Despite thinking we had a genius new coach in 2022 taking us all the way to the Grand Final, I think the influence of getting Zak Hardaker back that year was immense and letting him go in 2023 in my opinion was criminal. Agree with previous posts though and that ship has well and truly sailed now. I've just looked at the 2022 GF team and we have since lost Richie Myler, Matt Prior, Zane Tetevano. The former 2 were excellent for Leeds and Zane was solid enough but suffered from having the Marquee Label around his neck. He was however tougher than what we have now.

Where do you get that from?

At the risk of repeating myself (!), when Holroyd came through he was arguably the best academy prop in the country. He has size, bit of pace over short distances, and is aggressive.

Has been daft as a brush at times, sometimes clumsy, and often injured. But he's also still young for a prop.

On here we keep banging on about getting the academy right, I don't think letting Holroyd go would be a step forward given the scarcity of front row talent. When he's been good, he's been very good. He does of course need to get and stay fit however. As a bench prop he still has lots to offer over and above most of our other options, but I do think we need to sign a new starting prop to partner Mik.

Fully agreed Jim. I think the problem with Holroyd and to a degree Mik, is that we've asked them to carry the back at such a young age. We desperately need an experienced head in there to steady the ship and take the pressure off those guys. With the quota situation, we have the opportunity to bring in two front rowers. One needs to be a proved NRL starter, and maybe the second can be a NSW cup up and coming prospect.

Yep, not seen any signs of bad attitude from Holroyd. Just awful injury luck.

Arguing with team mates?

It’s just my opinion and im not saying we should get rid of him im just saying i could see that happening

We’ve actually missed Prior since he left he wasn’t replaced properly

With Harry Newman wasn't it? Who if you want to talk about attitude probably deserved getting held up by this throat against a wall in all honesty!

I actually agree he could end up getting let go, we just haven't seen his potential fulfilled but as ever it will depend on salary and contract length etc. What I would hate to see is him going to Pies or Saints and tearing it up and making it into the England squad somewhere else, and I still think he has the potential to do that at some point.

Yeah he was here a year or two too long when his legs had gone, but for a while I thought he was Peacock-esque for us.

Back to those wanting 2 props, I just can't see it . I think we'll replace Martin with another back rower; we'll lose Donno this year and the rest would fight it out for the other starting spot and maybe a bench spot.

I think we'll then use the Fus quota for a prop.

Unless two sensational props come up at good money, who knows. You tend to get better value from back rowers in terms of minutes/pay than a prop, although a top class prop can be the difference in games too. If Mik started with a new (really good) prop, and we had Holroyd and Lisone as first choice bench props I don't think that's an awful set. Sangare, TNW as back ups and then you have a slew of others like Hudson, Ruan and some reserves/academy lads.

A back row of McDonnell and Bentley or O'Connor isn't doing it for me. I think McDonnell is our best back-row grafter, but we should partner him with a big ugly thing to give us more whack and take some pressure off the props. Bench for one or both of Bentley and O'Connor. If we got Kal back, then we're back into signing two new NRL props maybe.

I'm starting to think you're Rohan in disguise, Jimbo. If we don’t get two props we might as well go back to Rohanball because we won't have addressed (again) the chief reason for our continual failure. The only real way to take pressure off our prop - I say prop because we only have one reliably good one, is to get another two.This is not impossible for a club with Leeds resources. Catalans have just got two really good ones without breaking sweat. Anything less and we're fighting it out for 7th/8th again in 2025.

Surely not. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-le ... d-33398878

Surely not. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-le ... d-33398878

The other thing is that props get injured regularly, and a lot of them don't do long minutes. If we sign one and they or Oledzki get injured we're back at square one. That's also why I think we need two quality props. I don't disagree with a big aggressive second row either.

A lot will depend on which players Arthur sees as surplus to requirements and whether they can be managed out of the club. We know its possible. If a player is in the last year of their contract and they want another deal beyond that, being told they will only play in emergency or be loaned out to the Championship for the season may well push some into looking elsewhere. The club has to be absolutely brutal this time round, or we'll hamstring whoever the next coach is for at least another year.

Aaron bower once again writing a article about Marty taupau being linked again to Leeds I’m sure that rumour comes around every year

I’m more bothered about the quality of player we bring in rather than if it’s 2 props or a prop and a back row.

You can’t carry a squad including 6 international standard props, you have to take a balanced view of the risk. New prop/Mik/Tom/Sam/Justin/TNW/Ruan provides depth IF the young lads can develop over pre-season.

If people think all our problems would be solved with 2 new props I think you’re deluded TBH.

The problems wouldn't be solved by bringing 2 more starting quality props, but if we don't then we won't give ourselves a fighting chance to solve the problems. If the front row doesn't set a good enough platform, the rest of the team will struggle, nothing has changed there since the beginning of the game. We have 2 props that are not good enough and won't be (Lisone and Sangare) and one with massive question marks (Holdroyd). I cannot see how we can really take a big step forwards without addressing this. We will constantly run out of steam and the rest of the team will suffer as a result.

Its like the Ryan Kent to Leeds Utd. Its every year you can almost set your watch by it.