Rowley stood out the other night so did Gibbons no12 imo.
Wrt Wigan i thought their pack ran us ragged which their HB's & FB ran riot off.

Decent win for 18s 44-10 v Bradford.

Luca Atkinson and Ben Meyhew the pick of the bunch for me today. I really like young Meyhew. Like AJ Wallace too but hes been under used as a sub at the moment but hes a big athletic kid that runs well.

Virus permitting 18s and reserves play in a double header at Widnes next week. 16s play Wednesday night too.

Good stuff. Was hoping for a big result today with the team we had out.

Looking forward to the 16's this season, should be a very good team this year.

I watched the game v Bradford, I was impressed with the line speed at it was quite physical with some big hits.
Agree with what was said previously Wallace is a beast off the bench and I thought Gibbons a handful too.
What are the early impressions of Hall the centre ?

[uRumour Mill [/u
Has anyone heard anything about the Rhinos making their U18 academy players available to both Championship and League 1 clubs due to a shortage of cash and have been sending videos of their player profiles out in order to help the players secure a club for next season?

I've not heard this from anyone officially associated with the Rhinos,But a pal of mine has said that his son has been informed that he will not be at the club next season and that also plenty more of that age group will not be either and he also mentioned some of the better players by name that won't be playing at the club which I was surprised by (IF true)?

If this is not true then I apologise,But I am only relaying news that I have been told

Its inevitable Biff unfortunately. Only 16s and 19s next year.

All of this years 16s who havent played are eligible for 19s next year so there are surplus kids. Most clubs will be playing u18s as their 19s including us.

Unfortunately some good kids are being released.

Cheers Marty
It will be interesting to see the full list of players both released and retained as there must have been some very difficult decisions made.

Pretty much everyone 18 or over who arent in the full time squad have been released unfortunately.

Who will we live to regret?

Understand if you would rather not mention individuals...But do you know if the released players include the Burtons, iwen Stephens and Rhian Rowley? Think They're all approaching or around that age...Would be dissapointed if they were being let go.

Yet we're signing players like Evans Thompson Albert & retaining Briscoes Cuthbertson & happily paying & picking a player who wants out.

Every year a bunch of kids are released to be fair. Admittedly this year the bunch includes kids who still have another year to go but thats going to be the same across most clubs.

To answer Matts question the 4 you have mentioned are 18 and are not in the 1st team squad

Thats a real shame, an age group that were dominant at scholorship and only Tindall left at the club a couple year later, think we'l live to regret letting a couple of them go

Agreed, J Burton, Stephens and Rowley are good young prospects and could probably keep all 3 with change to spare for the cost of Evans and Albert who are absolute nothing players.

Can see Iwan ending up in Union if im honest. Class player in my opinion but attitude probably cost him a little bit in getting a full time deal before seeing out his academy contract. If he had been allowed to see out his last year he wouldve got a deal then i would think. Personally i think hes only 1 that was without a deal that had a chance. Possibly Joe Burton too..

Covid is going to have an impact on the sport for years to come. The community game will suffer dramatically and that will impact on kids coming through.

The reserves have gone so it means less players are needed unfortunately.

To me its a bit short shorted by the club though. Id rather pay a kid like Iwan rather than some ahead of him.

Exactly Marty seems to me Sinfield & co have their priorities all wrong.

Stephens, j Burton and Louie McConnell released

I’m more frustrated at this approach than the signing of journeymen nobodies for the first team. This could set back the recovery years. Seems the club are gambling hon being able to re-sign the ones they want when they want to...

Not just the Rhinos who will be affected , my lad got the same problem at Giants . They've got 2 on first team contracts , the rest are being told they will be offered amateur terms so train and play for free , no expenses etc . He wants to stay in League but might not be able to afford to and is even having trials at football teams .

I've said before a generation is going to be lost here .

Exactly, its going to be every club in Super League virtually. Real shame.

It will impact the sport for a good few years. There is no guarantee players will return to amateur clubs when things get more normal, if they ever do, so a lot of players will be lost to the game at a lot of levels.

Reserve competion has gone, u16s are moving up and clubs cant afford to keep 35 kids to play in an u19s team. Its reality unfortunately. Hard decisions have to be made to keep the game going.

Terrible position to be in.

Iwan Stephens signed with Newcastle Falcons.

I think its a shame he didnt get a chance here.

Yep it is.

Rowley in talks with Bulls, Joe Burton with Batley and York. Oli Burton staying at Leeds.

Are there limits on the size of the FT squad?