Hopefully with 2 Scrum halfs signed we should never see Horne play 7 again, his form should improve when he can play his natrual game.

He needs to get himself 100% fit in the off season and hopefully Gentle won't play him if he isn't 100%.

I don't see any better stand offs available for next season at the moment.

You describe decent reasons for giving him a one-year deal, two was unforgivable IMO.

I agree, but I doubt he would have accepted a one year deal though.

Lack of quality players here and abroad for next season means the advantage is with the players.

The old regime awarded him 2yrs which does not surprise me really. It will be interesting how this is viewed under the new regime. Although his performance has improved lately he is just average.
1 yr for loyalty, fine
2 yrs criminal!

Exactly, we'd have gone into next season with 1 half and two youngster.

Oh I forgot where signing Chase.

6 and 13, yes. I think he played 9 in one international (which I'd completely forgotten about), and which was a ridiculous selection anyway. Never seen him play 7.

The guy is a 13 who can do a good job at 6. He's not a utility by any stretch.

Superfluous wording removed.

I would use Horney as a utility player next year. He can cover full back if McKinnon gets injured, centres, in the halfbacks and dare i say it loose forward! Im pleased we have another hooker coming. Showed up last night with Leeds having Buderus and Burrows

Agree, plus Horney has a tad more speed than Rich Whiting so could cover the wing as well.
If he gets his hernia sorted out out then who knows he may yet get a half back role next year, but I won't hold my breath. He's done well recently, but against top opposition he just can't open them up any more and last night was more evidence. So for me this great servants future is only as back up as per Maxi's post.

re the "battering rams" I feel that only OMeley (who fought a lone battle last night), and Moa are worth keeping, we do need to be ruthless and now that Dowes and Leuaki have gone I feel the old warhorse Radford should have his contract paid off too. None of them, O Meley, Moa apart ever make a dent in the opposition big men, because they are no longer top 4 team props. and sometimes OMeley doesn't look like he is, but then neither would I if I felt it was a forlorn cause. Add to that he was hurting really badly last night that his best mate here Cammy has been shown the door. He really wanted him to be the squads utility threequarter/full back as he was at Wigan.

I saw a real difference in the raw power, muscle and size of the Leeds big men yesterday with Kylie Leuluai setting the tone, for the rest to follow. So it was Omeley Moa versus Peacock, Heuraki, Bailey, Kirke, Lauititi, oh and Leuluai. We were just overran with power. In the end I felt the fight just drained from our pack, and then sadly the whole team. We badly need another 2 big men signings on top of O'Carroll and Lynch ( if he comes)
Out - Dowes, Radford, Leuaki, Washy In - O'Carroll, Lynch, + 2 more.

Giving us a main pack squad of ;(ignoring our 2 hookers next year) Moa, OMeley, O Carroll, Lynch tbc, +AN other No1, +AN Other No2, Manu, Tickle, Westerman - then maybe we can start to compete in the big men stakes with the present top 6 sides.

Other way around for me, the centre position is far more influential than the winger. I'd go so far as to say that if your centre is good enough you can get by with any half decent winger. Look at how good Gleeson and Gidley made Fa'afili and Gardner look.

If we get the right calibre of centre in it will shore up the right side defence far more than another winger would.

Good post. Our forward pack hasn't been strong enough and certainly isn't top 4. Catalans pack was awesome against R****s and could easily cause more problems yet in this play off series. We have lacked raw power and without that basic ingredient it's always going to be tough.

He has played 6, 7, 9, and 13 for Leeds.

The problem with Horne is that he's pretty much our only support player. When he does create anything there's no-one in support as was evident on a few occasions last night. Our support play is virtually non existent, has been for years. It's not just an Agar issue, I remember asking Peter Sharp about this at a fans forum together with our outside back shortage and we know how long that took to be addressed and how it turned out!

nail on head there, somehow Horne has become one of the scapegoats this season.