Spoke to Reece Lyne on Monday and asked how the foot was. He said it's sore but hopefully he will be right for Sunday. Good news.

I thought the reason Ellis left was that he was on a fortune and we needed the savings? He's at fev and working part time isn't he?? No doubting his ability, just a case of needs must

Aiton fits in perfectly at Leeds as his great strength is his fantastic defence and work rate, he now has quality inventive players around him, Sinfield, Burrow, etc etc . At Wakefield we only had one play maker , Tim Smith. We needed a hooker that is a play maker , McShane, Diskin, Henderson style player as Aiton was not a play maker and meant that defenders only had to worry about Smith. Ellis gave us that extra play making quality , ( I would never suggest that there is a better tackler in SL playing hooker than Aiton ). Leeds felt that they needed to strengthen their middle defence and Aiton fits that bill for them, Maquire, Burrow, Sinfield and their mates can create, manage the game etc etc well enough, they do not require a play making hooker.

I liked Ellis but didn't see him as creative, he delivered a much faster and more accurate ball from Dummy Half which in turn allowed our playmakers an extra second to do what they needed to, hence we looked a better team. His defence was OK

Think what belly is saying, is that Ellis fit our playing style better than Aiton.
As he has mentioned, no doubting Aiton as a player, just fits into Leeds team better than ours.
As for letting him go as he was on a fortune, another bad financial decision for a player that played at KR, Barrow and London. Probably cost the club more in the long run to pay him off, than play him.
Another baffling decision to pay off someone who was central to a 7 match winning run.
Again, sometimes the best players aren't always your best players.

I maintain that Aiton's weakness was the pass from dummy half - usually slow and often off-target; McShane is a significant improvement in that regard.

I would say however that his defence was significantly better than ok - it was outstanding.