Anyone heard of any update on Paul Aiton.................it has all gone very quiet.
I've heard a disturbing rumour that things are not right with his health.

Could that be why we're apparently in for Clarke from Cas?

He's hoping to be back in about a month

Let's hope whatever it is he takes the time needed to get himself right, whether physical or mental.

Interesting that you have put 'or mental' because my information is that the potential serious problem in NOT physical !

Interesting that you have put NOT physical because the information I have is that the serious problems is 100% DEFINITLY physical.

IIRC wasn't there mention at the time of him being on medication that prevented him from training? Which would suggest a physical problem.

I'm lead to believe that the medication that he had to take was on the banned list, and is waiting for the all clear from the dopeing unit to resume training.

Whilst all this wild speculation on his health is great, let's just all agree to wish him a speedy recovery and hope he's back playing soon

His twitter would suggest back in a "few weeks". Now whether that is back into training and how long it'll take him to get match fit is a different story.

Definitely gives us a better balance. Hope he is back and fit soon.

Would echo the last entry. One of our best signing over last few years. We look a far better side with him at 9, giving us plenty of go forwards. Even better Robbie Burrows at 7 !

While I agree I liked the look of the side with him at 9 for me far too early to herald him as the best signing of the last few years. (Although granted there haven't been that many) he has potential to be a good 9 but has hardly played for us and has been out as a long term injury for most of his time at HQ

'one of the best' certainly not the best signing, but after Shaun Lunt definitely THEE most accomplished hooker we've had since Buderis !
Hope he is back playing sooner rather than later for us.

Clever out of dummy half, very adept at attracting the markers and giving the first receiver a little more space as a result

reminds me a little of adrian vowles. not big but a bloody tough s.o.b.

Some people on this thread are way over the top. He looked OK, did some decent dummy half and fit in well enough. However our performances with him were hardly a lot better than since he's been missing.

He is way behind Diskin, Buderus and Lunt on proper Leeds hookers in the last decade for me so far. I hope he'll go well again when he's fit and continue his development into the squad...but...if Clark became available (unlikely I know) I wouldn't think twice about sending him on his way right now.

For me he hadn't played enough to be judged well. Though he looked Wily around the ruck and brave defensively. Seemed to get knocked back defending a bit against big guys but always gets his shoulder in. Definitely looking forward to his return

We look a poorer side without him, I like Clarkson but he aint no hooker. Sinny does a decent job when he steps into the dummy half role but again his distribution just isn't as sharp as a dedicated hooker.

When there are hookers such as Lunt, Roby, Clark playing for our rivals the best I can come up with about Aiton is...Meh.

It doesn't take long / many performances before being lauded on here, does it?! Wow! People raving on about Robbie Ward and that he should be in the squad after one game, about Baldwinson being deserving despite not having much (any?) involvement.

FWIW, i think Aiton has looked solid and pretty good, but he must've played like 5 or 6 times? It must say more about the poor standard of RL or Leeds' past signings if already he has done enough to rocket up to #1 signing in the last few years!

I thought Briscoe was immense at the start of the season and a total world-beater, but since he has been a bit less explosive but i've not gone from thinking 'best player ever' to 'most over-rated new signing i've seen' as he hasn't been around long enough (at Leeds) to yet warrant either description.

I don't know it to be this fast in giving praise on football forums I post on!

For the record i'm not saying R. Ward, Aiton or Baldwinson are 'bad' at all - they have done well in what i have seen of them - maybe it just takes me a bit longer to start praising people!

I dont think anyone is going OTT regarding the importance of Aiton. Its mostly warranted.

He came over from Wakefield with a great reputation. Players player of the year is some feat, especially after the season Danny Kirmond had last season. Everytime I saw him in Wakey shirt he was the sharp tough cookie in the middle that just wouldn't bugger off.

Then he comes to Leeds and has a big impact in his first few games. At times when McDermott brought him off we fell very flat and Aiton soon picked us up once he returned. Yes its too early to call him Leeds' best ever overseas signing, but there is no doubt that so far you'd class him as an important player. What he does with his reputation from here on in is up to him, but at the moment we need that early season player back.

I understand that, yeah. But i guess the fact he has been injured for more than half our 15/16 games means his value is predominantly based on what he did at Wakey and is what he 'could be worth' to Leeds more than what he has 'proved to be worth'.

Even with my fairly novice eyes i can see that he offers a lot, but i suppose i just feel a bit that part of a player's 'value' is the length of time they have been contributing well, thus someone who has played say 7 times, at a 9 out of 10 level is harder to call a better signing than someone who plays at an 8/10 level 70 times. I'm sure there are people that Leeds have had in the past that must have offered more in their time than Aiton has in a handful of games.

I think in terms of Aiton it's to do with not having a proper hooker there recently. Had he joined in 2012 immediately after Buderus had left he'd have a much tougher task of winning fans over.

RhinoNeil - if you read this thread, some people clearly are going over the top. He looked decent in a few cameos but little more. I was really impressed with him in the first 10 mins at Huddersfield and thought he was very creative out of dummy half but then we had little ball for the rest of his stint. Since he was injured we've played games such as Saints in the cup and Wigan at home which are arguably our best 2 performances of the season. To say he was hugely missed is a myth. Would he have improved us in those games? Maybe, but not to the extent people are claiming on here.