My opinions on the above contracts and recruitment, for what it's worth:

Bailey:

Easy decision, new contract. Retain.

JJB:

Ditto.

Lauititi:

Obviously try to keep Ali at the club as long as possible. He's still our main threat. Whether he wants another contract is up to him. If not no doubt another ball-playing second row will be signed from New Zealand.

Donald:

Again, it's more up to the player (family circumstances). He's still one of SLs best wingers.

Senior:

Time's got to be up at some stage, and we have to work the payroll so we precede that event. Shenton's coming in anyway it appears, right or wrong.

Diskin/Buderus:

Interesting which one is retained (or neither). Buderus is the superior player, but if he's let go then there's Diskin/McShane for hooker and cap and quota space for what we really need: a top class leading prop (Blair?) as Peacock's playing time lessens (if Lauititi or Donald are replaced cheap and English then there still may be space retaining Buderus and ditching Diskin. There are some interesting decisions for GH this off-season.)

like you I share your understanding of gotchas semtiment. But completely agree with you. senior is still one of if not the best sl centre, if it's up for debate then I'm sure a few would disagree but there is nobody in sl who obviously better.

Donald, Buderus, Bailey and Ali for me.

Senior and Diskin have been great servants to Leeds but both especially the latter are regressing far too quickly.

Salford are calling.

Keep Diskin and McShane

Let Buderus go and use the £££ wisely on the squad.

what about letting both hookers go and signing Lunt who has turned down a new contract?

Or keep loyal Diskin.

Cut ties with Buderus.

Let Burrow be bench number 9. Where he can pick up and run and be most effective and maybe sign a new 7. To assist keeping the halves and the team fresh.

The only person mentioned by the OP and not commented upon (on this thread anyway...as far as I can see) and could be just about the most important decision is.....Bluey

I appreciate GH does things on the quiet behind the scenes as opposed to creating/commenting on gossip and speculation but half way through the season and no public announcement on whether Bluey will be here next season or not?

I would have thought,ideally sorting out your coach is something that needs to take place before player recruitment/retention can take place given his role in some/all of those player decisions.

My thoughts exactly, surely if we were to get a new coach it would be up to them who to retain and who to let go. There's no point in building a squad that Bluey wants if his future is uncertain. Until we know who the coach is for next year, I don't see a point in making these decisions just yet.

Ohh I wouldnt say Senior is out of contract

1. Brent Webb (2011)
2. Scott Donald (2010)
3. Brett Delaney (2012)
4. Keith Senior (2010) for now


5. Ryan Hall (2013)
6. Danny McGuire (2013)
7. Rob Burrow (2013)
8. Kylie Leuluai (2011)
9. Danny Buderus (2010)
10. Jamie Peacock (2011)
11. Jamie Jones Buchanan (2012)
12. Ali Lauitiiti (2010)
13. Kevin Sinfield (2011)
14. Matt Diskin (2010)
15. Greg Eastwood (2012)
16. Ian Kirke (2011)
17. Luke Burgess (2011)
18. Carl Ablett (2014)
19. Ryan Bailey (2010)
20. Jay Pitts (2012)
21. Kyle Amor (2012)
22. Mike Coady (2012)
23. Kallum Watkins (2012)
24. Luke Ambler (2010)
25. Paul McShane (2012)
26. Thomas Bush (PT)
27. Chris Clarkson (PT)
28. Lee Smith (2013)

-----------

Simon Worrall (Toulouse Loan) (2010)
Dane Manning (Featherstone Loan) (2011)
Ben Jones Bishop (Harlequins RL Loan) (2012)

Or keep loyal Diskin.

Cut ties with Buderus.

Let Burrow be bench number 9. Where he can pick up and run and be most effective and maybe sign a new 7. To assist keeping the halves and the team fresh.

"Loyalty" is too sentimental to be part of the decision....GH is running a business. Diskin has been a great servant, but we should aim to keep Buderus for another season if possible (obviously the 'cap' will have some influence but surely the wage demands will be lower for a player of his age). I like the imagination of using Burrow as impact hooker from the bench. McShane still has to be the priority though....will he be happy loaned out for another year ??

Not sure about Senior: he still looks the best by far in SL at times, but as others have said maybe next season will be one too far for the club. I'd still be tempted to give him another year depending on the situation with Watkins' injury. If Shenton does join the club maybe Senior could make the belated move to/cover for the second row.

As others have pointed out though it depends on the decision on the coach..doesn't look too good for Bluey (at the moment).

Is this a season too far for another Grand Final victory ??? Should we now not focus on the CC and build for a crack at championship in 2012 ? It might be asking too much of the players to achieve both this season. I'd be happy with another Wembley victory....I still have fond memories of 1978 (my first ever experience of RL).

So...not only are you writing 2010 off but 2011 as well

Dont start that again

I would be tempted to let disco and buderus go and keep mcshane, and sign cameron smith from melbourne! wishful thinking. I think senior is a tough one, even if Watkins hadnt been injured, not sure from what i have seen that he is up to the task yet. Think if we are gonna give the youngster a go, if possible to keep keith on minimal contract to assist in his development?
would keep Bailey, And i would let ALi and Donald go. Think we have a lot of good second row players,
And i know i will probably get shot down for this but Ali playes awsome when he wants to but sometime looks complete dis interested. But i appreciate he is a BIG LUMP WITH SKILLS WHO CAN AND HAS WON US GAMES.

[iSo...not only are you writing 2010 off but 2011 as well

[/i

Of course not.....did you not consider I might have made a simple typing error ?

To go on expecting our team to perform to consistently GF winning levels (4 in a row is maybe too much) is a tall order. All I'm saying is let's lessen the growing pressure to win and settle for the CC this year. Maybe that's what the club is doing now anyway. Gives us more opportunities to blood some of the younger players in the league...and then kick on for 2011

i have just watched superleague super men, peacock talks about ongoing discussions over a new contract ( was stating morley just signed a 4 yr deal at 35 )
as a minimum i would def retain senior diskin and possibly ali. Bailey has not progressed enough to be given a contract extension buderus is a good player but offers the team very little ( mcshane ready to be elavated to 1st team ) donald could be retained but i would test the market first. the more pressing issue is the coach i would hope to hear some news soon that mcclennan has been retained. we need stability and over the next few years we can make significant changes without doing it all at once and distrupting the team.

I don't dissagree with that first comment, but why always look backwards for arguments, and not forward?

But by the way, it was also only 2 years ago that Shenton destroyed Senior down at the jungle. Let's not forget that also if we want to look backwards.

But like I said, Shenton is irrelevant, he is not our player. What is relevant to me is that Senior IMO is displaying performances that highlight his ageing years, and I can only see that getting worse as we approach 2011. I am not 100% sure on Watkins yet, but I would still like to see him or someone else like that given the reigns than hand contracts to 35 year old players.

Starting what?

mmmmmmmmm cameron smith playing for Leeds - yes please

The only definite is Bailey for me, with maybe Ambler on a 1 year. Not sure it was great planning to have both main hookers OOC at the same time.

Senior isn't the player he was, Diskin is inconsistent as is Ali, Buderus is expensive and has not hit the heights expected of him. Donald is a good player, but takes up a quota spot.

I wouldn't get rid of all of them as thats too much change at once, and it has to come down to a balance of ability vs money and also availability of replacements. The rumours about Shenton would suggest that Senior will go. One of Buderus or Diskin will go IMO.

We may want to look at how bad BJB's injury is before deciding on Donald too.

On McCLennan its a tough one. He has done excellently at Leeds and achieved 4 trophies in 2 years. I'm sure we'd do fine with him in place for a while, alternatively a change of face at the top could inject some new ideas and keep us at the top

McLennan has clearly done an outstanding job so far and Sinfields comments after the last 2 grand finals show how the players feel about the man. However, and this could be contraversial, I believe a coach who is massive on the motivational side of things has a lesser shelf value than a good technical coach. Eventually, his motivational speaches/methods will have a lesser effect.

Maybe it is time to revert back to a more tactical/technical coach, to fine tune things again, get us working to a good structure with set moves, tactics based on the oppositions weaknesses etc.... I know teams should focus more on their own performance and the results will follow, but you do have to work the opposition over based on their weaknesses, and for me, Leeds tend to play the same week in week out, with little variance. And unfortunately at the moment, that week in week out performance is littered with the most basic of errors. Is this because the training sessions are not focussing enough on the core skills and technical aspects of our game? It's interesting to say the least.

alot of over reaction on here, at the begginning of the season we were saying we had the stongest squad ever and in fact had two forward packs, injuries have propelled some of the youngsters into the team to soon and has caused a disjointed start. Players being touted to let go when contracts run out would be snapped up by other clubs, who would think we were crazy. As for Bluey give him the chance to turn it round and have the faith still along way to go have booked my seat for Old Trafford

Just wanted to clarify my position - I am not saying get rid of the coach now, and I certainly wouldnt be disappointed if he stayed on beyond this year. Was just putting forward a thought as to why he may not be retained.

I still believe, even though we're not in the greatest of form, we will come good this year and I actually wouldnt back against us doing the double. We do have more quality in our squad compared to the rest of the league, for me only Warrington come close, but one or two injuries to their pack and they are in trouble.

As for next year, I do believe we need to freshen up a couple of areas, maybe bring in somebody external to JOIN the coaching team, just for fresh ideas.

Player wise - In Gary we trust..... I would love us to sign a star centre, purely on a selfish, like to see exciting players point of view, not sure we have the cover to go with Keith for another year, Watkins would be coming on the back of a bad injury and the other youngsters not currently looking ready.

Lauititi does have his injuries and his casual games, however there has been absolutely no Leeds player more important than Ali in securing our success at the business end of the season. Our forwards are pretty easily containable without him, and much more dangerous with him, not only for what he does but for the attention he takes.

I wish I had a stat which compared our points totals this seasons when Ali has been on the field and when he's been off it. Just from observation I think the difference has been huge. There's no way I'd let him go unless he wants to return Australasia.

That said...playing fantasy Rugby League...it would be something if in our ins and outs and squad promotions, fitting under the quota and the cap, we lost Buderus and Donald from the quota and replaced with Cameron Smith and Adam Blair, lost Diskin (replaced by McShane & cap space), replaced Senior with (slightly cheaper) Shenton, and maybe had leftovers for a young winger to adequately cover injuries to a Smith/Delaney/Shenton/Hall (and Watkins) 3/4 line. The above would also work if we kept Buderus and missed out on Smith. Oh, and Bellamy for Bluey maybe



Like I said, it's fantasy manager, but you never know, and I don't think it's overreaction to a poor start to the season, in fact it hasn't much to do with this season, but recruitment to *keep* a team at the top is far more prudent than stasis.

Team: Webb; Smith, Delaney, Shenton, Hall; McGuire, Burrow; Peacock, Smith/Buderus, Blair, Lauititi, JJB/Ablett, Sinfield; Leuluai, Bailey, Eastwood, McShane (Watkins, BJB, A.Winger, JJB/Ablett, Burgess, Kirke, Pitts, Amor, Coady)

For the those who want rid of Senior he is one of if not the strongest with the best hand off in super league! and has produced and coached two wingers into scoring probably the most tries they're ever going to score in a season in Donald and Hall.

Season 2008 Donald plays outside Senior 21 tries
Season 2009 Donald switches wing 12 tries
Season 2009 Hall plays outside Senior 27 tries

Whoever you want as a replacement has big boots to fill!!!!

Senior has two more years I think!