I could be reading far too much into this but direct from Keith Senior's twitter account - "Great to see big @LukeBurgess87 come visit me before he leaves for Oz, good luck and we know the truth young man ha rip into them Aussies"

Could be completly unrelated...

Quote ="Balham_Rhino"I could be reading far too much into this but direct from Keith Senior's twitter account - "Great to see big @LukeBurgess87 come visit me before he leaves for Oz, good luck and we know the truth young man ha rip into them Aussies" Could be completly unrelated...'" The conversation continued: (From @Pinky81LFC) @KeithSenior4 @lukeburgess87 tell us rhinos fans why you going. Quite a shock I must say on top of all rumours we hearing (From Keef) "@Pinky81LFC @lukeburgess87 read southstander they seem to know all the answers ha" "@Pinky81LFC I was being sarcastic they know nothing ha" twitter.com/#!/KeithSenior4/stat ... 1449090048 twitter.com/#!/KeithSenior4/stat ... 2329552896

Quote ="Balham_Rhino"I could be reading far too much into this but direct from Keith Senior's twitter account - "Great to see big @LukeBurgess87 come visit me before he leaves for Oz, good luck and we know the truth young man ha rip into them Aussies" Could be completly unrelated...'" The conversation continued: (From @Pinky81LFC) @KeithSenior4 @lukeburgess87 tell us rhinos fans why you going. Quite a shock I must say on top of all rumours we hearing (From Keef) "@Pinky81LFC @lukeburgess87 read southstander they seem to know all the answers ha" "@Pinky81LFC I was being sarcastic they know nothing ha" twitter.com/#!/KeithSenior4/stat ... 1449090048 twitter.com/#!/KeithSenior4/stat ... 2329552896

It is 'sad' that Cross was brought over for what...10 games? He had the chance to show his skills etc. What is even 'sadder' is that he failed to take up that opportunity. He never looked as if he was interested, on or off the field. I know that Scotty got a rough ride while he adapted etc, but at least he looked keen. Cross made little impact in the games in which he played and looked unconcerned. To impress the SS is one thing and to impress the gaffers is another, but clearly both failed to see any prospect of improvement. Grit and graft are still valuable commodities. I hope he finds both back in the NRL. If he finds them with any other SL club I'll be amazed and b..... furious!!

Great minds.

Hetherington was only correct if he treated all the players the same - quite clearly this was not the case.

Given the very sad issues with the father I would agree the chances of Luke doing what he has done for some time i.e. looking after his brothers was high. Gotcha is probably not a million miles away in suggesting the mother's influence in the decision-making process.

On the haste - it has only been announced on Friday that Luke was free to go - so South's seeing his position and with a view to the whole dynamic offered him a quick way out. What choice had he got either stay at Leeds and never play and be miserable or go have some fun in Sydney with his brothers - I could make a decision like - given the circumstances - in 5 minutes at most

you were right they got docked 2 points but were allowed to keep the SL TROPHY

Daine Laurie has been released by the panthers, maybe worth a shot?

I like the new policy. Give a player 10 Appearances, reward him with his own piece of Headingley history (his unique number - 729) then bin him off before he gets too full of his own self importance.

You must be joking!!! Yes?? Why would we want him? His reputation lies in tatters and he would bring nothing good. Did that bite hurt?

Who else is available?

I'm not going to diss Burgess' exit from us as everyone knew where he was going,
I just think that GH called his bluff and treated him with the same respect that Biff would have done come the seasons end when he would have done the same and rejected the Rhinos contract on offer and would have signed for Souths

At least GH will now have plenty of time to now fill this spot



Regarding Cross
I think that he has been made a scapegoat here

Although not a super star signing from the NRL, i actually believed that he could have played a vital part in our side this season and from what i have seen of him he certainly could have had more input into our side given the chance

I believe that this is Brian McD's decision as both GH and Bluey seemed happy to sign him on did they not?

im just off down to the registry office to change my name to burgess.....maybe they will sign me !!..it must be the only reason Souths would sign him cos it certainly isnt his class

Last time I checked it was 2011. So does it really matter what Burgess was going to do in 2012 and beyond and did he deserve to be sidelined (if that is what happened) because of that future decision?

I imagine there has been something more to it than just his previously stated desire to go to the NRL after his current contract expires, which obviously he is perfectly entitled to do.

Whatever has happened it's yesterday's news and he's now joined the ranks of players that used to play for Leeds.

Luke Burgess: Played 11 + 70, Tries 6, Points 24.

Didn't Burgess meet with Russell Crowe in York for dinner at the start of June after which the whole thing was a done deal?

I have no idea - what I find odd - if Hetherington knew Burgess was off to Australia why did he even make him an offer? seems a waste of time and effort?

Maybe hoping he could persuade him to change his mind? Lukes best years are ahead of him, no doubt. He becomes yet another prop who starts his career with Leeds but leaves before we see the true potential. Joining Anderson, Fozzard, Carvell, Ward, Dowes, Scruton et al

Mason too - although not sure he started his career at Leeds?

Would rather have him than Griffin tbh

Mason, Huby, Carvell, Graham, Ferriol, have were all having contracts expiring end of this season. I would have had any of those before Griffin.

A strike rate of better than 1 in 2? I'd suggest that the chairman of the PFU had a hand in here. Not exactly becoming behaviour of the shirt is it?

Agree fully with the above.

I'd rather have me than Griffin!!! Must be more BDLs around.

Is Tom going to souths also?

It only becomes a strike rate of better than 1 in 2 if you ignore the 70 games he played from the bench. I realise it's a generalisation but props have a tendency to play around half of each game they're selected in whether they start those games in the run on side or sat on the bench.

A comparison of strike rates among Leeds current/recently departed props during their Headingley careers show:

Jamie Peacock - 17 in 151 = 0.113 per game
Kylie Leuluai - 15 in 139 = 0.108
Luke Ambler - 1 in 10 = 0.100
Luke Burgess - 6 in 81 = 0.074
Ryan Bailey - 9 in 233 = 0.039

Ben Cross left without scoring and Kyle Amor, Brad Singleton are yet to score.

Leeds' prop with the highest strike rate during the SL Era was George Mann (although he deputised at 6 at times) here he is with a select of others:

George Mann - 4 in 19 = 0.211 per game
Jamie Thackray - 7 in 34 = 0.206
Wayne McDonald - 15 in 91 = 0.165
Barrie McDermott - 40 in 268 = 0.149
Chris Feather - 8 in 56 = 0.143
............
Jamie Mathiou - 4 in 136 = 0.029 (saving Bailey's blushes)

Chris feaher has a better "Strike rate" than I would have guessed at. At Baileys rate of scoring he will be below Mathiou by the end of his leeds career!

If Bailey's rate of scoring is above Mathiou's how will he be below Mathiou by the end of his Leeds career.