Kyle Eastmond (Merged threads)

[Scubby]

Rugby League is uncompromising both on and off the field. Plus the shorts in RL don't have pockets.

Good luck to the lad, he had great natural talent and made a good living from the games he played.

[Lowdesert]

1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:

Apparently not, all rugby he said

I think he might just change his mind.

[Rupert Prince]

3 minutes ago, Oxford said:

There's plenty more to the story, clearly.

He would have got some sort of departing pay off.   I suspect it was a 'mutual decision', as they say.

But for whatever reason, he lost his edge, probably with injury.

[Oxford]

9 minutes ago, Rupert Prince said:

He would have got some sort of departing pay off.   I suspect it was a 'mutual decision', as they say.

But for whatever reason, he lost his edge, probably with injury.

That's one theory, anyway.

Morning Rupert

[DoubleD]

46 minutes ago, Damien said:

That didnt last long. Sounds to me he has realised he hasnt really got it anymore:

Commenting on the decision, Leeds Rhinos Director of Rugby Kevin Sinfield said, “I think this is an incredibly brave decision by Kyle and a testament to the high standards that he sets for himself. When we originally spoke to him, we had belief in his ability and talent and that remains the case however after a year out of rugby due to the pandemic, he has found that he is unable to reach the standards he expects of himself in training and playing. He will leave the club with our best wishes for the future. The fact he had a contract for this year and next but decided to hang up his boots speaks volumes about his integrity.”

Kyle Eastmond added, “I love rugby and will always be involved in it. I’ve come to realise the passion to influence the game is no longer on the field. It is this love and respect for the game, that leads me to this decision. I would like to say thank you so much to Kevin Sinfield, Leeds Rhinos and all the fans and wish the team all the best for the rest of the season.”

Eastmond announces retirement | Leeds Rhinos (therhinos.co.uk)

I wonder what he's planning next, sounds like he has something lined up off the pitch. 

Shame it never worked out, but I had little expectation..............unlike some who thought he'd set the world alight and be challenging for a World Cup spot 

[BrisbaneRhino]

It was always a risk, and Leeds only went for him because we had both Lui and McLelland out from the start of the season.  Shame it didn't pan out. While its a bit embarrassing, he at least comes out with some credit for not hanging around getting paid for two years for not doing very much. 

With Lui retiring at the end of the season the pressure will be on to recruit someone to properly support Gale next year.  Myler and Liam Sutcliffe are really poor sixes, and McLelland hasn't done much yet to suggest he's a long term solution (although he is still young and last season generally played in Leeds' 'reserve' side rather than the strongest team). 

[Josef K]

3 hours ago, Chrispmartha said:

By the sounds of it, I think he's realised he just doesn't have the desire to get himself to level he needs to be for SL anymore. To be honest its quite a brave and honest decision if that's the case

I wish he would’ve told Saints he didn’t have the desire to carry on playing before he went on to u****. 

[Mattrhino]

I think this is indicative of Leeds demise. It was a desperation signing.

I might sound like a prima donna Leeds fans but the '17 GF win and last years Cup win has papered over some huge gaping cracks. We have been a poor side for 4 years now and we are a million miles away from Saints, Warrington and Wigan.

We need a proper plan and stop with the desperate signings.

[Barry Badrinath]

So i haven't read back through the whole thread, but iirc it was @Sir Kevin Sinfield who was waxing lyrical about how good he would be, and how he'd be like a duck to water, or something..

[DoubleD]

20 minutes ago, Mattrhino said:

I think this is indicative of Leeds demise. It was a desperation signing.

I might sound like a prima donna Leeds fans but the '17 GF win and last years Cup win has papered over some huge gaping cracks. We have been a poor side for 4 years now and we are a million miles away from Saints, Warrington and Wigan.

We need a proper plan and stop with the desperate signings.

It's difficult to argue against this. You only need to look at our overseas signings to see that. I think all of them bar Tetevano are off contract this year. I'd only want to re-sign Prior, and probably just for a year. We appear to have significant problems still in the side, leadership being one of those. Despite having an excellent crop of youngsters, we don't appear to transition them effectively into the first team. And our attack is also poor and lacking inventiveness, composure and any structured plan. 

Bentley would add a lot to the team and I hope he signs. Our overseas recruitment though, needs to be better and have some long term planning. We need quality over quantity 

[Cheshire Setter]

12 minutes ago, Barry Badrinath said:

 he'd be like a duck to water, or something..

Something like that... he floated to be fair.

[Saint Toppy]

2 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

 

Bentley would add a lot to the team and I hope he signs. Our overseas recruitment though, needs to be better and have some long term planning. We need quality over quantity 

Bentley would be another panic buy for Leeds and not what they need now. His game has come on a lot over the last year but he's still a long way off where he can be. Defensively he's excellent but he's attacking play still needs a lot of work.

If Leeds sign him they'll be spending big, big money on an unfinished article, when  what they need now is a core group of players who are already the finished article and can provide that leadership they're badly lacking.

I think it would be a very poor move for Bentley as well. He'll develop far better in a top, successful team than  in one struggling. If he chooses to leave Saints then the best place for him would be the NRL.

[Saint Toppy]

On 03/03/2021 at 14:14, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

 If he can regain his old form quickly Gale and Eastmond could be England’s World Cup half backs.

[DoubleD]

2 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

Bentley would be another panic buy for Leeds and not what they need now. His game has come on a lot over the last year but he's still a long way off where he can be. Defensively he's excellent but he's attacking play still needs a lot of work.

If Leeds sign him they'll be spending big, big money on an unfinished article, when  what they need now is a core group of players who are already the finished article and can provide that leadership they're badly lacking.

I think it would be a very poor move for Bentley as well. He'll develop far better in a top, successful team than  in one struggling. If he chooses to leave Saints then the best place for him would be the NRL.

Not sure how Bentley would be a panic buy. He's a young 2nd rower who we can build our team around, along with the likes of Mellor, Gannon, Walters etc. He's significantly better than Martin, so would be an improvement and probably cost similar. 

[Saint Toppy]

On 03/03/2021 at 16:22, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

He was good enough to make the England team last time he played league, he’s only 31 not exactly past it. I’m not sure why so many people are writing him off so quick, I think it’s because he’s signed for Leeds, if Wakefield or Salford had signed him their fans would be waxing lyrical. 

or because he was never that good to start with, and now the game has moved on he can't even pretend he's any good anymore  

[Saint Toppy]

4 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

Not sure how Bentley would be a panic buy. He's a young 2nd rower who we can build our team around, along with the likes of Mellor, Gannon, Walters etc. He's significantly better than Martin, so would be an improvement and probably cost similar. 

More 'promise' isn't what Leeds need right now, they're desperately short of experienced leaders, particularly in the pack., and that's just not Bentley at the moment.

Don't get me wrong, I think he will be a very very good player in the future, I just hope he doesn't make the mistake of chasing short term money at the expense of his career development. The only reason he would leave Saints for Leeds would be for big £££

[BrisbaneRhino]

Leeds still seem to not be looking at signings from a skewed perspective. 

Recently we had the likes of Singleton, Mullally, Ferres and you could make a case for any one of them being in the squad. All of them together and you've got a duff pack. 

Now we've got a bunch of senior players who can 'do a job'.  Individually you can make a sound case for any one of Mellor, Liam and Alex Sutcliffe, Donaldson, Dwyer, Tom and Luke Briscoe, Rhyse Martin, Bodene Thompson etc. Each case would look really sound, but as whole you end up with a squad full of too many below average SL players.  Most of those are in with a shout of a game every week. How many of them would get into Wigan or Saints first 17?

We've now got good kids coming through and need genuine quality, not more journeymen squad fillers. 

[BrisbaneRhino]

Oh, and it would be nice to get some genuine speed into our backs.  Handley is good but not lightning, the rest of our first choice back division must be close to the slowest in SL as a group. 

[M j M]

Leeds pack, broadly speaking, isn't the problem, it's in my view very close to being good enough to challenge, the addition of Bentley would be ideal to finish it off - although it would be good to have an all in one hooker.

What happens at half back and beyond is the issue. We've won out in most games up front this year but lost them due to a lack of creativity behind, even when Gale has been fit. Hurrell, Handley, Newman and Myler/Walker are theoretically the core of a decent back line. But when Gale isn't playing or is having an off day (which is pretty much every game this season) nothing happens.

The use of big money on a superstar stand off is probably key to going to progressing further. Releasing Eastmond and retiring Lui frees us up a little to do just that (plus the second currently unused marquee spot).

[Barry Badrinath]

14 minutes ago, BrisbaneRhino said:

Leeds still seem to not be looking at signings from a skewed perspective. 

Recently we had the likes of Singleton, Mullally, Ferres and you could make a case for any one of them being in the squad. All of them together and you've got a duff pack. 

Now we've got a bunch of senior players who can 'do a job'.  Individually you can make a sound case for any one of Mellor, Liam and Alex Sutcliffe, Donaldson, Dwyer, Tom and Luke Briscoe, Rhyse Martin, Bodene Thompson etc. Each case would look really sound, but as whole you end up with a squad full of too many below average SL players.  Most of those are in with a shout of a game every week. How many of them would get into Wigan or Saints first 17?

We've now got good kids coming through and need genuine quality, not more journeymen squad fillers. 

i always thought that leeds were spoilt(bear with me) with the golden generation, cos they had a very very good core, and only needed certain parts of the squad supplementing with outside and overseas signings,  so much so that i think they had not been used to making proper signings, crucial signings like other clubs had to, so much so that they had some proper dross at times, and now when they've had to rebuild the squad, they're trying to re-capture lightning in a bottle with kids.

 

If that makes sense.

[Chrispmartha]

46 minutes ago, Barry Badrinath said:

i always thought that leeds were spoilt(bear with me) with the golden generation, cos they had a very very good core, and only needed certain parts of the squad supplementing with outside and overseas signings,  so much so that i think they had not been used to making proper signings, crucial signings like other clubs had to, so much so that they had some proper dross at times, and now when they've had to rebuild the squad, they're trying to re-capture lightning in a bottle with kids.

 

If that makes sense.

It makes sense but its not true (we did sign some rubbish but..) during the Golden generation we signed...

Gareth Ellis

Jamie Peacock

Danny Buderus

Kylie Leuluai

Brent Webb

Ali Lauititi

Zak Hardaker

Clinton Toopi

The core of the Team were once in generation talents that luckily all came through at once but we did make some very good signings to compliment them.

[M j M]

11 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

It makes sense but its not true (we did sign some rubbish but..) during the Golden generation we signed...

Gareth Ellis

Jamie Peacock

Danny Buderus

Kylie Leuluai

Brent Webb

Ali Lauititi

Zak Hardaker

Clinton Toopi

That list was going well until you got to Toopi, who was a bit of a dud.

[DoubleD]

14 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

It makes sense but its not true (we did sign some rubbish but..) during the Golden generation we signed...

Gareth Ellis

Jamie Peacock

Danny Buderus

Kylie Leuluai

Brent Webb

Ali Lauititi

Zak Hardaker

Clinton Toopi

The core of the Team were once in generation talents that luckily all came through at once but we did make some very good signings to compliment them.

You could even add Brett Delaney, Joel Moon and Scott Donald to that

[redjonn]

3 hours ago, BrisbaneRhino said:

It was always a risk, and Leeds only went for him because we had both Lui and McLelland out from the start of the season.  Shame it didn't pan out. While its a bit embarrassing, he at least comes out with some credit for not hanging around getting paid for two years for not doing very much. 

With Lui retiring at the end of the season the pressure will be on to recruit someone to properly support Gale next year.  Myler and Liam Sutcliffe are really poor sixes, and McLelland hasn't done much yet to suggest he's a long term solution (although he is still young and last season generally played in Leeds' 'reserve' side rather than the strongest team). 

I think Myler is AOK if he has somebody to take the field position kicking duties... otherwise he spots opportunities, has a great pass to make the most of those opportunities and as they say a lovely pair of hands for the short pass... his problem to me was/is only around his place kicking.  Besides which if he is moved from full back to cover it leaves Leeds exposed as they don't have another full back available.    Unless you move Sutcliffe back to full back again but he was doing really well at centre.

 

[Barry Badrinath]

28 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

You could even add Brett Delaney, Joel Moon and Scott Donald to that

you could also included

ben cross

joe vickery

clinton toopi

weller haurauki

darrell griffin

mitch achurch

paul aiton

beau falloon

antony mullally

brett ferres

and brett delaney