It's not important if we win anything this year. No crowds and the farce the season will descend into with Covid testing and postponed games means it's very much a trial season for all.
2022 we should be really really strong as we will be seeing some upgrading of players again in the off season (Lui, possibly King, possibly even Martin and Koni too)
We may have plenty of cap and overseas spots. Going to be very interesting.
Would like to see Broadbent, Tindall and Walters get some serious game time this year....

I don't know if any listens to the fully 80 minutes podcast, but Danny McGuire was on the other night. He was saying how much he rates Mclelland and thinks he'll be a superstar...

This Eastmond signing makes it seem like his days are numbered to me, but maybe the club expect him to take over from Gale in a year or two? I suppose there's a lot of question marks over Eastmond too.

Personally, I think Mclelland has skills, but it looks like he's going through the motions a bit at times. If you look at the way Sydney Rooster have dealt with Kyle Flannagan, you might think we've given Mclelland long enough?

Never been given a run in the team, never mind too long!

I guess you need options and cover in case of injury and loss of form. Eastmond has plenty of question marks over him too. Just because he's signed doesn't mean it's all over for McLelland.

if he could run he might have a run

Is he seriously that slow? Never make it at his size if not even bit of acceleration........

I don’t think McLelland is done yet. There is a very solid player in there; I was impressed with him at Fev under Ryan Carr.

We simply haven’t seen enough of him at Leeds yet to form a real opinion. The lack of academy and reserve action has held him and a few others back too.

When I have seen him play for Leeds he’s been trying too hard individually, and losing his team focus. That’s confidence and experience though.

What we really need is one or two from the academy to come through. Maybe we’re treading water until Sinfield MkII is ready...

he' s 21 and a can't remember one break , at that age danny and rob were on everyone's shoulder , danny had the 2003 semi final try as a long range match winner . harris was scoring hat tricks for fun even graham holroyd had some spark when he started , much as i'd like to be proved wrong there's been nothing exciting about his play

You cant compare Callum to Rob and Danny hes a totally different type of half back. Rob and Danny were out and out runners, Callum is an organising type half back and they take longer to develop and mature.

Will Callum make it at Leeds? Possibly not but ive watched him in the academy and he isnt a bad player at all. He can run but thats not his game. Hes a good defender so thats a positive in a young half.

To play half back for Leeds you should be top drawer tho and im not sure he is quite going to be at that level but he needs more time to learn his craft before we write him off.

His problem is next year we should be trying to bring in a top half back to partner Gale so opportunities could be limited if he doesnt take his chances this season. Its a big year for him now Lui is out for awhile.

The problem for McLelland is that he's an organising half and should he playing 7 alongside a running half at 6. We should be comparing him to Gale who only started to develop at the same age 21 when he moved to Harlequins. McLelland would also have stalled a little in his career in Union. His route to the team is blocked by Gale quite rightly but potentially we should use the next couple of years to gradually give him some game time in a full strength team by occasionally resting Gale to try and extend his longevity. Gale and McClelland as a pair of 7s just don't work in the way Myler and Moon didn't as a pair.
Undoubtedly if Gale is injured McClellan needs to start at 7. Otherwise he will go but may still turn into a decent player like Gale and McShane did when they departed Leeds.

Trouble is, an organising 7 without much pace tends to be pretty predictable.

FWIW, IF eastmond has retained his talent for league, a 1,. 6, 7 of myler, eastmond and gale could actually be a fair bit better than walker, lui & gale. Optimistic?

Interesting you think he was trying to hard. Lilley definitely tried too hard when at Leeds. For me Mclelland hasn't tried hard enough, and seems happy to go through the motions.

The main times he's been in the first team is when he has partnered Broadbent, and Broadbent was easily the more impressive of the two and was playing out of position.

I hope I'm wrong, I'd like him to do well and make it, but part of me wonders whether he looked good at Fev because at the minute that's his level.

Agree with all that.

If you've not got amazing pace then you need to be able to step off each foot and have a great passing game. IIRC Andy Gregory wasn't the quickest but he was great on his feet and that with his passing game made him devastating.

You can also be successful with the right partnership. Take Paul Deacon who certainly wasn't the fastest but paired with Paul or Pryce it worked well.

I guess this will be a crucial season for McLelland. If he doesn't break through I can see him go back to union or end up in the Championship.

Yeah. Néed done peace at half these days. Jordan Lilley had all the skills, but was just too slow for his size....