The coach clearly feels Byrne is the prop he can trust most in our biggest games after Havard and Thompson. He was straight on when Thompson had to move in to the second row in the GF, he started in the World Club Challenge ahead of Dupree, Mago and Hill and he still got a place on the bench in the Cup final, even though I would say his form wasn't the best around that time.

That's good enough for me to want him in our squad and to think that he must be a pretty good player. He needs to find consistency and to improve and I think he will because he's just turned 25 and that is still pretty young for a prop forward.

i posted on the Leeds forum a couple of week ago about Byrne, and that you'd get a mixed response
i personally think he would go well, as he'd currently be starting prop with Oledski, and the main reason you are looking for props is that your current crop arent good enough (taken from Leeds forum) with the exception of Oledski who is being asked to carry the full pack week in week out

one thing that is noticeable with Byrne is that he is better when he starts than coming on mid game, but that hasnt just been him this past season. I think Thompson and Havard are both capable of 80 minutes and at intensity, so he's struggled to get up to pace and make an impact in some games, but that has also been labelled at Mago and Dupree too this season. The main thing to take away though is that when it mattered at the business end of the season, all 3 mentioned had an impact when they came on

Byrne is alright, a very steady prop. He'll rarely miss tackles and hits quite hard - a couple of times has gotten that wrong, although I noticed he went 16 consecutive games without giving a penalty away (since 14th June against Cas) - Havard also has a similar record. With the ball he's your average prop - not 1 offload, break or try in the whole of this year.

Byrne can play long minutes and is probably a player who needs longer spells to get some momentum going. If he is still with us in 2025, I hope we go away from having 3 props and a hooker on the bench and instead go with 2, as well as a second rower and then a hooker. The end of season set up meant minutes were so limited for the bench props and I don't think it helps them and we then lack cover for other positions. We didn't do too badly on it mind

I'll say it again: the size of the 17 squad should be increased, by at least one, so teams can have a utility back on the bench

They choose not to (mostly) not because it has no value, but because it's judged that the drawback of fewer props on the bench outweighs the advantages.

I wouldn't mind some sort of developmental spot on the bench, like a rule where an 18th man needs to have played less than x amount of games (20/30 etc) which could then be used to carry somebody like Farrimond, Kerr etc and get them opportunities when you get an injury or a game is safe/over.

It's hard for any back up prop when Havard and Thompson do so many minutes per game. Mago seems to have fashioned a role for himself as a real impact sub, but both Byrne and Dupree have struggled, and I suspect part of that is simply due to the lack of game time.

I'd like to see a six man bench with substitutions ( no interchange) once you're off you're off.
You could maybe have an eight man bench but with the proviso that two of those players had to be under twenty one on the opening day of the season.

It's not helped for sure but in the case of Byrne, I feel like his worst form of the season was probably when he was playing more minutes around the time Havard was still injured in those early months. He just wasn't in great form but I thought he finished the season well and he did get more minutes in some of the latter games, when Thompson and Havard had their minutes managed.

It's impacted on Dupree without a doubt IMO. He did start the season pretty well, when Havard was injured and Cooper went down and he was getting more minutes but after his suspension for the Cup final, his time on the field and form dropped away. He needs to really throw himself in to pre season and then when the games come find some intensity again and make a case to play more. He just looked a bit too comfy plodding along IMO in the second half of the season.

Thanks for your thoughts on Byrne.
He seems similar to Oledzki as far as the fans are concerned.
Solid yet not spectacular, some like him some don`t but homegrown and steady isn`t a bad thing to have in a salary capped sport.
Think our hard yards might be coming from our wingers this year with Hall and most likely Sivo doing the hard graft!

Byrne is signing for us (Hull FC) According to his wikipedia page anyway

Isn’t that similar to what Sam Tomkins was suggesting?