Decent signing, though I understand most of you won't be too excited by it.

He's better than the current version of Ben Flower, but no more than solid. His defence was the strongest part of his game, but even that part of his game is nothing special, especially since the shoulder charge was banned.

Two good pieces of business by the Club this week in my view.

Not a outstanding Prop Forward signing like Walmsley, but a improvement on Clarke and the already injured when signed Burgess.

Leeds fan here. You've got a good player there. Think he a treated very poorly at Leeds. Was our best forward in 2017, then lost his mojo when Brian Mac left. Won't male 100 metres but will do 30/40 tackles every week, and very resilient. Good pack leader too.
I would have had him back and resigned Watkins too but hey ho.....

He's pretty poor in all honesty, makes very few meters in general and without looking at stats, id be suprised if his post contact meters wernt among the worst in superleague for forwards, gives away plenty of penaltys aswel. Hasnt got the natural size for prop, probably better at 13, decent defender. He's got the aggression, his head tells him he's an enforcer, his body dosnt back it up.

I will say though, you seem to have a very good environment for getting the best out of forwards so maybe you'l see a better version of him than we seen at Leeds.

To be fair I don’t think he’s been signed to make meters, more because he’s a tough rugged prop who just adds that bit of aggression down the middle. Props like him are needed in a successful side alongside your meter makers. I’m happy with his signing to be honest, I think he’ll complement our pack well.

If he suits what you need then fair play, not trying to be negative just because he's signed for you, just my assessment of him from his time with us.

Out of curiosity, how would you rate Leeds' recent record of developing young players? I could be wrong, but it seems to be a bit of a theme that youngsters come on the scene looking like they're really handy and for whatever reason tail off.

I could be basing this on expecting great things from Sutcliffe which obviously haven't materialised, but it seems to have happened a bit.

No I know. It’s a fair assessment IMO

jack walker looks class

Yeah, not great really, but looks to be getting better, still the odd concern though.

We went through a period when Barrie Mac was heading our youth where the recruitment was pretty bad tbh. We rectified that and started to get top talents into our scholarship system again. Brian Mac wasnt renowned for develping youth which, for me, showed with even some of the players who'v become first teamers under him.

If anybody remembers Stevie Ward coming through, he looked like the next coming of Paul Sculthorpe, all the skill in the world, he became a good backrower, but nothing like the player he could of been if developed properly, even taking into account his injurys.

Liam Suttcliffe was a great running 6 in his best season in the Academy, he never developed his passing game at first team level, still hasnt to this day, we probably ruined his chances of becoming a top player by constantly moving him about, he should of been developed as a 13, allowed to develop there and build his size up over time.

Singleton, i just think lacks the natural size, we tried to put some weight on him but he just dosnt carry it well, dont think we could do a lot more with him. If you could put his aggression in a bigger body, he'd be a real player.

Agars doing a good job in develping the young lads. I wasnt in favour of his appointment but its mayb not a bad time for him to be here, listening to players he's worked with in the past, they all rave about his ability to improve them individualy, obviously hasnt shown in results on the pitch in his carreer but Newman, Oledzki, Holroyd, Smith, Handley all seem to be develping well under him also Jack Walker, whos always been a great runner, was rounding out his game nicely before injury and we'r going ok on the field so he's doing better than i expected.

My concern is our love of ex players as coach at Academy level, Adrian Morley was a disaster, Rob done pretty well, now we'v got Chev Walker, who i dont rate atall. Our Scholarship coach, Mark Butterill, is one of the best in the buissness, they play lovely stuff and every year he sends a load to the Academy who look real class, thats when a lot seem to stagnate, we dont seem to develop them at that age as well as yourselves or saints do.

All just my opinion ofcourse.

Interesting, thanks for that. As an outsider, I got the impression that Leeds were excellent at getting young players ready for first team rugby, but until the most recent crop struggled to get them to kick on once they were there. On reading this I was probably being unfair.

Certainly Ward is just down to horrendous luck. For a while he was rated as highly as Bateman, so nothing the club could do there. It does seem like one of Agar is doing a good job with the youngsters too, impressed with Oledzki in particular in the last few times that I've seen him.

Oledzkis improved massively, his workrate and tackle technique have come on a lot recently, he's running with real purpose, doing longer stints and looks to be on route to being a very good prop. Really pleased with his progress.

Singleton is not exactly my choice of a Prop signing, but at least he is coming to the club in a fit condition and give 100% commitment.