HamsterChops wrote:Exactly correct. On the face it sounds crazy, but apparently it's nothing to do with Leeds' timing, it's to do with RFL deadlines. Same as the anti-tampering rule is supposed to stop clubs talking to contracted players until May of the year they expire, contract extensions have to be told to the player around the same time.

Otherwise Leeds could just not tell Lilley his contract isn't being extended, and then it stops him being able to talk to anyone else until he gets released in November. Or they let him talk to people now, he agrees to join someone else, then Leeds invoke their extra year option and scupper it.

Nothus wrote:Why leave it until the last possible week though? The decision not to retain him was likely made many moons ago and anyone with even the slightest bit of foresight would have broken the news to Jordan as soon as the two clubs were drawn together in the cup just to get it out of the way.

Bullnorthern wrote:To me the key point is that he found out from his agent . He had been recruited as a youngster, been through all the age groups and was part of the first team squad. When he started playing in that first team you could tell how proud he was to represent his hometown club .
Not to have the class / basic human decency to tell a loyal player face to face perhaps says something about the current culture at Leeds.

roofaldo2 wrote:To be fair, the likely reason he's been told via his agent is that his agent was likely the first to know simply by doing their job and speaking to the Leeds club about a new contract as his current deal was expiring.

Nothus wrote:Why leave it until the last possible week though? The decision not to retain him was likely made many moons ago and anyone with even the slightest bit of foresight would have broken the news to Jordan as soon as the two clubs were drawn together in the cup just to get it out of the way.