Mik's a genuinely lovely lad. Lives near me so bump into him a bit, and my brother-in-law was, according to Mik, one of his favourite teachers. And he has nothing but nice things to say about him. But that might have held him back a bit. Didn't McDermott say about him needing to realise that he's a prop and what that means? He seems to lack that aggression about his play. Not foul play, but the extra punch in his runs and tackles.

I think it could come down to a number of factors because he has all the physical attributes to dominate. But he came through at a time when our pack was getting weaker. And at a young age became our pack leader expected to do big minutes. Throwing yourself into collisions doesn't lend itself to doing big minutes.

It's also a really tight line to walk now disciplinary wise. Anything mistimed and you're looking at a ban. When he's carrying so much responsibility, I wonder how that affects his game.

And, as a club, we seem to have fallen so far off transitioning young players into the 1st team. It's hard to think back to the last academy player to come through and be top class. They all seem to plateau and never quite reach the heights we'd hoped they would.

Hopefully, with a better coaching team and more support up front, we'll see Mik kick on. He's still got age on his side. I think the reason he gets more of a free ride than others is because he's given so much to the team when we've been e. And we'd all love to see him be able to share some of that burden and start to go up through the levels.

Jack Burton: Exeter Rhino: Jack Burton: https://rugbyleaguelongreads.substack.com/p/could-mcnamara-be-the-man-at-leeds He's denied it, at the moment  https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/news/steve-mcnamara-addresses-leeds-rhinos-1153723?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=communities Would rather have Agar or Rohan back before this guy. The bloke has more lives than a sack of cats. He's managed to exceed the likes of John Kear in how far a coach can milk one Challenge Cup win... Can someone explain why he's still a top coach? If he was at an English club he would have been done years ago. To be fair, he has 20 years experience, coached at every level in Europe, has a fair amount of experience coaching in Australia and NZ. He's taken Catalans from the million pound game, to grand finalists, league leaders and CC winners. It's a very solid record.  He wouldn't be my choice though.  These are my thoughts too, I wouldnt pick him but hes not done a bad job at Catalan and I'd defs have him over Smith and Agar again. We could do a lot worse than McNamara but could also do better.

Jack Burton: Exeter Rhino: Jack Burton: https://rugbyleaguelongreads.substack.com/p/could-mcnamara-be-the-man-at-leeds He's denied it, at the moment  https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/news/steve-mcnamara-addresses-leeds-rhinos-1153723?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=communities Would rather have Agar or Rohan back before this guy. The bloke has more lives than a sack of cats. He's managed to exceed the likes of John Kear in how far a coach can milk one Challenge Cup win... Can someone explain why he's still a top coach? If he was at an English club he would have been done years ago. To be fair, he has 20 years experience, coached at every level in Europe, has a fair amount of experience coaching in Australia and NZ. He's taken Catalans from the million pound game, to grand finalists, league leaders and CC winners. It's a very solid record.  He wouldn't be my choice though.  These are my thoughts too, I wouldnt pick him but hes not done a bad job at Catalan and I'd defs have him over Smith and Agar again. We could do a lot worse than McNamara but could also do better.

Excellent news, really pleased with that one, the most important resigning we have completed this year.

Holroyd has renewed with us according to beeb. 
Thinking on that once Burgess, Hill and Walmsley hang up, there arent that many British props who are both good and big...

Great news on Holroyd, losing him and Gannon would have been very bad news. 

macnamara??????
jeez, that would take us backwards