no longer quite got the automatic pulling power it once had because we're frankly miles off being regular real title and cup challengers and have been for years. Eventually that shows. Of course we're still big enough to attract top talent like Croft and Ackers, but it's not quite what it was. Now with a club like ours given it's size and quality of facilities it should be an easy fix, once we're heading in the right direction then we're back in play

We weren't winning things when we signed Ellery Hanley, Iestyn Harris, Keith Senior, or Ali Lauitiiti.

Of course the glimmer of silverware may have attracted the likes of Buderus, Peacock, Webb etc but I doubt it was ever the primary factor.

Handley is a key member of the leadership group at Leeds, and was also a member of the 2015 triple winning squad, if not any of the final winning teams.

Not winning things regularly doesn't help us, it just means we have to pay a bit more to get the players than we otherwise would do. Leeds is still a big draw in UK. The answer is in producing our own players in enough volume that we are then looking to sign the icing rather than the cake...

Pretty much this im told hes disillusioned and had his head turned with the lifestyle and £££ but them signing Makinson might have put an end to the interest its all hearsay.

I would say the reason we signed the 2 from Salford was down to the amount of money we paid and how desperate Salford were for the money.
Both players were happy to stay at Salford until they were told Salford had accepted the offer.
£300k is a lot of money in the SL world when most players move for nothing.
My point is Leeds is not the attraction it used to be. Not winning trophies is one consideration and the style of play or the way they are coached could be another factor.
But given time things might change. It is the length of time that concerns me.

If we’re talking overseas signings, SL in general isn’t as attractive as used to be either!

Getting likes of Buderus, Webb, Lauititi etc is long gone.

So the only reason we bought them is because Salford were short of money ?? Surely it was because we had identified a lacking in our own team and thought that those two could possibly fit the bill?
Salford may well have jumped at the offer but personal terms with the players would have had to be agreed upon before the players moved, we could have offered 500k each to Salford but unless the players agreed to the move and the terms of their new contracts Salford would have had to refuse the offer and honour the players existing contracts. However it's all a moot point now as the deal has been done, we have the players and we'll have to see how or if they can turn our fortunes around.

Spot on with the length of time comment. I certainly don’t expect over night success, but the last few seasons have been woeful. We are still someway from any semblance of a decent team. We are in danger of becoming a regular mid table side.

Correct, also the pay and conditions in Australia are superior to the British game. The rugby union salary cap will be 6 million ,so we would struggle to atract any players from that source. Buderus was an absolutely superb player also Webb. Happy days indeed.

Of course we identified them as crucial to what we all knew was missing.
And we took advantage of Salfords financial situation by offering them something they could not refuse.
And if Salford more or less told the players they would accept our offer then the players would have to reluctantly accept their decision. The next stage would be down to us matching or bettering what the players were earning at Salford.
Some teams have to sell to stay afloat and we pounced rightly so.
Poor decisions by previous coaches and GH in particular have got us into this mess that we have been told is a rebuilding project.
Like I said my gripe is the time it is taking to rebuild whilst others at the top have done it seamlessly and in a much shorter time.
I think next season brings up our 10th anniversary of getting back to the promised land.
We could have developed 2 golden generations had we concentrated on our recruitment at junior level in that time.

Miller, Hall, Newman, Momirovski, Handley
Croft (new 7)
Mik, Ackers, (new 10)
(New 11), McDonnell
Smith
Holroyd, Lisone, Gannon, N Mcormack

I think the new signings for 2025 need to be top drawer, as much as we can reasonably afford. With Sinfield, Lumb, Smith, Edgell, Cassell, Simpson and some others coming through, we might have a decent crack.

Every one of those three need to be top-4 quality in SL. Not projects, not cast-offs.